{"id":"F2021L01508","name":"Industry Research and Development (Northern Australia Development Program) Instrument 2021","slug":"industry-research-and-development-northern-australia-development-program-instrument-2021","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":441052,"registerId":"F2021L01508-fast-fetch-1775956474936","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Industry Research and Development (Northern Australia Development Program) Instrument 2021","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nIndustry Research and Development (Northern Australia Development Program) Instrument 2021\n\nI, David Littleproud, as delegate for the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, make the following instrument.\n\nDated 27 October 2021\n\nDavid Littleproud\n\nMinister for Agriculture and Northern Australia\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\n1 Name\n\n2 Commencement\n\n3 Authority\n\n4 Definitions\n\n5 Prescribed program\n\n6 Specified legislative power\n\n7 Eligibility criteria relating to program\n\n \n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the Industry Research and Development (Northern Australia Development Program) Instrument 2021.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- 1. The whole of this instrument The day after this instrument is registered. 3 November 2021\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under section 33 of the Industry Research and Development Act 1986.\n\n4  Definitions\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAct means the Industry Research and Development Act 1986.\n\nInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights means the Covenant of that name done at New York on 16 December 1966.\n\nNote: The Covenant is in Australian Treaty Series 1976 No. 5 ([1976] ATS 5) and could in 2021 be viewed in the Australian Treaties Library on the AustLII website (http://www.austlii.edu.au).\n\nInternational Labour Organization’s Convention concerning Employment Policy means the Convention of that name done at Geneva on 9 July 1964.\n\nNote: The Convention is in Australian Treaty Series 1970 No. 17 ([1970] ATS 17) and could in 2021 be viewed in the Australian Treaties Library on the AustLII website (http://www.austlii.edu.au).\n\nprogram: see subsection 5(1).\n\n5  Prescribed program\n\n (1) For the purposes of subsection 33(1) of the Act, the Northern Australia Development Program (the program) is prescribed.\n\n (2) The program supports job creation and business growth, including business resilience and innovation, in existing and new industries in Northern Australia by funding:\n\n (a) businesses to:\n\n (i) scale up or diversify their activities; or\n\n (ii) establish a new industry; or\n\n (iii) grow the value of an existing industry; and\n\n (b) advisory services to assist businesses to strengthen their impact.\n\n6  Specified legislative power\n\n  For the purposes of subsection 33(3) of the Act, the powers of the Parliament to make laws with respect to the following are specified:\n\n (a) postal, telegraphic, telephonic, and other like services (within the meaning of paragraph 51(v) of the Constitution);\n\n (b) foreign corporations, and trading or financial corporations formed within the limits of the Commonwealth (within the meaning of paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution);\n\n (c) the people of any race for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws (within the meaning of paragraph 51(xxvi) of the Constitution);\n\n (d) external affairs (within the meaning of paragraph 51(xxix) of the Constitution) as it relates to measures that would assist Australia to meet its obligations under one or more of the following:\n\n (i) the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, particularly Articles 2 and 6;\n\n (ii) the International Labour Organization’s Convention concerning Employment Policy, particularly Articles 1 and 2;\n\n (e) the government of a Territory (within the meaning of section 122 of the Constitution).\n\n7  Eligibility criteria relating to program\n\n  For the purposes of subsection 33(4) of the Act, the eligibility criteria relating to the program include the requirements that:\n\n (a) applicants for funding referred to in paragraph 5(2)(a) must be trading or financial corporations to which paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution applies; and\n\n (b) providers of advisory services referred to in paragraph 5(2)(b) must be foreign, trading or financial corporations to which paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution applies.\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The instrument itself establishes and prescribes the Northern Australia Development Program, setting its purpose, eligibility and constitutional bases. The text does not indicate any amendment or narrowing/widening of an existing instrument; it prescribes scope rather than changing a prior instrument."},"complexity_factors":["Use of multiple constitutional heads of power as the legislative basis (see section 6) raises interpretive questions about limits and applicability.","Eligibility is restricted to constitutional trading or financial corporations (see section 7), which narrows potential applicants and creates a clear legal threshold for participation.","Linking the program to external treaties (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; ILO Convention) via external affairs (see section 6(d)) can raise questions about the scope of obligations and administrative alignment.","Instrument is short and prescriptive with limited procedural detail (sections 5–7), so administrative implementation depends on delegated program rules outside the instrument.","Commencement and authority mechanics (sections 2 and 3) are straightforward but require reference to the parent Act (Industry Research and Development Act 1986) for full operational effect."],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument prescribes the Northern Australia Development Program under section 33 of the Industry Research and Development Act 1986, authorising funding for businesses and advisory services to support job creation and business growth in Northern Australia.\n\nEligibility is limited to trading or financial corporations under paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution; it also specifies relevant constitutional powers (including external affairs linked to specified treaties) and commencement mechanics. It matters because it defines who can receive funds and who may provide services, creating compliance obligations and clear participation boundaries."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The instrument remains tightly focused on its original purpose: establishing a specific funding program for Northern Australian business development. The scope has not expanded beyond this core objective."},"complexity_factors":["Only 7 sections total, with minimal conditional logic","4 defined terms in section 4, all straightforward (Act, two treaties, 'program')","Simple structure: name, commencement, authority, definitions, prescribed program, constitutional powers, eligibility","No nested exceptions or complex cross-referencing beyond basic Act references","Eligibility criteria are binary and clearly stated in section 7","Constitutional grounding in section 6 is explicit but not convoluted — simply lists the heads of power being relied upon"],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument establishes the Northern Australia Development Program, a Commonwealth funding scheme that supports corporations in Northern Australia to scale, diversify, establish new industries, or access advisory services to build resilience and innovation. It operates under heads of federal power (notably corporations, territories, and treaty obligations) to authorize spending. Important limit: only corporations (trading/financial, and certain foreign corporations for advisors) are eligible—no sole traders or partnerships."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-northern-australia-development-program-instrument-2021","history":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-northern-australia-development-program-instrument-2021/history","analysis":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-northern-australia-development-program-instrument-2021/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-northern-australia-development-program-instrument-2021/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-northern-australia-development-program-instrument-2021/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-northern-australia-development-program-instrument-2021/documents"}}