{"id":"F2019L01591","name":"Industry Research and Development (Water for Fodder Program) Instrument 2019","slug":"industry-research-and-development-water-for-fodder-program-instrument-2019","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":440327,"registerId":"F2019L01591-fast-fetch-1775956000967","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Industry Research and Development (Water for Fodder Program) Instrument 2019","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 (Water for Fodder Program) Instrument 2019\n\nI, David Littleproud, Minister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management, make the following instrument.\n\nDated 5 December 2019\n\nDavid Littleproud\n\nMinister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management\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\n \n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the Industry Research and Development (Water for Fodder Program) Instrument 2019.\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instrument is registered. 7 December 2019\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made.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\nDesertification Convention means the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa, done at Paris on 17 June 1994.\n\nNote: The Convention is in Australian Treaty Series 2000 No. 18 ([2000] ATS 18) and could in 2019 be viewed in the Australian Treaties Library on the AustLII website (http://www.austlii.edu.au).\n\nprogram means the Water for Fodder Program.\n\n5  Prescribed program\n\n (1) For the purposes of subsection 33(1) of the Act, the program is prescribed.\n\n (2) The program is for the administration by the Commonwealth of the sale of water allocations by South Australia to drought‑affected farmers in the southern Murray‑Darling Basin, including by:\n\n (a) entering into arrangements or understandings with such farmers, including enforceable undertakings provided by such farmers in favour of the Commonwealth (whether or not provided under a deed poll); and\n\n (b) enforcing or otherwise giving effect to such arrangements, understandings or enforceable undertakings.\n\n (3) The purpose of the program is to provide support to drought‑affected farmers in the southern Murray‑Darling Basin by assisting them to produce fodder.\n\n6  Specified legislative power\n\n  For the purposes of subsection 33(3) of the Act, the power of the Parliament to make laws with respect to external affairs (within the meaning of paragraph 51(xxix) of the Constitution) is specified, as it relates to measures to give effect to Australia’s obligations under the Desertification Convention, particularly Articles 4 and 5.\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":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The instrument formally prescribes a specific program under section 33 of the Industry Research and Development Act 1986 (see s 5) and specifies the constitutional head of power relied on (external affairs, s 6). It does not amend the Act or expand beyond the program and purposes it expressly sets out, so there is no indication in the text that its scope changed from its stated intent."},"complexity_factors":["Short, single-purpose instrument with clear prescription of the program (s 5) — reduces textual complexity.","Uses legal enforcement tools (entering into and enforcing arrangements or 'enforceable undertakings') which create legal-process complexity for participants (s 5(2)(a)–(b)).","Invokes constitutional external‑affairs power tied to an international treaty (Desertification Convention) — introduces constitutional/treaty interpretation issues (s 6).","Intergovernmental interface: Commonwealth administering sale of South Australian water allocations implies interactions with state water law and allocation systems (s 5(2)).","Operational and funding details are not specified in the instrument, producing implementation ambiguity and administrative discretion (no schedule or funding clause).","Compliance burden is concentrated on drought‑affected farmers who must enter undertakings; enforcement discretion rests with Commonwealth administrators (s 5(2))."],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument authorises the Commonwealth to run the Water for Fodder Program: it administers the sale of South Australian water allocations to drought‑affected farmers in the southern Murray‑Darling Basin, and may enter into and enforce arrangements or enforceable undertakings with those farmers. Its stated purpose is to help those farmers produce fodder; it also invokes the Commonwealth's external‑affairs power as it relates to Australia's obligations under the Desertification Convention (Articles 4 and 5)."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The instrument remains tightly scoped to its original purpose: establishing the Water for Fodder Program as a drought relief measure tied to water allocation sales. There is no evidence of scope creep; the instrument is brief, focused, and does not expand beyond the specific program described."},"complexity_factors":["Only 6 short sections total","Just 3 defined terms in section 4 (Act, Desertification Convention, program)","No cross-references beyond the empowering Act and Constitution","Simple conditional structure — subsections (1), (2), and (3) operate independently without nested logic","No exceptions, exemptions, or penalty provisions","Single purpose instrument with straightforward operative provisions"],"plain_english_summary":"The instrument creates the Water for Fodder Program, authorising the Commonwealth to sell South Australian water allocations to drought-affected farmers in the southern Murray–Darling Basin and to enter into and enforce binding undertakings with recipients to support fodder production. It supplies the legal basis for a targeted drought‑relief scheme and pins Commonwealth power to the Industry Research and Development Act and the Constitution’s external affairs head (implementation of Australia’s UN Convention to Combat Desertification) to secure authority."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-water-for-fodder-program-instrument-2019","history":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-water-for-fodder-program-instrument-2019/history","analysis":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-water-for-fodder-program-instrument-2019/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-water-for-fodder-program-instrument-2019/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-water-for-fodder-program-instrument-2019/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/industry-research-and-development-water-for-fodder-program-instrument-2019/documents"}}