{"id":"C1936A00044","name":"Orange Bounty Act (No. 2) 1936","slug":"orange-bounty-act-no-2-1936","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"44 of 1936","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":3807,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1936A00044-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-30","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Orange Bounty Act (No. 2) 1936","content":"ORANGE BOUNTY (No. 2).\n\nNo. 44 of 1936.\n\nAn Act to provide for the Payment of a Bounty on the Export of Oranges from the Commonwealth during the year One thousand nine hundred and thirty-six.\n\n\\[Assented to 12th October, 1936.\\]\n\nPreamble.\n\nBE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, for the purpose of appropriating the grant originated in the House of Representatives, as follows:—\n\nShort title.\n\n1. This Act may be cited as the Orange Bounty Act (No. 2) 1936.\n\nDefinitions.\n\n2. In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—\n\n“bounty” means bounty under this Act;\n\n“export case” means a case the inside measurements of which (clear of divisions) are approximately as follows:—\n\nlength—twenty-four inches;\n\ndepth—eleven and one-half inches; and\n\nwidth—eleven and one-half inches.\n\n  \n\nBounty to be paid.\n\n3. There shall be payable out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which is hereby appropriated accordingly, the bounty specified in this Act.\n\nSpecification of bounty.\n\n4. The bounty shall be payable in respect of—\n\n(a) oranges, other than navel oranges, exported from the Commonwealth to destinations other than New Zealand during the year One thousand nine hundred and thirty-six; and\n\n(b) navel oranges exported from the Commonwealth to destinations other than New Zealand during the period which commenced on the first day of January, One thousand nine hundred and thirty-six, and ended on the twenty-third day of July, One thousand nine hundred and thirty-six,\n\nand in respect of which the provisions of the Commerce (General Exports) Regulations (being Statutory Rules 1926, No. 22, as amended to the date of the export of the oranges) are or have been complied with:\n\nProvided that the bounty shall not be payable in respect of—\n\n(c) oranges described as “Plain” within the meaning of regulation 48a of the Commerce (General Exports) Regulations as in force at the date of commencement of this Act; and\n\n(d) oranges exported as gifts.\n\nRate of bounty.\n\n5. Bounty shall be payable at the rate of Two shillings for each export case of oranges.\n\nPayee of bounty.\n\n6.—(1.) The bounty shall, subject to this section, be payable to the exporter of the oranges.\n\n(2.) The exporter of the oranges shall pay to the grower of the oranges the amount of the bounty received by him in respect of the oranges, unless he proves to the satisfaction of the Minister that he purchased or otherwise acquired the oranges from the grower or his agent and that the payment, if any, made to the grower or his agent for the oranges included an amount which represents the bounty paid in respect of the oranges.\n\nPenalty: One hundred pounds.\n\n(3.) “Where the grower of the oranges exports the oranges through an agent, the bounty may be paid to the agent, who shall be liable therefor to the grower.\n\nCondition of payment.\n\n7. A payment of bounty shall not be made under this Act unless the claimant for that bounty has, in accordance with the regulations, lodged an application therefor on or before the thirty-first day of March, One thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven:\n\nProvided that where the Minister is satisfied that the circumstances of any case justify the payment of bounty where the claimant has lodged an application after that date, payment of bounty may be made in respect of that application.\n\n  \n\nOffences.\n\n8. A person shall not—\n\n(a) obtain or attempt to obtain payment of any bounty which is not payable;\n\n(b) obtain or attempt to obtain payment of any bounty by means of any false or misleading statement; or\n\n(c) present to any officer or other person doing duty in relation to this Act or the regulations any document, or make to any such officer or person any statement which is false in any particular.\n\nPenalty: One hundred pounds or imprisonment for one year.\n\nPower to call for information\n\n9.—(1.) The Minister, or any person thereto authorized in writing, by him, may, by notice in writing, call upon any person to furnish to him within such time as is specified in the notice, such books and documents and such information as the Minister or that authorized person thinks necessary in relation to compliance with this Act or the regulations made thereunder or any suspected contravention thereof.\n\n(2.) A person shall not, without reasonable excuse (proof whereof shall lie upon him) fail, after receipt of a notice under the last preceding sub-section, to comply with the requirements of the notice.\n\nPenalty: One hundred pounds or imprisonment for one year.\n\n(3.) Where any person who has so failed to furnish the books, documents or information is a claimant for bounty, the Minister may, if he thinks fit, withhold payment of any bounty payable to the claimant until he has furnished the required books, documents or information.\n\nReturn to be laid before Parliament.\n\n10. A report upon the working of this Act, and a return setting forth—\n\n(a) the amount of bounty paid under this Act; and\n\n(b) such other particulars as are prescribed,\n\nshall be prepared in the month of November, One thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven, and shall be laid before each House of the Parliament within fifteen sitting days of that House after the thirtieth day of November, One thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven.\n\nRegulations.\n\n11. The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to this Act, and in particular for prescribing penalties not exceeding Fifty pounds or imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months for any offence against the regulations.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act is tightly and consistently confined to its stated purpose: paying a bounty on the export of oranges from the Commonwealth during 1936. Every provision — the definitions, the bounty rate, the payment mechanics, the offences, and the reporting requirement — directly serves that single purpose. The title itself flags this as 'No. 2', indicating it is a second, supplementary instalment of an existing scheme rather than a broadening of scope. There is no evidence of scope creep or mission expansion beyond the original intent."},"complexity_factors":["Only 2 defined terms ('bounty' and 'export case') — minimal interpretation overhead","Single, flat bounty rate (two shillings per export case) with no tiered or conditional rate structure","Limited cross-referencing — one external instrument referenced (Commerce (General Exports) Regulations 1926)","Some conditional logic in section 4: different eligibility periods for navel vs non-navel oranges, and two carve-outs (Plain grade, gifts)","Pass-through payment obligation in section 6(2) introduces a modest conditional exception (unless exporter proves price included bounty amount)","Short Act — 11 sections, straightforward linear structure","Time-bound scope (calendar year 1936 / navel oranges to 23 July 1936) limits complexity but requires careful reading","Archaic drafting style (e.g. 'Be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty') adds mild readability friction"],"plain_english_summary":"## Orange Bounty Act (No. 2) 1936 — Plain English Summary\n\nThis is a short, specific piece of Depression-era Commonwealth legislation that **pays a cash subsidy (called a \"bounty\") to Australian orange exporters** to encourage the overseas export of oranges during 1936.\n\n---\n\n### Who does it affect?\n- **Orange growers** across Australia\n- **Exporters** of oranges (who may be different people from the growers)\n- **Agents** acting on behalf of growers in export transactions\n\n---\n\n### What does it actually do?\n\n- **Pays a bounty of two shillings per export case** (a standardised box roughly 24\" × 11.5\" × 11.5\") of oranges exported from Australia in 1936\n- **Excludes exports to New Zealand** — the bounty only applies to other international destinations\n- **Covers two types of oranges differently:**\n  - *Regular oranges* (non-navel): eligible for bounty for the full calendar year 1936\n  - *Navel oranges*: only eligible for bounty up to **23 July 1936** — after that date, no bounty applies\n- **Excludes \"Plain\"-grade oranges** (a quality classification under existing export regulations) and oranges exported as gifts — those get nothing\n- **Requires compliance** with existing Commonwealth export regulations (the Commerce (General Exports) Regulations 1926) as a condition of payment\n- **Draws the money from the Consolidated Revenue Fund** (the Commonwealth's central government account)\n\n---\n\n### How does the money flow?\n\n1. The **exporter** claims the bounty\n2. The exporter **must pass the bounty money on to the grower**, unless the exporter can prove to the Minister that the purchase price paid to the grower already included an amount representing the bounty\n3. Failing to pass on the money is a **criminal offence** carrying a fine of up to £100\n4. Where a grower uses an **agent** to export, the bounty can be paid to the agent, who is then responsible for passing it to the grower\n\n---\n\n### Key rules and safeguards\n- **Claim deadline:** Applications must be lodged by **31 March 1937** (though the Minister can accept late claims in special circumstances)\n- **Fraud is a criminal offence** — attempting to obtain a bounty you're not entitled to, making false statements, or providing false documents can result in a £100 fine or up to **one year in prison**\n- The **Minister can demand books, records and information** from anyone to check compliance — refusing without a good reason is also a criminal offence\n- A **report on how the scheme operated** (including total bounty paid) must be prepared in November 1937 and tabled before both Houses of Parliament\n- The **Governor-General can make regulations** to fill in the practical details of how the scheme works\n\n---\n\n### Why does it matter?\n\nThis Act is a snapshot of how the Commonwealth supported agricultural exporters during the 1930s — a period of global economic hardship. It uses a targeted, time-limited subsidy to boost orange exports to international markets (except New Zealand, likely covered by separate arrangements). The careful distinction between navel oranges and other oranges, and the cut-off dates, suggest this was the **second instalment** of a bounty scheme that began earlier in 1936."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 4(a) and Preamble / Long Title","severity":"medium","reasoning":"While retrospective bounty legislation is not inherently invalid, section 4(a) conditions payment on compliance with the Commerce (General Exports) Regulations 'at the date of the export of the oranges'. Exporters in January–September 1936 were complying with those regulations for entirely different reasons (general export compliance), not with a view to claiming a bounty under a law that did not yet exist. The practical effect is that compliance was inadvertent rather than purposive, making the condition somewhat fictional in respect of the pre-assent period.","confidence":0.72,"description":"The Act was assented to on 12th October 1936, yet it purports to pay bounty on oranges exported 'during the year One thousand nine hundred and thirty-six' — meaning it retrospectively applies to exports that occurred up to approximately 9.5 months before the Act existed. Exporters could not have known at the time of export that a bounty would exist, let alone complied with the conditions required to claim it."},{"type":"circular_definition","section":"Section 2 — Definition of 'bounty'","severity":"low","reasoning":"A definition clause exists to give a term a specific, operative meaning. Defining 'bounty' as 'bounty under this Act' is entirely self-referential. The reader must already know what a bounty is for the definition to be useful. The term could simply have been left undefined and relied upon its ordinary meaning, or defined substantively by reference to sections 3–5. As drafted, the definition adds nothing and is a classic circular definition.","confidence":0.97,"description":"The definition of 'bounty' is purely circular: 'bounty means bounty under this Act.' This provides zero independent meaning and tells the reader nothing about what a bounty is."},{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 6(2)","severity":"high","reasoning":"For oranges exported between January and 11 October 1936 (before assent), any purchase price agreed between exporter and grower was struck without knowledge of the bounty. It is therefore factually and logically impossible for that price to have 'included an amount which represents the bounty.' The exporter's only escape from the obligation to pass on the bounty is a defence that is inherently unavailable for the vast majority of exports covered by the Act. This makes the pass-through obligation in s.6(2) effectively absolute for all pre-assent exports, regardless of commercial arrangements, which may not have been the legislative intent.","confidence":0.85,"description":"The exporter is required to pass on the bounty to the grower unless the exporter proves to the Minister's satisfaction that the purchase price 'included an amount which represents the bounty paid in respect of the oranges.' This is logically impossible for pre-Act exports: the bounty did not exist when the oranges were purchased, so the purchase price could not possibly have 'included' an amount representing a bounty that had not yet been legislated."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 7 (proviso)","severity":"low","reasoning":"While ministerial discretion provisions are common, the complete absence of any longstop date in the proviso — combined with the finite and historical nature of the bounty — creates an open-ended liability on the Consolidated Revenue Fund with no statutory sunset. This is an unusual drafting omission for a time-limited bounty Act.","confidence":0.78,"description":"The proviso to section 7 allows the Minister to accept late applications where 'the circumstances of any case justify' it, but sets no outer time limit whatsoever on how late is too late. Theoretically, a claimant could lodge an application decades after 1936 and the Minister would have unfettered discretion to pay."},{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 10","severity":"high","reasoning":"Section 10 imposes a mandatory, time-specific obligation tied to a date that has long passed. The obligation to prepare the report 'in the month of November 1937' and table it within fifteen sitting days after 30 November 1937 cannot be fulfilled now or at any future point. If this obligation was not met at the time, it represents a permanently outstanding statutory obligation — or an obligation permanently incapable of discharge — which is an absurdity in any legislation that technically remains on the statute book.","confidence":0.95,"description":"The Act requires a report to be 'prepared in the month of November, One thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven' and laid before Parliament within fifteen sitting days after 30 November 1937. This obligation is now permanently and irreversibly impossible to comply with, as that month passed over 87 years ago."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 4(b)","section_b":"Section 4(a)","confidence":0.65,"description":"Section 4(b) creates a specific, earlier end date for navel oranges (23 July 1936), while section 4(a) covers 'other than navel oranges' for the full calendar year 1936. This creates an asymmetry where non-navel oranges exported after 23 July 1936 attract the bounty but navel oranges exported in the same period do not. While this may be intentional policy (perhaps reflecting a separate earlier bounty scheme for navels under Orange Bounty Act No. 1 1936), the Act provides no explanation for the distinction, creating potential confusion about whether oranges of mixed variety exported in a single consignment after 23 July attract partial bounties and how the 'export case' rate in s.5 would be apportioned."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"Section 7","section_b":"Section 9(3)","confidence":0.6,"description":"Section 7 states that bounty shall not be paid unless an application is lodged by 31 March 1937 (subject to the ministerial proviso). Section 9(3) allows the Minister to 'withhold payment of any bounty payable to the claimant' pending provision of information — implying payment otherwise remains 'payable'. These sections pull in opposite directions: s.7 frames timely application as a precondition to any payment obligation arising at all, while s.9(3) treats the bounty as already 'payable' and merely being withheld. If no valid application exists under s.7, there is no 'bounty payable' to withhold under s.9(3), yet s.9(3) on its face appears to contemplate withholding as a remedy even where s.7 preconditions may not be satisfied."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 6(2)","section_b":"Section 6(3)","confidence":0.75,"description":"Section 6(2) imposes a mandatory obligation on 'the exporter' to pay the bounty to the grower, with a criminal penalty for non-compliance. Section 6(3) provides that where the grower exports through an agent, the bounty 'may be paid to the agent, who shall be liable therefor to the grower.' This creates an ambiguity: where an agent is used, it is unclear whether the s.6(2) obligation on 'the exporter' (who may be the agent acting on behalf of the grower-exporter) still applies and to whom, or whether s.6(3) displaces s.6(2) entirely. The two subsections do not clearly delineate which controls in the agent scenario, potentially exposing both an agent and a nominal exporter to overlapping or conflicting obligations."}]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/orange-bounty-act-no-2-1936","history":"/api/acts/orange-bounty-act-no-2-1936/history","analysis":"/api/acts/orange-bounty-act-no-2-1936/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/orange-bounty-act-no-2-1936/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/orange-bounty-act-no-2-1936/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/orange-bounty-act-no-2-1936/documents"}}