{"id":"C1973A00160","name":"Wheat Export Charge Act 1973","slug":"wheat-export-charge-act-1973","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"160 of 1973","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":2576,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1973A00160-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-29","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Wheat Export Charge Act 1973","content":"Wheat Export Charge Act 1973\n\nNo. 160 of 1973\n\nAN ACT\n\nTo amend the Wheat Export Charge Act 1968.\n\n\\[Assented to 3 December 1973\\]\n\nBE IT ENACTED by the Queen, the Senate and the House of Representatives of Australia, as follows:—\n\nShort title and citation.\n\n1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Wheat Export Charge Act 1973.\n\n(2) The Wheat Export Charge Act 1968 is in this Act referred to as the Principal Act.\n\n(3) The Principal Act, as amended by this Act, may be cited as the Wheat Export Charge Act 1968-1973.\n\nCommencement\n\n2. This Act shall be deemed to have come into operation on 1 October 1973.\n\nRate of the charge.\n\n3. Section 6 of the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by omitting the word “bushel” (wherever occurring) and substituting the word “tonne”;\n\n(b) by omitting the words “Five cents” (wherever occurring) and substituting the words “One dollar eighty-four cents”; and\n\n(c) by omitting the words “Fifteen cents” (wherever occurring) and substituting the words “Five dollars fifty-one cents”.\n\n  \n\n4. After section 7 of the Principal Act the following section is inserted:—\n\nWheat in 1973-1974 pool\n\n“7a. (1) This section applies to wheat of the season that commenced on 1 October 1972 delivered to a licensed receiver (within the meaning of the Wheat Industry Stabilization Act 1968-1973) after 30 September 1973.\n\n“(2) In relation to the season that commenced on 1 October 1973, in ascertaining the average price for the purposes of sub-section (1) of section 6, the wheat of that season shall be deemed to include the wheat to which this section applies.\n\n“(3) Notwithstanding the operation of sub-section (1) of section 6 in relation to wheat of the season that commenced on 1 October 1972, if the charge is payable in respect of wheat of the season that commenced on 1 October 1973, the charge is payable in respect of wheat to which this section applies as if it were wheat of the last-mentioned season.\n\n“(4) Sub-section (4) of section 7 has effect as if wheat to which this section applies were wheat of the season that commenced on 1 October 1973.”","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 2","severity":"high","reasoning":"Retrospective commencement provisions are not inherently unlawful in Australian legislation, but this one creates a genuine practical impossibility: the amended charge rates in Section 3 (e.g., substituting 'tonne' for 'bushel' and new dollar amounts) are deemed operative from 1 October 1973, meaning entities were legally obliged to comply with a law that had not yet been enacted, debated, passed, or assented to. Any wheat delivered between 1 October and 3 December 1973 would have been charged under the old rates at the time of delivery, yet the Act retroactively imposes different rates and a different unit of measurement for that entire period. This is not merely a technical quirk — it imposes retrospective financial liability that was literally unknowable at the time compliance was required.","confidence":0.95,"description":"The Act, assented to on 3 December 1973, deems itself to have come into operation on 1 October 1973 — approximately two months before it legally existed."},{"type":"circular_definition","section":"Section 4 (inserted s.7A(2))","severity":"medium","reasoning":"The average price under s.6(1) is calculated by reference to the wheat 'of that season.' Section 7A(2) deems late-delivered 1972-season wheat to be part of the 1973 season for averaging purposes. But s.7A(3) then uses that same average — now inflated or deflated by the inclusion of that 1972 wheat — to determine whether any charge is payable at all on that 1972 wheat. The composition of the pool determines the average, the average determines chargeability, and chargeability applies back to wheat whose inclusion defined the pool. This is a circular dependency: you cannot calculate the average without knowing the pool, but the pool's composition is contingent on a charge outcome that depends on the average.","confidence":0.78,"description":"Subsection 7A(2) refers to 'the season that commenced on 1 October 1973' when calculating an average price, but simultaneously directs that wheat from the season commencing 1 October 1972 be deemed included in that 1973 season's pool — creating a situation where the average price calculation depends on a pool whose composition is being artificially altered by the very provision that invokes that average."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 4 (inserted s.7A(1) and (2))","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 7A(1) defines the scope of the provision as applying to 1972-season wheat delivered after 30 September 1973. Section 7A(2) then speaks of 'the season that commenced on 1 October 1973' — which is a different season entirely — and says that for the purposes of calculating the average price under s.6(1) for that 1973 season, the 1972 wheat shall be deemed included. A literal reader following sub-section (1) would expect sub-section (2) to address the 1972 season's average; instead it addresses the 1973 season's average. The sudden shift between seasons across consecutive subsections, without clear transition language, creates significant interpretive confusion about which season's average price is operative when the charge falls due.","confidence":0.72,"description":"Subsection 7A(1) applies to wheat of the season commencing 1 October 1972, while s.7A(2) refers to 'the season that commenced on 1 October 1973' — yet both subsections are supposedly activated by the same operative condition. The drafting conflates two different seasons in consecutive subsections in a way that makes it genuinely unclear which season's average price calculation governs which parcel of wheat."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"high","section_a":"Section 2 (retrospective commencement: 1 October 1973)","section_b":"Section 4 (inserted s.7A(1): applies to wheat delivered after 30 September 1973)","confidence":0.88,"description":"The Act deems itself operative from 1 October 1973, and s.7A(1) applies to wheat delivered after 30 September 1973 — which is the same date. However, the Act also amends the rate and unit of charge in Section 3 with effect from the same date. This means that for wheat delivered on precisely 1 October 1973, the new s.7A deeming rules and the new charge rates in the amended s.6 must both apply simultaneously from their first possible moment of operation, yet neither provision existed when that wheat was delivered. The retrospective commencement creates an irreconcilable tension: the charge that was 'payable' on 1 October 1973 was calculated under the old Act, but the amended Act retroactively replaces both the rate and the pool-composition rules governing that very charge."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 4 (inserted s.7A(3): charge payable on 1972-season wheat as if it were 1973-season wheat)","section_b":"Section 4 (inserted s.7A(4): s.7 of Principal Act applies as if 1972 wheat were 1973-season wheat)","confidence":0.74,"description":"Subsection 7A(3) conditionally treats 1972-season wheat as 1973-season wheat only 'if the charge is payable in respect of wheat of the season that commenced on 1 October 1973.' Subsection 7A(4) unconditionally applies s.7(4) of the Principal Act to the 1972 wheat as if it were 1973-season wheat, with no equivalent conditionality. This means s.7(4) of the Principal Act is triggered regardless of whether the charge threshold in s.7A(3) is met, potentially activating procedural or administrative obligations under s.7(4) even in circumstances where no charge liability arises under s.7A(3). The asymmetry between conditional chargeability (s.7A(3)) and unconditional procedural treatment (s.7A(4)) could produce a situation where administrative machinery runs without any underlying charge obligation to support it."}]},"summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This amendment does not expand the scope of the legislation beyond its original purpose. It remains squarely focused on the wheat export charge mechanism. The changes are purely technical and administrative: updating units of measurement from imperial to metric, adjusting the charge rates accordingly, and managing an edge case created by wheat crossing over between two marketing seasons. The core purpose — imposing a levy on exported wheat to support the stabilisation scheme — is unchanged."},"complexity_factors":["Short amending Act with only 4 operative sections","Relies heavily on the parent Act (Wheat Export Charge Act 1968) for context — must be read alongside it","Section 7A introduces conditional logic around 'crossover' wheat spanning two seasons, requiring careful chronological reasoning","Cross-references to a third piece of legislation (Wheat Industry Stabilization Act 1968-1973) for a defined term","Retrospective commencement (deemed to have started 1 October 1973, before assent on 3 December 1973) adds a layer of temporal complexity","Multiple sub-section cross-references within the inserted section 7A (referencing s.6(1) and s.7(4) of the Principal Act)"],"plain_english_summary":"This short amending Act updates the Wheat Export Charge Act 1968 by converting the levy basis from bushels to tonnes and substantially raising the dollar rates per tonne. It also adds a rule treating late‑delivered 1972–73 wheat as part of the 1973–74 pool for charging purposes. The change affects Australian wheat growers, licensed receivers and exporters, aligning charges with metrication and closing a timing loophole."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/wheat-export-charge-act-1973","history":"/api/acts/wheat-export-charge-act-1973/history","analysis":"/api/acts/wheat-export-charge-act-1973/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/wheat-export-charge-act-1973/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/wheat-export-charge-act-1973/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/wheat-export-charge-act-1973/documents"}}