This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
Jurisdiction
Commonwealth
Act Number
70 of 1954
Collection
act
Plain English Summary
7/10 complexity
What this law does, mechanically
Replaces earlier wheat marketing laws and continues a single, statutory Australian Wheat Board (the Board) to handle specified marketing, purchasing and disposal functions for Australian wheat (sections 3 and 6).
Requires the Minister to set a per-bushel "cost of production" (and thus a guaranteed price) for each season after consulting State agricultural ministers; the Minister must publish that amount in the Gazette before 1 December each season (section 5; definition in section 4).
Gives the Board powers to accept deliveries, buy, store, sell and export wheat and related products, to appoint licensed receivers to receive wheat on its behalf, and to enter agreements with overseas agents (sections 11–13).
Compels persons in possession of wheat in the Australian Capital Territory to deliver the wheat to the Board on demand, and makes delivery to licensed receivers a lawful method of delivery to the Board (sections 14–15). Refusal or unauthorised dealing carries fines and/or imprisonment (sections 14(5), 16).
Prescribes how the Board calculates and pays growers for wheat delivered to it: payments are based on net proceeds of disposal of wheat of the season, with specified deductions and adjustments, and the Board may make advance payments with Ministerial approval (section 17). Payment rules and assignment limits are in section 18.
Establishes a Wheat Prices Stabilization Fund to receive amounts equivalent to export charges (collected under the Wheat Export Charge Act 1954) and to pay into the Board specified stabilising amounts (section 27). The Fund may be topped up from Consolidated Revenue if necessary (section 27(4)).
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
Creates a special account for funds collected to meet freight costs to Tasmania and sets rules for use and leftover funds (sections 23(4) and 24).
Sets Board membership, appointment, removal and meeting procedures (section 7–10), authorises appointment of staff (section 30), provides for remuneration and audit (sections 31 and 32), and permits regulations (section 35).
Limits the Act's temporal scope to wheat harvested on or before 30 September 1958 (section 36) and contains transitional savings for earlier legislation and deliveries (section 3).
Who decides, who pays, and what behaviour changes
The Minister (Commonwealth) decides the official cost of production (the guaranteed price) each season after State consultation (section 5). The Minister can also direct the Board on performance of functions (section 13(2)) and adjust Tasmanian freight reimbursements (section 23(5)).
The Board (a Commonwealth statutory body) decides operational matters: licensing receivers, buying, storing and selling wheat, making advance payments, accounting for sales and paying growers (sections 6, 11, 13, 17).
Growers who hold wheat in the ACT must deliver that wheat to the Board on demand (section 14). More generally, outside the specific statutory exceptions, persons are prohibited from selling, exporting or dealing in wheat otherwise than as permitted by the Act or with Board consent (section 16).
Export charges collected under separate export-charge legislation fund the stabilization payments (section 27); the Treasurer/Consolidated Revenue fund act as a backstop if the Fund is insufficient (section 27(4)).
Stated purpose and practical trade-offs (source claims and testing)
The Act is expressed to relate to "stabilization of the wheat industry" (title and objects implicit throughout). The concrete mechanisms used to pursue that purpose are: (a) a guaranteed price based on Ministerially determined cost of production (sections 4–5); (b) centralized marketing and export management by the Board (sections 6, 13, 16–17); and (c) a Fund to smooth differences between export earnings and the guaranteed price (sections 17(7), 27).
Costs, incentives and trade-offs implied by the text:
Who pays: the mechanism channels export-charge receipts and potentially Consolidated Revenue into payments to meet any shortfall between export prices and the guaranteed price (sections 17(7), 27(1), 27(4)). This creates a fiscal exposure for Government if the Fund is insufficient (section 27(4)).
Private choice and market signals: the Act restricts private sale and export of wheat in favour of Board-controlled marketing (section 16). This reduces growers' capacity to sell independently for export and funnels pricing and allocation decisions through the Board (sections 13, 17).
Incentives for the Board: the Board computes growers' entitlements from net disposal proceeds and may make advance payments; it is authorised to aggregate, mix and account sales across seasons as it sees fit (section 17(2)–(4)). Those accounting discretions affect timing and size of payments to growers.
Compliance burden: licensed receivers must record and supply details of persons with interests in wheat and can be licensed or have licences suspended (section 11, 15). Persons must comply with Board information requests (section 21) and may be subject to inspection and seizure by authorised police (section 20).
Administrative discretion and risk: the Minister has multiple discretions (setting cost of production, directing the Board, approving overseas agents, approving advance payments, adjusting freight reimbursements) that affect prices, transfers and operational choices (sections 5, 12, 13(2), 17(4), 23(5)). Those discretions create implementation risk and place importance on administrative processes.
Distributional and substitution effects: currency into the Stabilization Fund is collected via an export charge (section 27(1)); growers of exported wheat are the primary beneficiaries of top-ups when export returns are below the guaranteed price (section 17(7), 27(3)). Domestic users of wheat pay Board-set home-consumption prices, which are linked to export parity, an international agreement price or a fixed cap (section 23).
Implementation mechanics that matter in practice
Temporal limit: the Act explicitly ceases to apply to wheat harvested after 30 September 1958 (section 36). Transitional rules preserve earlier regulatory arrangements for wheat harvested before 1 October 1953 (section 3).
Interaction with State law: the Act preserves the operation of certain State laws and State boards, allows State bodies to be licensed receivers, and contemplates joint or parallel State arrangements (sections 3(3), 11(2), 33). This requires coordination across Commonwealth and State institutions.
Enforcement: penalties for unauthorised dealing are set at up to three times the value of the wheat at the guaranteed price or imprisonment (sections 14(5), 16(1)), and general offences carry penalties (section 34). The Board and authorised police have powers of entry and seizure (section 20).
Bottom-line summary (mechanical effects, not policy verdict)
The Act centralizes export and marketing control for wheat through a Commonwealth Board, fixes a Ministerially-set guaranteed price per season, funds stabilization payments through an export charge and a dedicated Fund (with a Consolidated Revenue backstop), imposes compulsory delivery in the ACT and broad constraints on private dealing and export, and sets out administrative, accounting and enforcement arrangements to operationalise that scheme (see especially sections 5, 6, 13, 14, 16, 17, 27).