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Commonwealth act
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
What this Act does, in practical terms
Repeals earlier wheat-stabilisation and export-charge Acts and continues the Australian Wheat Board (the Board) as a statutory, corporate body responsible for marketing wheat (s3, s6). The Board may buy, accept delivery of, store, sell and export wheat and wheat products (s12).
Establishes a system of administratively determined prices. The Minister must set a guaranteed minimum price for each season (s8). The Minister also determines a net pool return and a net pool return rate for each season based on the Board’s disposal proceeds and allocated costs (ss9–10). The guaranteed minimum price is calculated from recent net pool returns by formula and subject to percentage bands (s8).
Makes deliveries of wheat to the Board compulsory in Territories unless excluded or allowed to move under permit; wheat delivered becomes the Board’s absolute property (s15(2)–(3), s16(1)). The Act limits private sale, processing, movement and export of wheat and wheat products in Territories except where permitted by the Board (s20).
Sets out how growers are paid. The Board must make advance payments to growers based on the guaranteed minimum price adjusted for quality, place and costs; final payments are made if net pool returns exceed the guaranteed minimum price (ss21–24). Special rules apply for particular seasons (ss21–23, 26). The Board can make advances on account of these payments with Ministerial approval (ss21(4),22(5),23(4)).
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Direct links to the current provisions in Wheat Marketing Act 1979.
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Provides for a Wheat Finance Fund (the Fund) to be continued and credited with levy receipts (ss40–41). The Fund’s money may be lent to the Board and used for Board borrowings (ss42–44). The Commonwealth may guarantee certain Board borrowings and the Minister for Finance can make advances or payments in specified situations (ss44–51).
Gives the Minister direct powers over the Board’s conduct: the Minister may direct the Board on performance of its functions (s11), and the Minister determines key price numbers and may publish them (ss8–10). The Board must comply with Ministerial directions (s11).
Establishes Board composition and governance: the Act prescribes member categories, appointment methods (Ministerial appointment and State nominations or elections), terms, disclosure obligations and meeting rules (s29–37).
Enables enforcement and administration: authorized persons may require information (s59), enter premises with consent or warrant and seize wheat (s61), and the Act prescribes penalties for specified contraventions (ss15(5),16(4),20(1),(3),59(4),61(6)). Regulations may add detail (s63).
Why this matters (official purpose-claims and how they operate in practice)
Official purpose-claims in the Act include stabilising payments to growers and providing finance to support the Board’s marketing of wheat (see the guaranteed minimum price mechanism at s8, the net pool return definitions at ss9–10, and the Fund purpose at s42). Those mechanisms operate by having the Minister compute prices and pool returns, having the Board pay growers advances and finals tied to those numbers (ss21–24), and by having the Fund and Commonwealth backstop borrowing and differential costs (ss40–51).
Practical consequences and trade-offs drawn from the text:
Potential costs, incentives, and implementation risks suggested by the text (mechanisms, not judgments)
Estimation and timing risk: the Minister may determine guaranteed minimum prices and net pool returns using estimates where seasons are incomplete (s8(3), Schedule provisions for estimates in s26). This creates potential for ex post differences between estimates and realised returns, which then trigger payments or adjustments (ss22,49).
Concentration of benefits and diffuse costs: growers who deliver wheat to the Board receive advance and possibly final payments (ss21–24). The funding for shortfalls and guarantees flows from the Fund and, for certain payments, the Consolidated Revenue Fund (ss41,43,49,51), diffusing costs across levy payers, consumers via prices (s26), or taxpayers.
Bureaucratic discretion and administrative load: wide Ministerial and Board discretion in price determination, quotations, pooling and approvals (ss8–11,21,28,44) places implementation burden on officials and creates multiple points where administrative choices change incentives and flows.
Market substitution and quota mechanics: the Governor-General may declare quota seasons (s5) and the Act defines quota pools and their composition (s28). The Board’s power to attribute sales to pools (s28(5)) affects which wheat attracts which payments and may change seller behaviour in timing deliveries.
Enforcement mechanics affect property rights and business operations: compulsory acquisition of delivered wheat, seizure powers on premises entry (s15(3), s61(8)), and prohibitions on export without Board consent (s20(3)) alter ownership control and commercial options for growers and buyers.
Key statutory references (examples)
Bottom line
Mechanically, the Act centralises wheat marketing in the Australian Wheat Board, sets administrative pricing and payment mechanisms (guaranteed minimum price, net pool return, home consumption price formula), provides a dedicated Fund and Commonwealth-backed finance arrangements, restricts private dealing and exports without Board consent, and creates a web of permits, declarations and enforcement powers. The Act allocates benefits to growers via advances and guaranteed payments while allocating financing and certain risks to the Fund and the Commonwealth through appropriations and guarantees (see ss21–24, 40–51). Multiple explicit decision points and estimation provisions (ss8(3),9–10,44) create implementation and administrative burdens that determine how costs and incentives play out in practice.