Bills Digest No. 223 1997-98
Passenger Movement Charge Amendment Bill 1998
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced
and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have
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CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer and Copyright Details
Passenger Movement Charge Amendment Bill 1998
Date Introduced: 28
May 1998
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Industry,
Science and Tourism
Commencement: 1
January 1999
To increase the rate of the Passenger
Movement Charge from $27 to $30.
The Passenger Movement Charge (previously called the
Departure Tax) was introduced by the Passenger Movement Charge Act
1978. It is a charge levied on passengers leaving Australia for an
overseas destination and is collected by airlines and shipping companies
as part of their ticketing arrangements.
The original rate of the charge was $10. This was increased
to $20 in 1981, but then reduced to $10 in 1988. In 1991 the rate was
increased to $20, and to $25 in 1994. It was further increased from $25
to $27 in 1995 when the name of the charge was changed from 'departure
tax' to 'passenger movement charge'. This Bill seeks to increase the charge
by another $3 to $30 from 1 January 1999. Announcement of the change was
made in the Budget.(1)
Revenue collected from the passenger movement charge
totalled $200 million in 1997-98 and is estimated to raise a total of
$217 million in 1998-99.(2) The $3 increase will raise an estimated $77.3
million in additional revenue over the four years to 2001-02.(3)
The money raised from the passenger movement charge is
used to recover the costs of processing international travellers through
customs, immigration and quarantine procedures at Australia's borders,
and the costs of issuing short-term visas. Some of the revenue from the
$3 increase in the charge will go towards meeting additional costs associated
with the movement of people and goods expected for the Sydney 2000 Olympic
Games.(4)
Revenue raised by the passenger movement charge has also
been used to help promote tourism to Australia. In the 1998-99 Budget
documents, the proposal to increase the charge was linked to additional
funding for tourism promotion and development totalling $58 million over
four years.(5) The Australian Tourist Commission is to receive an extra
$50 million to encourage more tourism from existing markets such as Europe
and North America. $8 million is to be spent over four years on initiatives
and infrastructure to develop and promote regional Australia as an attractive
tourist destination.(6)
The proposed increase in the Passenger Movement Charge
has excited little comment. The Tourism Council of Australia has been
reported as saying that the tourism industry can 'live with the increase...given
that this is the first time the charge has been increased since...1995'.(7)
Item 1 of Schedule 1 increases the rate of the Passenger
Movement Charge from $27 to $30. The amendment will apply to those passengers
leaving Australia on or after 1 January 1999 (Item 2).
- Budget Speech, House of Representatives, Debates, 12
May 1998, 3008.
- Budget Strategy and Outlook 1998-99, (Budget Paper No.1), 5-11.
- Budget Measures 1998-99, (Budget Paper No.2), 2-19.
- Ibid., 2-20.
- Ibid., 1-74.
- 'Asian tourist decline spurs big spending on visitor promotion', Age,
13 May 1998, B12.
- Senator N Minchin in answer to a Question Without Notice, Senate,
Debates, 14 May 1998, 2754.
Rosemary Bell
1 June 1998
Bills Digest Service
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 1998
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Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library, 1998.
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