Did the Royal Australian Mint enter into an agreement with the Perth Mint, the International Olympic Committee, the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and the Australian Olympics Committee in relation to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Coin Program; if so, what was the nature of the arrangement between the above parties in relation to the production, marketing, royalty payments and risk sharing for the program.

In June 1997 the Commonwealth, as represented by the Royal Australian Mint (RAM), entered into a joint venture agreement with Gold Corporation (GC), a body corporate established under the Gold Corporation Act 1987 (Western Australia) and operator of The Perth Mint, in relation to the joint production by RAM and GC of commemorative coins to celebrate the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. This agreement was entered into with the approval of the Commonwealth Treasury. In October 1997 a licence agreement was entered into between the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) and the joint venture, and ratified by the International Olympic Committee. There was no separate agreement with the Australian Olympic Committee.

The arrangement in relation to production of coins was that GC would produce all of the eight gold coins, RAM would produce all of the 28 bright aluminium bronze coins, and the two parties would share equally the production of the 16 silver coins, to be issued during the program. One additional silver coin (of one kilo) was produced by GC for release in April 2000, by agreement between the parties and with the approval of SOCOG.

The arrangement in relation to marketing of the coins was that sale and distribution of coins domestically and in New Zealand would be the responsibility of RAM, with sale and distribution of coins in other overseas markets being the responsibility of GC. In April 1998 it was agreed between the parties to vary this arrangement so that all marketing, both domestic and overseas, would be the responsibility of GC and all distribution would be the responsibility of RAM.

The arrangement in relation to royalty payments for coins was that the Commonwealth would receive 12 per cent of the wholesale price, less cost of metal, of all coins sold; SOCOG and the International Olympic Committee would receive 7 per cent and 3 per cent respectively of the wholesale price of all coins sold; and a royalty of 3 per cent of the wholesale price of coins sold in each overseas country would be paid to the National Olympic Committee of that country. The royalty payable to the Commonwealth on individual base metal coins would increase to 25 per cent when sales of those coins passed 250,000. Royalties on the kilo silver coin were on an agreed mix of percentage and flat rates per coin.

The arrangement relating to risk sharing on coin sales was that profits and losses would be shared in the following proportions:

Ownership of coins was assigned to the producing Mint. Responsibility for procurement and disposal of packaging for the base metal coins was taken by RAM and for precious metal coins by GC. Responsibility for any bad debts was shared equally between RAM and GC.