614A   Simplified outline of this Part

614B   Arrangements and grants for dealing with risks posed by diseases or pests

             (1)  The Agriculture Minister or the Health Minister may, on behalf of the Commonwealth, make, vary or administer an arrangement for the making of payments by the Commonwealth, or make, vary or administer a grant of financial assistance, in relation to one or more of the following:

                     (a)  activities or research relating to identifying, preventing, preparing for or managing biosecurity risks;

                     (b)  activities in or outside Australian territory relating to dealing with the risk covered by subsection (2), including, but not limited to, improving the capacity of foreign countries to respond to or manage that risk;

                     (c)  activities relating to communicating information in or outside Australian territory about the identification of, prevention of, preparation for or management of:

                              (i)  biosecurity risks; or

                             (ii)  the risk covered by subsection (2);

                     (d)  activities relating to supporting or enhancing State or Territory or industry-led biosecurity incident response programs, or biosecurity incident recovery programs, dealing with biosecurity risks;

                     (e)  activities relating to identifying or managing established pests or established diseases to stop the spread of such pests or diseases;

                      (f)  activities relating to furthering the objects of this Act;

                     (g)  a matter that is incidental or ancillary to an activity covered by paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (f).

             (2)  The risk covered by this subsection is:

                     (a)  the likelihood of a disease or pest:

                              (i)  entering a foreign country or a part of a foreign country; or

                             (ii)  emerging, establishing itself or spreading in a foreign country or a part of a foreign country; and

                     (b)  the potential for any of the following:

                              (i)  the disease or pest to cause harm to human, animal or plant health in that foreign country;

                             (ii)  the disease or pest to cause harm to the environment in that foreign country;

                            (iii)  economic consequences in that foreign country associated with the entry, emergence, establishment or spread of the disease or pest as mentioned in paragraph (a).

Reimbursement of costs or expenses

             (3)  An arrangement under subsection (1) may provide for the Commonwealth to reimburse, or partly reimburse, costs or expenses.

             (4)  A grant under subsection (1) may be made by way of the reimbursement, or partial reimbursement, of costs or expenses.

             (5)  Subsections (3) and (4) do not limit subsection (1).

Definitions

             (6)  In this section:

arrangement includes a contract, agreement, deed or understanding.

biosecurity risk has the same meaning as it has in Chapter 6.

make , in relation to an arrangement, includes enter into.

614C   Terms and conditions for grants

Grant of financial assistance to a State or Territory

             (1)  For a grant of financial assistance under section 614B to a State or Territory, the terms and conditions on which that financial assistance is granted are to be set out in a written agreement between the Commonwealth and the State or Territory.

             (2)  The Agriculture Minister or the Health Minister may, on behalf of the Commonwealth, enter into an agreement under subsection (1).

             (3)  Any variation of the grant must be in accordance with the terms or conditions of the grant.

Grant of financial assistance to other persons

             (4)  For a grant of financial assistance under section 614B to a person other than a State or Territory, this section does not, by implication, prevent the grant from being made subject to terms and conditions.

614D   Additional operation of this Part

             (1)  In addition to Part 3 of Chapter 1, this Part also has effect as provided by this section.

             (2)  This Part also applies in relation to an arrangement or grant referred to in section 614B that is with respect to:

                     (a)  the granting of financial assistance to a State or Territory; or

                     (b)  a Territory; or

                     (c)  people to whom paragraph 51(xxvi) of the Constitution applies.

614E   Relationship of this Part with other Acts

                   This Part does not, by implication, limit the operation of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997 .

614F   Executive power of the Commonwealth

                   This Part does not, by implication, limit the executive power of the Commonwealth.

614G   Inclusion of information in annual reports

             (1)  The Agriculture Secretary, when preparing the Agriculture Department’s annual report under section 46 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 for a period, must include the following information in that report:

                     (a)  the total of the amounts paid in that period under arrangements or grants referred to in section 614B of this Act that were made by the Agriculture Minister;

                     (b)  the total number of such arrangements or grants that were made by the Agriculture Minister in that period.

             (2)  The Health Secretary, when preparing the Health Department’s annual report under section 46 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 for a period, must include the following information in that report:

                     (a)  the total of the amounts paid in that period under arrangements or grants referred to in section 614B of this Act that were made by the Health Minister;

                     (b)  the total number of such arrangements or grants that were made by the Health Minister in that period.

614H   Delegation

             (1)  The Health Minister may, by writing, delegate any or all of the Health Minister’s powers under section 614B to:

                     (a)  the Health Secretary; or

                     (b)  an S ES employee, or acting SES employee, in the Health Department; or

                     (c)  an S ES employee, or acting SES employee, in a Department of State of the Commonwealth other than the Health Department.

Note:          For delegation of powers by the Agriculture Minister, see section 643.

             (2)  The Health Minister may, by writing, delegate the Health Minister’s power under section 614C to:

                     (a)  the Health Secretary; or

                     (b)  an S ES employee, or acting SES employee, in the Health Department.

Note:          For delegation of powers by the Agriculture Minister, see section 643.

             (3)  In exercising any powers under a delegation under this section, the delegate must comply with any directions of the Health Minister.

7  After subsection 643(1)

Insert:

          (1A)  Without limiting subsection (1), the Agriculture Minister may, by writing, delegate any or all of the Agriculture Minister’s powers under section 614B to an S ES employee, or acting SES employee, in a Department of State of the Commonwealth other than the Agriculture Department.