The bill imposes an annual general levy on entities defined as "regulated entities" under the Aviation Consumer Protection Act 2026 to meet the costs of administering that Act and the companion collection Act. It leaves calculation details to regulations and delegates the Secretary to determine the annual administration costs by legislative instrument.
This matters because it shifts the operating cost of the new aviation consumer protection regime from consolidated revenue to the industry it regulates, creates multiple executive-layer decisions (regulations, ministerial exemptions, Secretary determinations, Finance Minister transfer directions), and embeds mechanisms — including pro rata calculations and retrospective references — that can affect how and when businesses are charged.
At a Glance
What It Does
Imposes an annual levy on regulated entities and requires the Secretary to determine the administration costs for each financial year; the precise levy for each entity is set by regulation. The Minister may exempt specific entities or classes by legislative instrument.
Who It Affects
Airlines, ticketing platforms, ground handlers, travel agents and other parties designated as "regulated entities" under the Aviation Consumer Protection Act 2026, plus the Department officials who will determine and collect the levy.
Why It Matters
It converts enforcement and administrative costs into an industry-funded charge, concentrates discretion in executive instruments (regulations and Secretary/Minister instruments), and contains provisions that raise allocation, transparency and constitutional questions for a range of stakeholders.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill creates a statutory levy regime tied directly to the Aviation Consumer Protection Act 2026 and its collection Act. Rather than specifying fixed amounts in primary legislation, it requires the Secretary to set the administration cost for each financial year by legislative instrument; regulations then translate that aggregate cost into individual levies for regulated entities.
The Minister also has a separate, instrument-based power to exempt named entities or classes from liability for a given year.
Regulations may choose any method to calculate the individual levy amounts: they can set fixed amounts, formulae that vary by class of entity, nil amounts, pro rata methods, or methods that refer to acts or circumstances predating the regulations or the Act itself. The bill requires the Minister to consider two objectives before regulations are made: that the total levies reflect the determined administration costs and that each entity’s levy is a fair proportion of the total; the Secretary’s cost determination must reflect effective and efficient use of public resources.The Act treats the Commonwealth as not liable to actually pay the levy, but it establishes a notional liability and authorises the Finance Minister to issue written directions — binding despite other Commonwealth laws and not subject to disallowance as legislative instruments — to give effect to that notional position (for example, by transferring money within Commonwealth accounts).
The legislation expressly extends to Territories and to acts outside Australia, subject to international obligations, and it forbids the exercise of the regulations power in a way that discriminates between States or gives State preference.Operationally, the bill centralises key funding judgments in the Secretary and affords the Minister and Finance Minister significant executive tools: exemption determinations, regulatory design of the allocation method, and intra-government transfer directions. Delegations allow SES-level officers to perform many of the Secretary’s and Minister’s functions, which speeds implementation but moves decision-making away from ministers.
The collection mechanics themselves are set out in the companion Aviation Consumer Protection Levy (Collection) Act 2026, which interacts with this Act (for instance, waivers under the collection Act are to be disregarded when determining the total levy pool).
The Five Things You Need to Know
The Secretary must publish, by legislative instrument, an annual determination of the "administration costs" that the levy is intended to fund for each financial year starting 1 July 2026.
The Minister may exempt a specified regulated entity or an entire class of regulated entities from liability for an annual general levy by legislative instrument.
Regulations may set amounts or formulas (including different methods by class), prescribe pro rata rules, or refer to acts or circumstances that predate the regulations or the Act, allowing look‑back or transitional calculations.
The Commonwealth is not actually liable to pay the levy, but the Finance Minister may issue written directions to give effect to a notional Commonwealth liability; those directions override other Commonwealth laws and are not legislative instruments.
The regulations power is subject to constitutional safeguards: it must not discriminate between States or give preference to a State, and the Act expressly excludes imposing a tax on property belonging to a State.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Preliminaries, scope and constitutional limits
This part sets the short title, commences the Act concurrently with the Aviation Consumer Protection Act 2026, and confirms the Act applies in Territories and can reach extraterritorial acts (subject to international law). It also binds State and Territory Crowns but not the Commonwealth and expressly prevents the Act from imposing a tax on State property — an important constitutional carve‑out that will limit enforcement against State-owned infrastructure.
Imposition of the annual general levy and regulatory design
Section 9 creates the legal hook for an annual general levy; section 10 delegates the substantive calculation to regulations. The regulations may choose fixed amounts, formulae that differ by class, nil amounts, pro rata approaches, and even methods that reference pre‑existing facts. Before making regulations, the Minister must consider objectives tying the aggregate levy to administration costs and requiring a fair allocation among entities, and the Minister can exempt entities or classes by legislative instrument.
Secretary determines administration costs
The Secretary must determine — by legislative instrument — the administration costs expected in each financial year for administering the Aviation Consumer Protection Act and the collection Act. The determination must reflect efficient use of public resources, and regulations may prescribe timing and matters the Secretary must consider. Because the Secretary’s decision is an instrument, it is made under executive processes rather than through primary legislation.
Liability, waivers and the Commonwealth’s notional position
Section 12 makes each regulated entity liable for its annual general levy. Section 13 clarifies the Commonwealth does not actually pay the levy but should be notionally liable; the Finance Minister can direct intra‑Commonwealth transfers to give effect to that intention. Those directions are binding despite other Commonwealth law and are not legislative instruments, creating an administratively enforceable but politically less transparent mechanism for handling Commonwealth financial involvement.
Delegations and regulations
The Minister and the Secretary may delegate specific functions (the Minister can delegate parts of the pre‑regulatory decision‑making; the Secretary can delegate determinations of administration costs) to SES staff. The Governor‑General may make regulations for anything required or convenient to give effect to the Act, subject to the constitutional non‑discrimination limits and the Act’s stated objectives.
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Explore Transportation in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Air passengers and consumers — stronger, funded enforcement and administration of consumer protections makes remedies and oversight more sustainable, which may improve compliance and complaint handling.
- The regulator / Department of Infrastructure — receives a dedicated funding stream to operate the Aviation Consumer Protection scheme, reducing reliance on consolidated revenue and creating operational certainty.
- Passenger advocacy groups and complaint-handling intermediaries — are likely to see more consistent enforcement activity and potentially expanded administrative capacity for investigations and dispute resolution.
- Large, diversified regulated entities — can better absorb and spread levy costs across operations and may benefit from transparent allocation rules and capacity to seek exemptions where appropriate.
Who Bears the Cost
- Airlines and other regulated entities (air carriers, ticketing platforms, ground handlers, travel agents defined under the parent Act) — the levy is payable by those entities and will increase operational costs that may be passed to consumers.
- Small and regional carriers — face proportionally higher burden if allocation formulas do not adequately reflect scale or profitability; compliance and administrative costs for filing and contesting determinations may be material.
- The Department’s SES employees and delegated officers — bear the operational workload and decision-making responsibility for determinations, exemptions and implementing regulatory methods, increasing administrative complexity.
- The Finance function of the Commonwealth — while the Commonwealth is not actually taxed, Finance Minister directions to move money within accounts create intra‑government accounting costs and may complicate budget reporting.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is between securing a stable, industry‑funded revenue stream for effective enforcement (which places cost responsibility on the regulated sector and preserves consolidated revenue) and the need for parliamentary oversight, predictability and fairness: the bill delegates large financial choices to executive instruments and officials, which achieves flexibility and speed but risks opaque, uneven cost allocation and limits direct parliamentary control over who ultimately bears the cost.
The bill pushes the cost of running the aviation consumer protection scheme onto industry through instruments and delegated powers rather than fixed parliamentary appropriations. That design speeds policy responsiveness but raises two sets of implementation risks.
First, delegating the annual cost determination to the Secretary and the levy allocation method to regulations concentrates material fiscal discretion outside primary legislation; small changes in the Secretary’s estimate or the regulations’ formula can significantly shift the financial burden between entity classes without new parliamentary debate.
Second, several mechanics create practical challenges: regulations may refer to pre‑commencement acts or circumstances, which can create retrospective‑feeling charges; the Act instructs regulators to ignore collection Act waivers when sizing the total pool, potentially leading to discrepancies between theoretical levy pools and actual collectible amounts; and the Finance Minister’s power to issue directions that override other Commonwealth laws, while administratively useful, reduces parliamentary visibility because those directions are not legislative instruments. Finally, defining and classifying "regulated entities" in the parent Act will determine who ultimately pays, and ambiguity there could trigger substantial litigation or administrative appeals.
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