Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for the Environment and Energy, the Hon Josh Frydenberg MP)Outline
The Petroleum and Other Fuels Reporting Bill 2017 (the Bill) establishes a mandatory reporting regime for fuel information. The information collected under mandatory reporting will be used to monitor energy security, facilitate compliance with international reporting and stockholding obligations, and enable the publication of aggregate fuel statistics for the use of business, investors, academics and government.
The Australian Government has produced statistics on fuel for over forty years through a voluntary survey of business. The statistics derived from the information reported by businesses are released in a range of government publications, the most notable of which is the Australian Petroleum Statistics (APS). The APS contains detailed monthly statistics on the production, refining, wholesaling and end-of-month stock levels of petroleum (crude oil and derivatives such as gasoline and diesel), petroleum-related products such as lubricants, bitumen and paraffin wax, and alternative fuels like ethanol, biodiesel and gaseous transport fuels like compressed natural gas. In recent years the proportion of the fuel market participating in the survey has declined, reducing the reliability of the resulting statistics. Mandatory reporting will enable the development of more accurate, reliable and informative statistics on petroleum, other fuels and fuel-related products.
Mandatory reporting of petroleum and other fuels forms part of the Australian Government's plan to return to compliance with the International Energy Agency (IEA) obligation to hold oil stocks equivalent to 90 days of the previous year's average daily net oil imports. The capturing of all IEA relevant stock under mandatory reporting will ensure an accurate picture of Australia's stockholding position can be determined. The introduction of mandatory reporting also implements a major recommendation of the Senate References Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport in 2015.
The Bill empowers the Minister for the Environment and Energy (the Minister) to require persons specified in the Ministerial Rules (the Rules) to report prescribed information to the Secretary of the Department of the Environment and Energy (the Department). The Bill empowers the Secretary of the Department to collect, record, use and disclose this information, or statistics developed from it, in certain circumstances. The Bill provides a range of safeguards to ensure that personal and commercial-in-confidence information is protected.
The Bill provides the Minister with wide-ranging powers to designate certain activities, fuels and fuel-related products as reportable. The scope to add additional activities and products is required to ensure the statistics remain relevant as consumer preferences change and technology continues to advance, such as hydrogen fuel cells and battery powered cars. The Minister also has the power to relax the reporting requirements, for example where data-sharing between government agencies removes the need to collect information directly.
The Petroleum and Other Fuels Reporting (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2017 enables the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Taxation Office to share information with the Department. This will assist to reduce the reporting burden associated with mandatory reporting.
Financial impact statement
The Government provided funding of $1.9 million over the forward estimates for the establishment of mandatory reporting of petroleum, other fuel and fuel-related statistics in the 2016-17 Budget. The ongoing production of fuel statistics will be funded from the Department's existing budgetary allocation.