Water Industry Competition Act 2006

An application for a licence is to be made to IPART and determined by the Minister.

On receiving an application for a licence, IPART must—

give a copy of the application to the Minister, and

invite submissions on the application from persons as required by the regulations, and

invite submissions on the application from the public by notice published on IPART’s website and otherwise as considered appropriate by IPART.

An invitation to make submissions on an application must allow at least 28 days for submissions to be made and must be accompanied by a copy of the application, other than material IPART considers to be confidential, or set out how a copy of the application may be obtained.

After considering an application for a licence and the submissions on the application, IPART is to provide a report on the application to the Minister.

The report must include recommendations regarding the following—

whether or not a licence should be granted,

the licence conditions, if any, that should be imposed on the licence.

IPART is not required to notify the applicant about, or give the applicant an opportunity to make submissions about, a report or proposed report to the Minister on an application despite a requirement of the rules of procedural fairness.

Before providing a report on an application to the Minister, IPART may require an application audit to be undertaken.

The Minister must consider, but is not bound to accept, IPART’s report and recommendations and may seek further advice from IPART on an application.