Emergency Services Funding Act 1998

This

Act may be cited as the Emergency

Services Funding Act 1998.

In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—

the area factor means the factor for each of the emergency services areas declared by notice under section 10;

authorised officer means a person who is an authorised officer for the purposes of the taxation laws under the Taxation

Administration Act 1996;

Commissioner means the person appointed or acting as the Commissioner of State

Taxation, and includes a person appointed or acting as a

Deputy Commissioner of State Taxation (see Part 9 of the

Taxation

Administration Act 1996);

contiguous land—see subsections (2) and (3);

CTP

Regulator means the CTP Regulator established under the Compulsory

Third Party Insurance Regulation Act 2016;

emergency service means—

a service of the kind provided by—

the

South Australian Country Fire Service;

the

South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service;

the

South Australian State Emergency Service;

Surf

Life Saving South Australia Inc.;

a body or organisation accredited as a Volunteer Marine Rescue organisation by the State Marine Rescue Committee; or

a service provided by the South Australian Police Department—

of a kind referred to in paragraph (a);

or

to assist a body or organisation referred to in paragraph (a) in providing such a service; or

a service or other activity incidental or related to a service of a kind referred to in paragraphs (a) or (b);

emergency services area means an area prescribed by or under section 7;

the

Fund means the Community Emergency Services Fund established by this Act;

the land use factor means the factor for each of the land uses referred to in section 8(1) declared by notice under section 10;

motor vehicle means a motor vehicle that is required to be registered under the

Motor

Vehicles Act 1959;

non-reviewable decision—see section 4;

owner of land means—

where the land has been granted in fee simple—

in the case of land that is subject to a life estate—the holder of the life estate;

in any other case—the holder of the estate in fee simple in the land;

in relation to dedicated land within the meaning of the Crown

Lands Act 1929 that has not been granted in fee simple but which is under the care, control and management of a Minister, body or other person—the

Minister, body or other person;

in relation to land dedicated by or under any other Act being land that has not been granted in fee simple but which is under the care, control and management of a Minister, body or other person—the

Minister, body or other person;

where the land is unalienated land of the Crown—the Crown;

where the land is held from the Crown under lease, licence or agreement to purchase—

if the lease, licence or agreement confers a right to occupy the land—the person entitled to the right of occupation;

in any other case—the Crown;

where the land is held under a shack lease—the person entitled to the right of occupation, and includes any person who has arrogated to himself or herself (whether lawfully or unlawfully) the rights of an owner of the land;

shack lease means a lease for the occupation of land for holiday, recreational or residential purposes where the land is situated on or adjacent to the banks of the River Murray, a tributary of the River Murray, or a lake or lagoon connected with the River Murray or a tributary of the

River Murray;

Tribunal means the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal established under the South

Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013;

vessel means a vessel that is required to be registered under the Harbors and Navigation Act 1993.

Where unalienated land of the Crown is held from the Crown under a licence, the ownership of the land for the purposes of this Act will be determined in accordance with paragraph (e) of the definition of owner in subsection (1) and not in accordance with paragraph (d) of that definition.

For the purposes of this Act, pieces of land will be taken to be contiguous if they abut one another at any point or if they are separated only by—

a street, road, lane, footway, court, railway, thoroughfare or travelling stock route; or

a reserve or other similar open space dedicated for public purposes.

For the purposes of subsection (2) pieces of land will be taken to be separated by intervening land if a line projected at right angles from any point on the boundary of one of them with the intervening land would intersect a boundary of the other with the intervening land.

A reference in this Act to the use of land is a reference to the predominant use of the land.

If a provision of this Act provides that a decision is a non‑reviewable decision, no court or administrative review body has the jurisdiction or power to entertain any question as to the validity or correctness of the decision.

Subject to this Division, an emergency services levy may be assessed by the

Commissioner against all land in the State in respect of each financial year.

The levy may be assessed against—

any piece or section of land subject to separate ownership or occupation; or

any aggregation of contiguous land subject to the same ownership or occupation; or

any aggregation of land pursuant to subsection (2a).

Where two or more pieces or sections of land or aggregations of contiguous land are not contiguous they may be aggregated for the purposes of subsection (2)(c) if—

the owner or occupier of all of the land concerned is the same person;

and

all of the land is used to carry on the business of primary production and is managed as a single unit for that purpose; and

all of the land is either situated in the area of the same council under the Local

Government Act 1999 or is situated in a part of the State that is not in the area of a council.

Where land that is subject to separate assessment in accordance with subsection (2) is situated partly in one emergency services area and partly in another, the levy may be separately assessed against the parts of the land situated in different areas.

Where different parts of land that is subject to separate assessment in accordance with subsection (2) are used for different purposes referred to in section 8, the levy may be separately assessed against each of those parts.

Where land is divided by a strata plan under the Strata

Titles Act 1988—

the levy will be assessed against the units but not against the common property; but

the equitable interest in the common property that attaches to each unit will be regarded, for the purpose of valuation, as part of the unit.

Where land is divided by a primary, secondary or tertiary plan of community division under the Community

Titles Act 1996—

in the case of the division of land by a primary plan—the levy will be assessed against the primary lots that are not divided by a secondary plan and against the development lot or lots (if any);

in the case of the division of land by a secondary plan—the levy will be assessed against the secondary lots that are not divided by a tertiary plan and against the development lot or lots (if any);

in the case of the division of land by a tertiary plan—the levy will be assessed against the tertiary lots and the development lot or lots (if any).

Where land is divided by a primary, secondary or tertiary plan of community division under the Community

Titles Act 1996—

in the case of the division of land by a primary plan—where the use of the common property or part of it is, in the opinion of the

Valuer-General, reasonably incidental to the use of one or more of the primary lots, the levy will not be assessed against the common property, or that part of it, but the interest in the common property, or that part of it, that attaches to each primary lot will be regarded for the purposes of valuation as part of the lot;

in the case of the division of land by a secondary plan—where the use of the common property or part of it is, in the opinion of the

Valuer-General, reasonably incidental to the use of one or more of the secondary lots, the levy will not be assessed against the common property, or that part of it, but the interest in the common property, or that part of it, (and in the common property of the primary scheme referred to in paragraph (a) (if any)) that attaches to each secondary lot will be regarded for the purposes of valuation as part of the lot;

in the case of the division of land by a tertiary plan—where the use of the common property or part of it is, in the opinion of the

Valuer-General reasonably incidental to the use of one or more of the tertiary lots, the levy will not be assessed against the common property, or that part of it, but the interest in the common property, or that part of it, (and in the common property of the primary and secondary schemes referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) (if any)) that attaches to each tertiary lot will be regarded for the purposes of valuation as part of the lot.

Where land is divided by a primary, secondary or tertiary plan of community division under the Community

Titles Act 1996 and the use of common property or any part of it is not, in the opinion of the Valuer-General, reasonably incidental to the use of any of the community lots, the levy will be assessed against the common property or that part of it and the relevant community corporation is liable for the levy as though it were the owner of the common property.

If a valuation of land subject to separate assessment under this Act has not been made or adopted by the Valuer-General under the

Valuation of Land Act 1971, the Valuer-General must make or adopt a valuation of that land under that Act.

Residential land held from the South Australian Housing Trust under a lease, licence or agreement to purchase is exempt from the imposition of a levy under this Division.

The owner or occupier of land may apply to the Commissioner for the aggregation of non contiguous land for the purposes of section 5(2)(c).

The application must—

be in writing; and

be received by the Commissioner on or before 31 March immediately preceding the first financial year to which the aggregation of the land will relate.

The applicant must provide the Commissioner with such information and evidence as the Commissioner reasonably requires to consider the application.

The

Commissioner must serve notice of his or her decision on the applicant and, if the application is refused, the notice must include the Commissioner's reasons for refusing the application.

The applicant may apply to the Tribunal under section 34 of the

South

Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 for a review of a decision of the Commissioner to refuse an application under this section.

An application for review must be made within 28 days after the notice is served on the applicant under subsection (4).

If the basis on which land is aggregated for assessment purposes under section 5(2)(c) ceases to exist, the owner of the land must immediately inform the

Commissioner of that fact.

Maximum penalty: $2 500.

A levy may consist of—

an amount payable in respect of each dollar of the value of land subject to assessment under this Act; or

a fixed charge; or

two separate components, one being the amount referred to in paragraph (a) and the other a fixed charge under paragraph (b).

The value of the land for the purposes of subsection (1) is determined by multiplying its capital value by the area factor and the land use factor for the land.

The capital value of land for the purposes of subsection (2) is the capital value of the land as at 1 July in the financial year to which the levy relates determined or adopted by the

Valuer-General under the Valuation of Land Act 1971.

The

State is divided into the following emergency services areas for the purpose of determining the area factor:

"Greater

Adelaide" being the combined areas of the councils listed in

Schedule 1 comprising Metropolitan Adelaide and the Adelaide hills;

"Regional area 1" being the areas of the cities and towns listed in

Schedule 1;

"Regional area 2" being that part of the State that is within the area of a council but is not part of Greater Adelaide or Regional area 1;

"Regional area 3" being that part of the State that is not within the area of a council.

The

Governor may, by proclamation—

revoke one or more of the areas into which the State is divided by this section (or by a proclamation under this subsection) and reconstitute the part of the State affected as one or more emergency services areas for the purposes of this Act; or

vary the boundaries of two or more emergency services areas.

For the purposes of determining the amount of the levy payable in respect of land, the land will be taken to be situated in the emergency services area in which it was situated on 1 July in the financial year to which the levy relates.

The following land uses are prescribed for the purposes of determining the land use factor:

commercial;

industrial;

residential;

rural;

all uses other than those referred to in paragraphs (a),

or (d).

Land will be taken to be used for one of the purposes referred to in subsection (1) if, in the opinion of the Valuer-General, it is being predominantly used for that purpose on the relevant day.

Land (except vacant land) that was not being used on the relevant day will be taken to be used for the purpose for which it was last used on a continuing basis.

Vacant land that is not used for any purpose and that would not, but for this subsection, fall within paragraph (d) of subsection (1) will be taken to fall within that paragraph whether it is situated in a rural area or in any other part of the State.

In this section—

commercial use of land means a use of land defined by the Local Government

Regulations as commercial shop,

commercial office or commercial other;

industrial use of land means a use of land defined by the Local Government

Regulations as industry light or industry other;

Local

Government Regulations means the Local

Government (General) Regulations 1999;

the relevant day in respect of a financial year specified in a notice under section 10(1) means the day (whether occurring on, before or after the day on which the notice is published in the Gazette) specified in the notice as the relevant day in respect of that year;

residential use of land means a use of land defined by the Local Government

Regulations as residential;

rural use of land means a use of land defined by the Local Government

Regulations as primary production.

The owner of land may object to the attribution of a particular use to the land by the Valuer-General.

The objection must be made to the Minister and must—

be in writing; and

set out—

the grounds of the objection; and

the land use that should, in the objector's opinion, be attributed to the land; and

be served on the Minister within 60 days after the objector receives notice under section 16 of the levy payable by him or her.

The

Minister may decide any such objection as he or she thinks fit and must notify the objector in writing of his or her decision and the reasons for it.

An objector who is dissatisfied with the Minister's decision may apply to the Tribunal under section 34 of the South

Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 for a review of the Minister's decision.

An application for review must be made within 21 days after notification of the Minister's decision to the objector.

Except as provided by this section, the attribution of a particular land use to land under this Division cannot be challenged.

The determination of an objection under this section only affects the attribution of a use to land for the purposes of this Act.

The

Governor may, by notice published in the Gazette on the recommendation of the Minister, declare—

the levy; and

where the levy, or a component of the levy, is an amount payable in respect of each dollar of the value of land—

the area factor for each of the emergency services areas; and

the land use factor for each of the land uses referred to in section 8(1);

and

the relevant day for the purposes of section 8, for the financial year specified in the notice.

Where the levy, or a component of the levy, is a fixed charge, the amount of the charge must be the same for each piece, section or aggregation of contiguous land subject to separate assessment that is situated in the same emergency services area.

The notice must be published before the commencement of the financial year to which it relates.

The

Minister must, before making a recommendation to the Governor under subsection (1), determine—

the amount that, in the Minister's opinion, needs to be raised by means of the levy under this Division to fund emergency services in the relevant financial year; and

the amounts to be expended in that financial year for various kinds of emergency services and the other purposes referred to in section 28(4);

and

as far as practicable, the extent to which the various parts of the

State will benefit from the application of that amount.

Before making a recommendation to the Governor under subsection (1) as to the amount of the levy and the values of the area factors and the land use factors to be included in the notice published under that subsection and before making the determinations under subsection (4), the Minister must refer to the Economic and Finance Committee of

Parliament a written statement setting out the determinations that the Minister proposes making under subsection (4) in respect of the relevant financial year and must not make recommendations to the Governor under subsection (1) or determinations under subsection (4) until the Committee has reported to Parliament or has failed to report within the time required by subsection (5a).

It is a function of the Economic and Finance Committee of Parliament to enquire into, consider and report on the Minister's statement within

21 days after it is referred to the Committee under subsection (5).

A notice published under subsection (1) must—

include a statement of the amount determined by the Minister under subsection (4)(a);

and

include a description of the method used in determining that amount;

The

Minister must, as soon as practicable after the publication of a notice under subsection (1), cause a copy of the notice to be laid before both Houses of

Parliament.

After the first notice declaring a levy under subsection (1) has been published in the Gazette, the Governor must not declare a further levy under that subsection in respect of a subsequent year unless—

the amount of the levy is the same as, or less than, the amount of the levy declared by the first notice; or

the notice declaring the levy has been authorised by a resolution passed by both Houses of Parliament.

No proceedings for judicial review or for a declaration, injunction, writ, order or other remedy may be brought before a court, tribunal or other person or body to challenge or question the amount of the levy or the value of the area factor or the land use factor declared in a notice under subsection (1).

The

Commissioner must ensure that a record (the assessment book) is kept in which is entered—

—

a brief description of each separate piece or section of land or aggregation of contiguous land that is subject to separate assessment for the emergency services levy under this Act; and

the capital value for the time being determined or adopted by the

Valuer-General of that land; and

the name and address of the owner of the land; and

the land use of the land; and

such other information as may be prescribed by regulation.

Notwithstanding subsection (1), where the Commissioner is satisfied that the inclusion in the assessment book of the name or address of any person would place at risk the personal safety of that person, a member of that person's family or any other person, the Commissioner may suppress the name or address from the assessment book.

Where the Commissioner is satisfied that a person's address is suppressed from the roll under the Electoral

Act 1985, the Commissioner may—

where the person's residential address is included in respect of land that the person owns but does not occupy—suppress the person's residential address from the assessment book;

where the person's residential address is land described in the assessment book—suppress the person's name from the assessment book in relation to that land.

The assessment book may—

be kept in any form (whether in the form of a book or not) that allows for the accurate recording of information and easy access to that information;

be kept in different parts at different places;

where the Commissioner delegates the duty to keep the assessment book—be kept in different parts by different persons.

The

Commissioner may make any alteration to the assessment book that may be necessary to keep the book in a correct and up to date form.

The

Commissioner may require a council or any other person who has information that is necessary or useful for—

the purpose of compiling the assessment book and keeping it in an up to date form; or

any other purpose related to the administration of this Act, to provide that information to the Commissioner (or to any other person nominated by the Commissioner) in the form specified by the

Commissioner.

Application may be made to the Commissioner for an alteration of the assessment book by an owner of land on the ground that particular information entered in the assessment book is incorrect or has not been recorded in accordance with this Act.

An application under subsection (1) must be made in a manner and form approved by the Commissioner.

The

Commissioner must notify the applicant in writing of the

Commissioner's decision, and if the application is refused, the notice must include the Commissioner's reasons for refusing the application.

An applicant who is dissatisfied with the decision of the Commissioner on the application may apply to the Tribunal under section 34 of the South

Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 for a review of the Commissioner's decision.

An application for review must be made within 21 days after notification of the Commissioner's decision under subsection (3).