1Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to reform the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme by corporatising the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority and making related changes to the Scheme.
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Bill homepage (legislation.vic.gov.au)The purpose of this Act is to reform the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme by corporatising the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority and making related changes to the Scheme.
This Part comes into operation on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent.
Section 26(2) is deemed to have come into operation on 9 August 1995.
The remaining provisions of this Act come into operation on a day or days to be proclaimed.
In this Act—
assets means any legal or equitable estate or interest (whether present or future and whether vested or contingent) in real or personal property of any description, and includes—
money, securities, choses in action and documents; and
rights, powers, privileges and immunities (whether present or future and whether vested or contingent), except any immunity or privilege of the Crown in any capacity;
Commonwealth Corporatisation Act means the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act 1997 of the Commonwealth;
corporatisation date means the date on which the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Power Act 1949 of the Commonwealth is repealed by the Commonwealth Corporatisation Act;
existing Snowy electricity transmission undertaking means the assets and liabilities of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority, the Snowy Mountains Council, the Commonwealth, the State of New South Wales, the State of Victoria, or authorities of the Commonwealth or any such State, that are transferred to TransGrid by orders under this Act, the Commonwealth Corporatisation Act or the New South Wales Corporatisation Act;
existing Snowy hydro undertaking means—
the assets and liabilities of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority and the Snowy Mountains Council that are transferred to the Snowy Hydro Company by this Act or by the Commonwealth Corporatisation Act or the New South Wales Corporatisation Act; and
the assets and liabilities of the Commonwealth, the State of New South Wales, the State of Victoria, or authorities of the Commonwealth or any such State, that are transferred to the Snowy Hydro Company by orders under this Act, the Commonwealth Corporatisation Act or the New South Wales Corporatisation Act;
liabilities means any liabilities, debts and obligations (whether present or future and whether vested or contingent);
New South Wales Corporatisation Act means the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act 1997 of New South Wales;
share, in relation to a company, means a share in the capital of the company;
S. 3(1) def. of Snowy Hydro Company or Company substituted by No. 44/2001 s. 3(Sch. item 103.1).
Snowy Hydro Company or Company means Snowy Hydro Limited;
Snowy hydro-group company means the Snowy Hydro Company or a subsidiary of that Company;
Snowy Mountains Council means the Snowy Mountains Council referred to in Part VI of the agreement set out in Schedule 1 to the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Power Act 1949 of the Commonwealth;
Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority or Authority means the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority referred to in the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Power Act 1949 of the Commonwealth;
transferred employee means a person who, under Division 3 of Part 3, is taken to have been engaged as an employee of the Snowy Hydro Company;
TransGrid means the New South Wales Electricity Transmission Authority constituted under the Electricity Transmission Authority Act 1994 of New South Wales.
S. 3(2) amended by No. 44/2001 s. 3(Sch. item 103.2).
For the purposes of this Act, the question of whether a body corporate is a subsidiary of another body corporate is to be determined in the same way as that question is determined under the Corporations Act.
It is the intention of the Parliament that this Act—
is to operate concurrently with the Commonwealth and New South Wales Corporatisation Acts; and
is to have effect only to the extent to which it is within the legislative power of the Parliament.
This Act binds the Crown not only in right of Victoria but also, so far as the legislative power of the Parliament permits, the Crown in all its other capacities.
S. 6(1) amended by No. 64/2006 s. 3(1).
Subject to subsection (2A), the State of Victoria may acquire, hold, dispose of or deal with shares in the Snowy Hydro Company.
Shares in the Snowy Hydro Company held by the State of Victoria, being the initial issue to the State of shares in the Company—
are taken to have been fully paid up; and
are taken to have been issued for valuable consideration, being the relevant percentage of the value of the existing Snowy hydro undertaking.
S. 6(2A) inserted by No. 64/2006 s. 3(2).
The State of Victoria must not dispose of or transfer shares held by it in the Snowy Hydro Company without the approval of each House of Parliament given by a resolution passed by that House.
For the purposes of this section—
the value of the existing Snowy hydro undertaking is the value determined by agreement between the State of New South Wales, the Commonwealth and the State of Victoria; and
the relevant percentage of that value is the percentage of all issued shares in the Snowy Hydro Company that are shares initially issued to the State of Victoria.
S. 6A inserted by No. 64/2006 s. 4.
The member of Parliament who gives notice in a House of Parliament of a resolution to approve the disposal or transfer of shares held by the State of Victoria in the Snowy Hydro Company must cause a copy of any relevant document to be laid before that House on the day on which that notice is given.
Note
Section 6(2A) prevents the State from disposing of or transferring its shares in the Snowy Hydro Company without the approval of each House of Parliament by resolution.
For the purposes of subsection (1) a relevant document is any agreement (including an agreement effected by exchange of letters) entered into by the State of Victoria with the State of New South Wales or any other party, in connection with, or that is otherwise relevant to, the proposed disposal or transfer of shares, being an agreement that deals with—
water flows (including environmental flows and flows to farmers or irrigators or any other person); or
the issue, review, variation, revocation, renewal or transfer of a licence under Part 5 of the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act 1997 of New South Wales; or
the constitution (for the time being) of the Snowy Hydro Company or the modification or repeal of that constitution or the adoption by that Company of a new constitution; or
the Snowy Water Inquiry Outcomes Implementation Deed entered into on behalf of the Commonwealth, New South Wales and Victoria on 3 June 2002 or the amendment or revocation of that Deed; or
S. 6A(2)(e) amended by No. 75/2008 s. 24.
the supply of information between the Snowy Hydro Company and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority established under the Water Act 2007 of the Commonwealth; or
the Agreement within the meaning of the Murray-Darling Basin Act 1993 or any proposed amendment of that Agreement.
Nothing in this section prevents the member of Parliament from causing a copy of any other document to be laid before the House together with any document required by this section to be so laid and the member may do so if he or she thinks fit.
The matter of the Commonwealth of Australia holding shares in the Snowy Hydro Company, to the extent to which it is not otherwise included in the legislative powers of the Parliament of the Commonwealth, is referred to the Parliament of the Commonwealth for a period commencing on the day on which this section commences and ending on the day fixed under subsection (2) as the day on which the reference under this section terminates, but no longer.
The Governor in Council may, at any time, by Order published in the Government Gazette, fix a day as the day on which the reference under this section terminates.
In this section, a reference to holding shares includes a reference to acquiring, disposing of or dealing with those shares.
A Snowy hydro-group company is not, and does not represent, the State of Victoria.
Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), a Snowy hydro-group company—
is not an instrumentality or agency of the State of Victoria; and
is not entitled to any immunity or privilege of the State of Victoria; and
is not a public authority for any purpose and is taken not to have been constituted or established for a public purpose or for a purpose of the State of Victoria.
This section has effect subject to any express provision to the contrary made by any law of Victoria.
The Treasurer may make an agreement with the Treasurer of New South Wales for the payment to Victoria of such proportion of a payment made by the Snowy Hydro Company under section 9 of the New South Wales Corporatisation Act as is equal to the proportion of the shares in the Company held by Victoria during the period in respect of which the payment is made.
The Treasurer may approve the nomination by the Premier of New South Wales of a person to be the Tax Assessor for the Snowy Hydro Company for the purposes of section 9 of the New South Wales Corporatisation Act.
The liabilities of a Snowy hydro-group company are not guaranteed by the State of Victoria.
However, the State of Victoria may agree to guarantee obligations of a Snowy hydro-group company with respect to any debt owed by a Snowy hydro-group company to the Commonwealth on the corporatisation date until the debt is repaid.
Any liability arising from any such agreed guarantee is to be met out of the Consolidated Fund, which is appropriated accordingly.
Any such agreed guarantee may provide for charges to be paid by a Snowy hydro-group company for the benefit of the guarantee.
Subject to this section, the assets and liabilities of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority, immediately before the corporatisation date, are transferred to the Snowy Hydro Company.
The assets and liabilities transferred by this section include the assets and liabilities (if any) of the Snowy Mountains Council. For the purposes of this Act, any such assets and liabilities are taken to be the assets and liabilities of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority.
The liabilities transferred by this section include any liability, immediately before the corporatisation date, arising from the works constructed or the activities carried out (or purporting to be constructed or carried out) under the agreements terminated by section 28(1) (being a liability of the Authority, the Commonwealth, the State of New South Wales, the State of Victoria or any authority of the Commonwealth or any such State). For the purposes of this Act, any such liability is taken to be a liability of the Authority.
The assets and liabilities transferred by this section do not include the assets and liabilities that are transferred to TransGrid by an order under section 14.
The assets transferred by this section do not include stored water.
Schedule 1 applies to the transfer of assets and liabilities under this section.
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