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Is fuel purchased and used in Christmas Island eligible for an on-road credit under any of sections 42 to 47 of the Energy Grants Credits Scheme Act 2003 (EGCSA)?

No. Fuel purchased and used in Christmas Island is not eligible for an on-road credit under any of sections 42 to 47 of the EGCSA.

A client purchases diesel fuel and uses it to operate a vehicle on Christmas Island.

Section 56 of the EGCSA provides that if you are entitled to an on-road credit or an off-road credit, you are entitled to an energy grant.

Sections 42 to 47 of the EGCSA detail a range of circumstances under which an on-road credit will be available. A requirement common to sections 42 to 46 is that the diesel fuel must be used in operating the vehicle on a road in Australia. Section 47 (which relates to emergency vehicles with a gross vehicle mass of 4.5 tonnes or more) has a similar requirement in that the vehicle must be operated in Australia.

Section 17 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 contains the following relevant definitions: 17 In any Act, unless the contrary intention appears: (a) "Australia" or "the Commonwealth" means the Commonwealth of Australia and, when used in a geographical sense, includes the Territory of Christmas Island and the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, but does not include any other external Territory; ... (pd) "External Territory" means a Territory, not being an internal Territory, for the government of which as a Territory provision is made by any Act; (pe) "Internal Territory" means the Australian Capital Territory, the Jervis Bay Territory or the Northern Territory;

The meaning of the term 'Australia' is qualified in section 4 of the EGCSA as follows: Australia does not include the external Territories.

Given this qualification, the term 'Australia' for the purposes of the EGCSA excludes all external territories.

In determining what is an external territory, and therefore excluded from the definition of 'Australia' for the purposes of the EGCSA, the definition in the Acts Interpretation Act is applicable as the term is not defined in the EGCSA.

Under the Acts Interpretation Act, an external territory is essentially any territory other than an internal territory, that is any territory other than the Australian Capital Territory, the Jervis Bay Territory or the Northern Territory. Consequently all remaining territories, listed by the Australian Law Reform Commission on the Australian Legal Information Institute (AUSTLII) web site as Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, the Heard and McDonald Islands, Norfolk Island, and the Australian Antarctic Territory are external territories and therefore not considered to be 'Australia' for the purposes of the EGCSA.

As, in this instance, the diesel fuel is being used in an external territory, it is not being used to operate a vehicle on a road in Australia and an on-road credit is not available under sections 42 to 46 of the EGCSA. As the vehicle is not being operated in Australia, no entitlement exists under section 47 of the EGCSA.