Excise - Payments - Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme - Travel in metropolitan area by buses on an advertised charter or scheduled service.

Does a charter bus itinerary constitute an eligible journey for the purposes of section 10 of the Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme Act 1999 (DAFGS Act), where the bus: • starts outside the metropolitan area, moves into the metropolitan area, drops passengers off and travels to a depot for a short period of time; and then • leaves the depot, picks up the passengers, continues its advertised charter through the metropolitan area, and returns to the start point outside the metropolitan area?

The proposed charter bus itinerary constitutes two separate eligible journeys for the purposes of section 10 of the DAFGS Act.

The applicant operates a charter bus enterprise. The requirements of subsection 10(1) of the DAFGS Act are satisfied in respect of the relevant bus.

The bus is operated on an advertised day charter service. The charter starts outside the metropolitan area and travels into the metropolitan area. At the first stop of the charter the passengers temporarily leave the bus. As the bus cannot wait at the first drop-off point, it travels to a depot where it waits for a few hours. The bus then returns to the point at which the passengers left the bus, and they reboard the bus.

The bus then continues its advertised charter through the metropolitan area, and returns to the start point outside the metropolitan area.

An entity is entitled to a fuel grant under section 10 of the DAFGS Act only to the extent that the entity uses the diesel fuel in carrying on an enterprise on a public road in Australia on a journey: • between a point outside the metropolitan area and another point outside the metropolitan area; or • between a point outside the metropolitan area and a point inside a metropolitan area; or • between a point inside a metropolitan area and a point outside the metropolitan area; or • between different metropolitan areas.

Section 10 of the DAFGS Act must be read in conjunction with the Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme (Journeys) Determination 2000 (Journeys Determination) made under subsections 10A(1) and 10A(2) of the Act.

Part 5 of the Journeys Determination deals with buses on an advertised charter. It states: '1) The operation of a bus on an advertised charter or scheduled service, is not taken to be a journey if: a) the route start and route end are inside the same metropolitan area; and b) the route of the service does not extend beyond that metropolitan area. 2) The operation of a bus, on an advertised charter or scheduled service, is taken to be a journey in its own right if it is not described in subsection (1).'

Part 2 of the Journeys Determination explains the concept of a 'point'. Part 2.1 (3) relevantly identifies each of the following as a point: • A depot or garage from which the vehicle leaves, or at which the vehicle arrives; • A place ( a route start ) that is the starting point of the route of an advertised charter or scheduled bus service; and • A place ( a route end ) that is the end point of the route of an advertised charter or scheduled bus service.

Part 2.1 (4) of the Journeys Determination identifies places that are not points. It states that a place at which a passenger boards or leaves a bus on an advertised charter or scheduled service is not a point.

In this case, the effect of Part 2 and Part 5 of the Journeys Determination is that the route start and route end are the country town where the day charter begins and ends. The bus has made two separate eligible journeys: • from a point outside the metropolitan area (the route start at a country town) to a point inside the metropolitan area (the depot); and • from a point inside the metropolitan area (the depot) to a point outside the metropolitan area (the route end).