Issue
Is a property adjacent to the road reserve of the Pacific Highway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, within the Sunshine Coast-Brisbane-Gold Coast 'metropolitan area', as defined in Schedule 3 to the Energy Grants (Credits) Scheme Regulations 2003 (the Regulations) for the purposes of the Energy Grants Credits Scheme Act 2003 (EGCSA)?
Decision
No. A property adjacent to the road reserve of the Pacific Highway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast is not within the Sunshine Coast-Brisbane-Gold Coast metropolitan area for the purposes of the Regulations.
Facts
A business is adjacent to the road reserve of the Pacific Highway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
The business property abuts the Pacific Highway road reserve. It shares a common boundary with the Pacific Highway road reserve, being the property line nearest to and parallel with the highway. The property extends back from the common boundary away from the highway.
The property is not within a statistical local area listed in Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 3 to the Regulations.
Reasons for Decision
Section 6 of the EGCSA specifies areas that are metropolitan areas for the purposes of entitlement to an on-road credit. The metropolitan areas are: (a) Newcastle-Sydney-Wollongong metropolitan area (b) Melbourne-Geelong metropolitan area (c) Sunshine Coast-Brisbane-Gold Coast metropolitan area (d) Perth metropolitan area (e) Adelaide metropolitan area (f) Canberra metropolitan area.
Each area is fully specified in the Regulations.
Schedule 3 to the Regulations fully specifies the Sunshine Coast-Brisbane-Gold Coast metropolitan area. It refers to statistical local areas as described in the Australian Standard Geographical Classification published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and current as at 12 April 2000.
For a property to be part of the Sunshine Coast-Brisbane-Gold Coast metropolitan area it must be: • one of the listed statistical local areas in Part 1 of Schedule 3 • within the part of a statistical local area described in Part 2 of Schedule 3, or • within a road reserve between statistical local areas described in Part 3 of Schedule 3.
The client's property is not within a statistical local area listed in Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 3 to the Regulations. Part 3 of Schedule 3 to the Regulations states that the Sunshine Coast-Brisbane-Gold Coast metropolitan area includes the area contained within the road reserve of the Pacific Highway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
The highway road reserve includes the road itself and some metres of space either side of the road. The business property abuts the highway road reserve. It shares a common boundary with the highway road reserve, being the property line nearest to and parallel with the highway. The property extends back from the common boundary away from the highway and is therefore outside the road reserve area.
A property which is: (a) not within a listed statistical local area that forms part of a defined metropolitan area, and (b) not located within a road reserve that defines a part of the defined metropolitan area
is not located within that metropolitan area.
Therefore, as the property is outside the metropolitan area, deliveries to the property from a point inside the Sunshine Coast-Brisbane-Gold Coast metropolitan area may be entitled to an on-road credit under section 43 of the EGCSA, subject to other eligibility requirements of that section.