Under current jurisdictional licensing arrangements, each state and territory has different licence periods, ranging from one year to five years. The current licence periods for each jurisdiction are shown in Table 4.11. The Consultation RIS proposed moving to a standard three year period and provided costing on that basis, however consultation feedback supported a more flexible range of licence periods. The proposal in this document therefore provides for licensee choice of one, three or five year terms for each national licence.
Table 4.11: Current licence period across each jurisdiction (in years)
In general terms, both licensees and jurisdictions benefit from a longer licence period, as licensees save time in applying less frequently and jurisdictions do not have to process the applications. Introducing a choice of licence periods will benefit licensees as the flexibility will allow them to tailor their application to their individual needs and resources, however there will be a small increase in complexity for those jurisdictions not currently offering such a range of licence terms and it may make it more difficult for them to predict revenue. Table 4.12 provides indicative costings representing the benefit to licensees if all licensees chose to select the maximum licence period of five years. These figures would represent a potential overestimate as there will be a variety of reasons why a licensee may not wish to avail themselves of the savings that might be presented should they opt for the longer period. It is unclear what proportion of licence holders would choose each licence duration and therefore difficult to cost.
Table 4.12: Benefit to licensees under a standard licence period of five years
As a comparison, Table 4.13 shows the impact of moving to a set three-year period. The jurisdictions not shown in the table would experience no impact as their licence periods are already set at three years. Tables 4.14 and 4.15 show impacts under a ten year licence period and a perpetual licence respectively.
