The Minister for Infrastructure and Transport has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1)   Under the Bass Strait Passenger Vehicle Equalisation Scheme (the scheme) the rebate is provided to the driver of an eligible passenger vehicle in the form of a reduced fare charged by a service operator such as TT-Line and they are reimbursed on the actual claims.

(2)   No.

(3) The scheme is a rebate scheme rather than a freight management scheme. Compliance reviews of claims and annual audits of all service operators under the scheme are undertaken to ensure rebates have been claimed for eligible passenger vehicles; and the correct rebate has been claimed for each vehicle type.