Appropriation
(Parliamentary Departments) Bill
(No. 2) 2003-2004
Date Introduced:
11 February 2004
House:
House of Representatives
Portfolio:
Finance and Administration
Commencement:
Royal Assent
To appropriate an additional $341 000
for the operation of the parliamentary departments during 2003-2004.
Since 1982 the appropriations for the parliamentary
departments have been effected by a separate Bill. This followed the
Fraser Government’s consideration of the Report of the Senate Select
Committee on Parliamentary Appropriations and Staffing which was tabled
on 18 August 1981. Under current arrangements, the executive
Government maintains control over the contents of the Bill as introduced.
In theory, however, as the Appropriations (Parliamentary Departments)
Bill is not for the ordinary annual services of the Government, it may
be amended by the Senate.
The Parliamentary Service Act 1999 provides
that the administration of the Parliament is undertaken by at least
two parliamentary departments. Only the Departments of the Senate and
the House of Representatives are created by force of law. Other Departments
may be established by resolutions passed by each House.(1)
In August 2003 the Senate and the House of Representatives both resolved
that there would be a Department of Parliamentary Services to support
the work of the Parliament,(2) and that it would be established
by amalgamating the Joint House Department with the Departments of the
Parliamentary Reporting Service and the Parliamentary Library. The
new Department of Parliamentary Services commenced on 1
February 2004. The President is the Presiding Officer responsible
for the Department of the Senate, the Speaker for the Department of
the House of Representatives, and the President and the Speaker together
for the Department of Parliamentary Services.
The 2003-2004 budgets for the parliamentary departments
have been prepared on an accrual basis and provide funding for departmental
expenses, administered expenses and capital items. The primary source
of funds for each of the parliamentary departments is the annual Appropriation
(Parliamentary Departments) Bill, supplemented as required by a second
bill introduced with the Government’s supplementary appropriation bills.
The Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2003-2004
appropriated a total of $167 279 000 for the parliamentary
departments for the 2003-2004 financial year. In addition to appropriations
from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, revenue from other sources may be
credited to a parliamentary department. These revenues are deemed to
have been appropriated. Departments are able to credit revenues from,
for example, proceeds from the sale of parliamentary and educational
materials, and resources received free of charge, such as from the National
Library of Australia or the Australian National Audit Office.
According to the second reading speech, this Bill seeks
additional funds principally to meet increases in Comcover insurance
premiums for 2003-2004.(3) Comcover is a managed fund that
insures more than 180 Commonwealth departments and agencies. It was
set up on 1 July 1998 and replaced the Commonwealth’s previous policy
of non-insurance.(4) Members of Comcover pay an annual premium
that takes into account the member’s current level of risk and past
claims record. Comcover is managed by a branch within the Department
of Finance and Administration. Its operational tasks, including risk
management advice, underwriting, claims management, actuarial service,
and reinsurance are outsourced to the private sector and are currently
handled by Marsh Pty Ltd.(5)
Clause 4 provides that Portfolio Budget Statements
(PBS) and Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements (PAES) are to be
considered as relevant extrinsic material which may assist in the interpretation
of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) legislation. PBS and
PAES are statements prepared by portfolios (or by departments in the
case of parliamentary departments) to explain the Budget appropriations
in terms of outcomes. Their purpose is to assist in explaining the
proposed appropriations in the Appropriation Bills. No PAES has been
prepared by the parliamentary departments to support this Bill. Speaking
to the Senate Estimates Committee on 16
February 2004, the President of the Senate, Senator the Hon
Paul Calvert, said:
I would like to point out to the committee that, last
year, the government agreed to fully supplement agencies for increases
in Comcover insurance premiums for 2003-04. In the case of the Senate
the supplementation for 2003-04 is $23,602, which is less than 0.1
per cent of the department’s appropriation. Ordinarily, significant
changes to an agency’s appropriation require the preparation of portfolio
additional estimate statements, especially where a budget measure
is involved. The Department of Finance and Administration advised
the department [of the Senate] that preparation of the portfolio additional
estamate statements would not be necessary, given the small amount
involved and the fact that this change did not stem from a budgetary
measure.(6)
Similar advice from the Department of Finance and Administration
was received by the Department of the House of Representatives and the
Department of Parliamentary Services.(7)
Clause 6 lists the total amount appropriated
by the Bill, that is, $341 000.
Clause 7 provides that for departmental items,
the Finance Minister may issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund amounts
that do not exceed that listed in the Schedule to the Bill, and that
such funds must be used for the departmental expenses of the relevant
parliamentary department. Departmental expenses are incurred by parliamentary
departments in providing the programs and services indicated in the
Portfolio Budget Statements. Subclause 7(3) provides that where
the amount is for remuneration or allowances payable under the Remuneration
Tribunal Act 1973 or the Remuneration and Allowances Act 1990,
the Finance Minister must issue that amount.
For administered expenses, clause 8 provides
that the Finance Minister may issue the lesser of two amounts; either
the amount specified in the item or the amount the Minister determines
to be the administered expenses incurred by the parliamentary department
during the current year. Administered expenses are funds administered
by the parliamentary department on behalf of the Commonwealth for its
purposes. An example is the Citizenship Visits Program funded jointly
by the Department of the House of Representatives and the Department
of the Senate and managed by the Department of the House of Representatives.
This Bill contains two clauses (clauses 11 and
12) that did not appear in earlier Appropriation Bills for the
parliamentary departments. In the second reading speech on Appropriation
Bill (No. 3) 2003-04, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for
Finance and Administration, Hon Peter Slipper said of the new provisions:
Two new clauses have been added to the three additional
estimates bills. The new clauses will provide a mechanism for the
finance minister, on request from a portfolio minister, to lapse amounts
of departmental expense appropriations which are not required. Such
amounts may not be required because of an accounting reclassification,
efficiency gains resulting in reduced spending or changes in the structure
of government.
The first clause provides the lapsing mechanism in
respect of the three bills. The second clause provides the same mechanism
in respect of the annual appropriation acts agreed to since the 1999
budget.(8)
Clause 11 provides that the responsible Presiding
Officer may request the Finance Minister to make a written determination
reducing the appropriation for an item in the budget of a parliamentary
department by an amount specified in the determination. The amount
of reduction is to be no greater than the amount requested, or, where
payments have already been made from the Consolidated Revenue Fund,
the difference between the amount appropriated to an item and the amount
already paid (proposed paragraph 11(4)(b).) Reductions can only
be made at the request of the responsible Presiding Officer (proposed
subsections 11(1) and 11(3)). Proposed subsection 11(8)
provides that a determination made under this section may be disallowed
by either House of Parliament in accordance with the provisions of section
46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
A similar mechanism to reduce the appropriations from
previous years, back to 1999, is provided by clause 12. This
clause provides that the Finance Minister, on receipt of a written request
from the responsible Presiding Officer, may make a written determination
reducing amounts allocated by the Acts set out in the table in proposed
subsection 12(1). All the Acts listed in the table are Appropriation
Acts of earlier years, back to 1999-2000.
Under section 31 of the Financial Management and
Accountability Act 1997, departments have access to certain monies
received in payment for services (clause 13). Services provided
by parliamentary departments which may attract receipts include contributions
from participants towards the cost of conferences and seminars conducted
by departments, asset sales, monies for accrued leave entitlements of
transferred employees, and interest earned on fixed term deposits with
the Reserve Bank of Australia. It should be noted that resources received
free of charge are not covered by section 31 receipts but are part of
the price of outputs. Revenues from other sources are applied to the
department’s operating expenses.
The responsible Presiding Officer will be able to increase
the amount allocated to an item by a maximum of $200 000 for each
of the three parliamentary departments (clause 14). The responsible
Presiding Officer must give Parliament details of amounts determined
under proposed section 14.
Clause 15 is similar to clause 14 but deals
with increases due to unforseen and urgent circumstances. The maximum
increase under proposed section 15 is $300 000 for each
of the chamber departments, and $1 million for the Department of Parliamentary
Services. Proposed subsection 15(6) requires the responsible
Presiding Officer to give Parliament details of amounts determined under
this section.
Clause 18 will appropriate the funds for services
specified in Schedule 1 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
The House of Representatives and the Senate, when resolving
to create the Department of Parliamentary Services through the amalgamation
of the Joint House Department with the Departments of the Parliamentary
Reporting Service and the Parliamentary Library, also resolved:
That any savings achieved by the amalgamation may be
used to offset increases in costs of security measures approved by
the Presiding Officers for Parliament House, but if those increases
in costs exceed those savings, the appropriations for the Parliamentary
departments are to be supplemented for the excess.
This resolution of the two Houses may be relevant in
the context of clauses 11 and 12, but will not
take effect until future financial years.
-
Parliamentary Service Act 1999, section 54.
-
The House of Representatives agreed to the resolution on 14 August 2003 and the Senate on 18 August 2003.
-
Hon Peter Slipper, Parliamentary
Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration, ‘Second
Reading Speech’, House
of Representatives, Debates, 11 February, 2004, p. 24256.
-
Hon John Fahey, Minister for Finance
and Administration, ‘Responsible risk management for the Commonwealth
Government’, Media Release, 60/98. See also Comcover’s website at:
www.finance.gov.au/comcover/about_comcover.html
-
Senator the Hon Eric Abetz, Special Minister of State, ‘Marsh wins
Comcover outsource tender’, Media Release, 7 August 2001.
-
Senator the Hon Paul Calvert,
‘Parliament: Department of the Senate’, Senate Estimates Committee,
Hansard, 16 February 2004, p. 2.
-
Personal communications 24
February 2004. The additional funding will be referred
to in the parliamentary departments’ 2004-2005 Portfolio Budget
Statements.
-
Slipper, Hon Peter, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for
Finance and Administration, ‘Second Reading Speech’, Appropriation
Bill (No. 3) 2003-2004, House of Representatives, Debates, 11 February
2004, p. 242555.
This paper has been prepared for general distribution to Senators and
Members of the Australian Parliament. While great care is taken to ensure
that the paper is accurate and balanced, the paper is written using information
publicly available at the time of production. The views expressed are
those of the author and should not be attributed to the Information and
Research Services (IRS). Advice on legislation or legal policy issues
contained in this paper is provided for use in parliamentary debate and
for related parliamentary purposes. This paper is not professional legal
opinion. Readers are reminded that the paper is not an official parliamentary
or Australian government document.
Published by the Parliamentary Library, 2004.
