WARNING:
This Digest is prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments.
This Digest was available from 23 May 1996
CONTENTS
Date introduced: 8 May 1996
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Finance
Commencement: Royal Assent
To appropriate $67 670 000 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund
(CRF) for expenditure by the Parliamentary Departments on capital
works and ordinary annual services during the 1996-97 financial
year.
Prior to 1981 appropriations for Parliamentary Departments was
included in Appropriation and Supply Bills (No. 1), which
appropriate funds for the ordinary annual services of the
Government for the upcoming financial year.
Since 1982, appropriations for the Parliamentary Departments has
been by separate Bills following the Government's consideration of
the report of the Senate Select Committee on Parliament's
Appropriations and Staffing tabled on 18 August 1981. The
Government agreed to a separate Bills for Parliamentary Departments
and further agreed that the Bills would not be treated as Bills for
the ordinary annual services of the Government. The Bills are
intended to cover both recurrent and capital expenditure and
recognises that detailed control by the Parliament over individual
items in this area is not necessary.
The Public Service Act 1922 provides that the
administration of the Parliament is conducted by five Parliamentary
Departments - the Department of the House of Representatives, the
Department of the Senate, the Department of the Parliamentary
Library, the Department of the Parliamentary Reporting Staff and
the Joint House Department.
The Department of the House of Representatives and the
Department of the Senate are responsible for the provision of
procedural, information and administrative services to Members and
Senators respectively. The Department of the Parliamentary Library
is responsible for the provision of library, reference and research
services to Members and Senators. The Department of the
Parliamentary Reporting Staff provides reporting, information
technology, telecommunications and broadcasting services to the
Parliament through Hansard, the Parliamentary Information Systems
Office (PISO) and the Sound and Vision Office (SAVO). The Joint
House Department performs building management, maintenance and
catering functions associated with Parliament House.
This Bill appropriates money to each of the above mentioned
Parliamentary Departments.
The $67 670 000 appropriated for the Parliamentary Departments
represents a small fraction of the total amount allocated in
Supply Bill (No. 1) 1996-97 ($14 659 174 000) and
Supply Bill (No. 2) 1996-97 ($1 719 603 000).
The largest amount appropriated by this Bill goes to the Joint
House Department, $17 858 000. The majority of this total, $16 764
000, are for its running costs.
The Minister for Finance will be authorised to issue $67 670 000
from the CRF during 1996-97 for the purposes detailed in the
Schedule to the Bill (clause 3).
Clause 4 will allow the Minister for Finance,
at any time before 1 December 1996, to issue funds from the CRF to
meet increases in salaries and wages arising from any law, order or
determination which becomes payable after 23 April 1996.
Clause 7 allows the President or Speaker,
separately, to make advances up to $300 000 for expenditure to
cover unforseen, erroneously omitted or understated circumstances
in the appropriations proposed by this Bill in relation to the
Senate or the House of Representatives. The President and Speaker
can also make a joint advance, up to $1 million, to cover urgent
and unforeseen circumstances in relation to the Department of the
Parliamentary Reporting Staff, the Parliamentary Library or the
Joint House Department.
Ian Ireland Ph. 06 277 2438
Chris Field Ph. 06 277 2439
17 May 1996
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Research Service
This Digest does not have any official legal status. Other
sources should be consulted to determine whether the Bill has been
enacted and, if so, whether the subsequent Act reflects further
amendments.
PRS staff are available to discuss the paper's contents
with Senators and Members and their staff but not with members of
the public.
ISSN 1323-9032
© Commonwealth of Australia 1996
Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the
Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior
written consent of the Parliamentary Library, other than by Members
of the Australian Parliament in the course of their official
duties.
Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library,
1996.
This page was prepared by the Parliamentary Library,
Commonwealth of Australia
Last updated: 23 May 1996
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