|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
House of Representatives |
$29.938 m |
($29.222 m) |
|
Senate |
$29.369 m |
($29.748 m) |
|
Joint House Department |
$44.817m |
($44.927 m) |
|
Parliamentary Reporting Staff |
$44.456m |
($43.764 m) |
|
Parliamentary Library |
$17.522 m |
($17.303 m) |
|
Total |
$166.102 m |
($164.964 m) |
In addition to appropriations from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, certain money receipts may be credited to a Parliamentary Department's operating expenses. That is, these receipts are deemed to have been appropriated. Departments are able to credit receipts from, for example, proceeds of 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.
Clause 4 provides that Portfolio Budget Statements are to be considered as relevant extrinsic material which may assist in the interpretation of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) legislation. Portfolio Budget Statements 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.
Clause 6 lists the total amount appropriated by the Bill - that is $166 102 000 million.
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 used to purchase programs and services provided by the Parliamentary Department as indicated in the Portfolio Budget Statement. 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 Minister for Finance must issue the 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.
Under section 31 of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 departments have access to certain monies received in payment for services. Services provided by Parliamentary Departments which may attract credit receipts include contributions from participants towards the cost of conferences and seminars conducted by the 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. The Department's operating expenses are reduced by the expected earnings (clause 11).
The responsible Presiding Officer/s will be able to increase the amount allocated to an item to a total maximum of $200 000 for both the House of Representatives and the Senate (for these Departments this power is exercisable by the Speaker for the House of Representatives and by the President for the Senate) and to a total maximum of $200 000 for all the remaining Departments combined (exercisable jointly by the Speaker and President) (clause 12).
Clause 13 is similar to clause 12 but deals with increases in items due to unforeseen and urgent circumstances. The maximum increase under clause 13 is a total of $300 000 for the Senate, $300 000 for the House of Representatives, and a total of $1 million for the other Departments combined.
Clause 16 will appropriate formally from the Consolidated Revenue Fund the funds for the Bill.
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.
ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2002
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, 2002.
