BILLS DIGEST NO. 76, 2020–21    22 June 2021

Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022 [and] Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021-2022 [and] Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022

Phillip Hawkins
Economic Policy Section

Purpose of the Bills

Structure of the Bills

Background

Committee consideration

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

Key issues and provisions

Date introduced: 11 May 2021

House: House of Representatives

Portfolio: Finance

Commencement: The later of 1 July 2021 or the day of Royal Assent

Links: The links to the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021–2022, the Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021–2022 and the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021–2022 can be found on the relevant Bill home pages, or through the Australian Parliament website.

When Bills have been passed and have received Royal Assent, they become Acts, which can be found at the Federal Register of Legislation website.

All hyperlinks in this Bills Digest are correct as at June 2021.

1 Purpose of the Bills

This Bills Digest refers to three Bills (jointly referred to as the Appropriation Bills).

The purpose of the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021–2022 (the No. 1 Bill) is to propose appropriations from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of $122,017,626,000 ($122.0 billion). Of the appropriations proposed in the No. 1 Bill:

• $58,794,014,000 ($58.8 billion) is for the departmental activities of government entities and

• $63,223,612,000 ($63.2 billion) is for activities that government entities administer on behalf of the Commonwealth Government.

The purpose of the Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021–2022 (the No. 2 Bill) is to propose appropriations in the amount of $19,957,420,000 ($20.0 billion) from the CRF. Of the appropriations proposed in the No. 2 Bill:

• $1,659,970,000 ($1.7 billion) is for payments to states, ACT and NT and local governments

• $228,786,000 ($0.2 billion) is for new administered outcomes and

• $18,068,664,000 ($18.1 billion) is for non-operating activities.

The purpose of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021–2022 (Parliamentary Departments Bill) is to propose appropriations in the amount of $287,508,000 ($287.5 million) from the CRF for expenditure related to parliamentary departments. Of the appropriations proposed in the Parliamentary Departments Bill:

• $237,960,000 ($238.0 million) is for the activities of parliamentary departments

• $9,186,000 ($9.2 million) is for the administrative functions of parliamentary departments and

• $40,362,000 ($40.4 million) is for the non-operating expenses of the Department of Parliamentary Services.

2 Structure of the Bills

Part 1 of each Bill deals with preliminary matters, including when the Acts commence, and how to interpret the Acts.

Part 2 of each Bill outlines the quantum and types of appropriation from the CRF.

Part 3 of the No. 1 and No. 2 Bill establish the Advance to the Finance Minister (AFM) for 2021– 2022, whereas Part 3 of the Parliamentary Departments Bill establishes the Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer for 2021–2022.

Part 4 of both the No. 1 Bill and the Parliamentary Departments Bill, and Part 5 of the No. 2 Bill deal with technical matters including crediting amounts to special accounts, the formal appropriation of moneys from the CRF, and the subsequent automatic repeal of the Acts.

Part 4 of the No. 2 Bill sets the maximum amounts that can be drawn each year from the CRF for grants that the Commonwealth makes to the states and territories. These limits are known as ‘debit limits’.

Schedule 1 of the No. 2 Bill nominates the Ministers who are able to impose conditions on grants of financial assistance to the states and territories proposed in that Bill.

Schedule 1 of the No. 1 Bill and the Parliamentary Departments Bill and Schedule 2 of the No. 2 Bill contain the details of the amounts and types of appropriation to be made to each entity.

3 Background

About appropriations

An appropriation is the legal release of monies from the CRF.¹ Appropriation Acts, however, do not create a source of power for the Commonwealth to spend money; they merely release that money from the CRF. The Commonwealth’s power to spend money must be found in other parts of the Australian Constitution.²

Under the terms of the Constitution, there are certain unique requirements that a Bill proposing to appropriate monies from the CRF must satisfy.

Constitutional requirements

Section 81 of the Constitution provides:

All revenues or moneys raised or received by the Executive Government of the Commonwealth shall form one Consolidated Revenue Fund, to be appropriated for the purposes of the Commonwealth …³

Section 83 of the Constitution provides that no money may be withdrawn from the CRF ‘except under appropriation made by law’. The effect of these two sections is that all moneys received by the Commonwealth must be paid into the CRF, and must not be spent before there is an appropriation authorising specific expenditure.

There are, broadly speaking, two types of appropriations – annual appropriations and special appropriations.

• Annual appropriations are those that provide annual funding to Commonwealth entities, such as Departments, to undertake ongoing government activities. These appropriations are given authority through the Appropriation Acts which relate to the specific Budget year. These appropriations are limited to the amount set out in the Appropriation Act.⁴

• Special appropriations are appropriations that are not annual appropriations. They provide authority to spend money for specific purposes (for example, to finance particular projects or provide social security payments). The authority to appropriate, and the criteria that must be met to appropriate those monies, are not set out in the annual appropriation Acts, but rather Acts that authorise Government to expend money from the CRF for specified purposes, for example, the Social Security (Administration Act) 1999.⁵

Annual appropriations account for around 25 per cent of Australian Government expenditures with the remaining 75 per cent funded through Special Appropriations.⁶

It is important to note that annual and special appropriations do not create a source of power for the Commonwealth to spend money; they merely release that money from the CRF. The Commonwealth’s power to spend money must be found in other parts of the Constitution.⁷

Powers of the House of Representative to appropriate

Section 53 of the Constitution provides that laws appropriating money may not originate in the Senate.⁸ Further, under section 56 of the Constitution, all proposed laws for the appropriation of money may only be passed following a recommendation by the Governor-General. By convention the Governor-General acts only upon the advice of the Executive so, in practice, section 56 prevents non-government members of the House of Representatives introducing Bills that would propose to appropriate money from the CRF.⁹

Powers of the Senate to amend

The Senate may not amend proposed laws appropriating revenue or moneys for the ordinary annual services of the Government. The Senate may, however, return to the House of Representatives any such proposed laws requesting, by message, the omission or amendment of any items or provisions.¹⁰

The Senate may amend proposed laws appropriating revenue for purposes other than for the ordinary annual services of the Government, as long as it does not ‘increase any proposed charge or burden on the people’.¹¹ Conceivably, the Senate could amend an Appropriation Bill for the other services of Government to, for example, redirect the proposed appropriation to another purpose, or reduce the proposed appropriation to nil. The Senate may also request that, if new measures are included in a Bill for the ‘ordinary annual services of Government’, the Bill be returned to the House with a message requesting those new measures be omitted from the Bill.

The ‘ordinary annual services of government’ versus the ‘other’ services of government

Section 54 of the Constitution requires a separate law appropriating funds for the ‘ordinary annual services of government’, and that other matters must not be dealt with in the same Bill. However, what constitutes the ‘ordinary annual services of the Government’ and ‘other’ services of the Government is not defined in the Constitution.

A working distinction between ordinary and other annual services was agreed in a ‘Compact’ between the Senate and the Government in 1965.¹² Several amendments have been made to the Compact since 1965 and, in 2010, the Senate Standing Committee on Appropriations and Staffing recommended the Senate restate the Compact in a consolidated form.¹³ On 22 June 2010, the Senate resolved as follows:

(1)    To reaffirm its constitutional right to amend proposed laws appropriating revenue or moneys for expenditure on all matters not involving the ordinary annual services of the Government.

(2)     That appropriations for expenditure on:

(a)     the construction of public works and buildings;

(b)     the acquisition of sites and buildings;

(c)     items of plant and equipment which are clearly definable as capital expenditure (but not including the acquisition of computers or the fitting out of buildings);

(d)     grants to the states under section 96 of the Constitution;

(e)     new policies not previously authorised by special legislation;

(f)     items regarded as equity injections and loans; and

(g)     existing asset replacement (which is to be regarded as depreciation),

are not appropriations for the ordinary annual services of the Government and that proposed laws for the appropriation of revenue or moneys for expenditure on the said matters shall be presented to the Senate in a separate appropriation bill subject to amendment by the Senate.

(3)     That, in respect of payments to international organisations:

(a)     the initial payment in effect represents a new policy decision and therefore should be in Appropriation Bill (No. 2); and

(b)     subsequent payments represent a continuing government activity of supporting the international organisation and therefore represent an ordinary annual service and should be in Appropriation Bill (No. 1).

(4)     That all appropriation items for continuing activities for which appropriations have been made in the past be regarded as part of ordinary annual services.¹⁴

Adherence to the Compact has not always been strict, and the High Court has held that any disagreements between the Houses are not justiciable.¹⁵ Any disputes are to be determined between the Houses themselves.

Departmental and administered expenses

Australian Accounting Standard 1050 Administered Items requires that government agencies distinguish between revenues and expenses that they administer for the Government, and those over which they have some control.¹⁶ Generally, administered expenses are the costs of programs that agencies run for the Government, while departmental expenses are the costs incurred in running agencies.¹⁷

Appropriation Bills, therefore, distinguish between ‘administered’ expenses and ‘departmental’ expenses. An administered appropriation may be used only for the program or outcome that it is appropriated for, while a departmental appropriation may be moved between different departmental activities.¹⁸

Outcomes and programs

While the level of detail necessary for an Appropriation Act to be valid is generally low,¹⁹ in the Pharmaceutical Benefits case the High Court held:

… there cannot be appropriations in blank, appropriations for no designated purpose, merely authorising expenditure ... ²⁰

The Appropriation Bills must, therefore, also describe—in general terms—what the moneys are to be utilised for. The Bills use four methods for describing the purposes of the proposed appropriations.

Appropriations for ‘outcomes’ of non-corporate Commonwealth entities

For non-corporate Commonwealth entities, the purposes of operating appropriations (both departmental and administered) are specified with reference to the ‘outcomes’ of those entities. In 2018, the Department of Finance explained ‘outcome statements’ in the following terms:

An outcome statement articulates the intended results, activities and target group of an Australian Government entity. An outcome statement serves three main purposes within the financial framework:

1.     to explain and control the purposes for which annual appropriations are approved by the Parliament for use by entities

2.     to provide a basis for annual budgeting, including (financial) reporting against the use of appropriated funds

3.     to measure and assess entity and program non‐financial performance in contributing to Government policy objectives.²¹

Appropriations for corporate Commonwealth entities

As corporate Commonwealth entities are legally distinct from the Commonwealth itself, money cannot be appropriated directly to those entities.²² Instead, amounts are appropriated to relevant Departments for on-payment to corporate Commonwealth entities within Departments’ portfolios.

Non-operating appropriations

Non-operating appropriations are amounts designated for the capital needs of entities. Typically, these amounts are equity injections into entities, or monies for the purchase or development of the assets of entities. Under the Compact, they can only ever be proposed in a Bill dealing with the ‘other’ annual services of Government.

Appropriations for payments to the states

Under section 96 of the Constitution, the Commonwealth may make payments to the states with or without conditions, and amounts intended for payments to the states are identified separately. Again, because of the Compact, amounts to the states can only ever be proposed in a Bill dealing with the ‘other’ annual services of Government. Amounts to the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory are also included with the amounts for the states.

Advances to the Finance Minister and the Presiding Officers

The Advance to the Finance Minister or responsible Presiding Officers of Parliamentary Departments is an appropriation of moneys without any particular outcome or purpose specified.

The Finance Minister or Presiding Officers may use the amount appropriated as an advance to modify the schedule to the Appropriation Act, but only where:

… the Finance Minister [or Presiding Officer] is satisfied that there is an urgent need for expenditure, in the current year, that is not provided for, or is insufficiently provided for, […]:

(a)    because of an erroneous omission or understatement; or

(b)     because the expenditure was unforeseen until after the last day on which it was practicable to provide for it in the Bill for this Act before that Bill was introduced into the House of Representatives.²³

The amount of appropriation allocated to the advance to the Finance Minister in 2021–22 is
$2.0 billion for the ordinary annual services of the Government;²⁴ and $3.0 billion in relation to the other annual services of the Government.²⁵

For the Presiding Officers of the Parliament, the amounts of appropriation proposed to be allocated to the advance in 2021–22 are:

• $300,000 each in relation to the:

– Department of the Senate

– Department of the House of Representatives and

– Parliamentary Budget Office and

• $1,000,000 in relation to the Department of Parliamentary Services.²⁶

In order to access an advance, the Finance Minister or Presiding Officers, as the case may be, must issue a determination under the relevant Appropriation Act. A determination is a legislative instrument, but disallowance and sunsetting under section 42 and Part 4 of Chapter 3 of the Legislation Act 2003 respectively do not apply.²⁷

Debit limits

In addition to appropriating moneys for the other annual services of the Government, Part 4 of the No. 2 Bill also sets a maximum amount—known as a ‘debit limit’—that may be provided to the states and territories under two specific grant programs.²⁸

The legal appropriation for the two grant programs is provided by the special appropriation in section 80 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act) which provides a standing appropriation for debits from special accounts. However, the design of the legislative schemes associated with each of the grant programs requires that the maximum annual amount that may be debited under each program each year is to be set in an annual appropriation Bill.²⁹

Because the Compact prevents the No. 1 Bill from dealing with grants to the states and territories, the debit limits are set in the No. 2 Bill.

4 Committee consideration

Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills

The Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills (the Scrutiny Committee) considered the three Appropriation Bills in its Scrutiny Digest of 16 June 2021.³⁰ The Scrutiny Committee made comments in relation to the No. 1 and No. 2 Bills which are discussed below. The Scrutiny Committee had no comment on the Parliamentary Departments Bill.³¹

Scrutiny Committee comments on the No. 1 Bill

The Scrutiny Committee raised concerns that the No. 1 Bill seeks to appropriate money for new measures which may have been inappropriately classified as ordinary annual services of Government. These measures are:

• Implementing a National Soils Science Challenge ($20.9 million over four years)

• Supporting Agricultural Showmen and Women ($4.3 million in 2021–22)

• Establish a renewable energy microgrid incorporating hydrogen in the Daintree community ($19.3 million over three years).³²

It stated that any inappropriate classification undermines the Senate’s constitutional right to amend laws appropriating money which are not related to the ordinary annual services of Government and noted that it has previously raised these concerns with the Finance Minister:

The committee has previously written to the Minister for Finance in relation to inappropriate classification of items in other appropriation bills on a number of occasions; however, the government has consistently advised that it does not intend to reconsider its approach to the classification of items that constitute the ordinary annual services of the government.

The committee again notes that the government's approach to the classification of items that constitute ordinary annual services of the government is not consistent with the Senate resolution of 22 June 2010.

The committee notes that any inappropriate classification of items in appropriation bills undermines the Senate's constitutional right to amend proposed laws appropriating revenue or moneys for expenditure on all matters not involving the ordinary annual services of the government. Such inappropriate classification of items impacts on the Senate's ability to effectively scrutinise proposed appropriations as the Senate may be unable to distinguish between normal ongoing activities of government and new programs or projects.

The committee draws this matter to the attention of senators as it appears that the initial expenditure in relation to certain items in the latest set of appropriation bills may have been inappropriately classified as ordinary annual services (and therefore improperly included in Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022 which should only contain appropriations that are not amendable by the Senate).³³

The Scrutiny Committee also raised concerns that the Advance to Finance Minister provided by the No. 1 Bill (up to $2 billion) allows the Finance Minister to allocate additional funds to entities by delegated legislation which is not disallowable.³⁴

The committee notes that clause 10 (the AFM provision) allows the Finance Minister to allocate additional funds to entities up to a total of $2 billion via non-disallowable delegated legislation and that it therefore delegates significant legislative power to the executive. While this does not amount to a delegation of the power to create a new appropriation, one of the core functions of the Parliament is to authorise and scrutinise proposed appropriations. High Court jurisprudence has emphasised the central role of the Parliament in this regard. In particular, while the High Court has held that an appropriation must always be for a purpose identified by the Parliament, '[i]t is for the Parliament to identify the degree of specificity with which the purpose of an appropriation is identified'. The AFM provision in this bill leaves the allocation of the purpose of certain appropriations in the hands of the Finance Minister, rather than the Parliament.³⁵

Scrutiny Committee comments on the No. 2 Bill

In relation to the No. 2 Bill, the Committee noted that the debit limits set in clause 13 for grants for general purpose financial assistance and for National Partnership Payments (NPPs) to the states were substantial and were more than the forecast expenditure.³⁶ It sought the Minister’s advice on the expected level of expenditure under the grants programs specified at clause 13:

The committee sought the minister's advice in relation to similar provisions in Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2017-2018 and was informed that setting debit limits at a high level is necessary to ensure that the Commonwealth has appropriate provision to manage variations in expenditure required prior to the passage of further annual appropriation bills, including increases to existing undertakings to the states, and provision for any large-scale natural disasters or other major unexpected events. While the committee acknowledges this rationale, it considers that setting a debit limit without clearly outlining the expected expenditure under each grants program may undermine the stated intention of the debit limit regime—that is, to provide Parliament with a 'transparent mechanism by which it may review the rate at which amounts are committed for expenditure'.

The committee requests the minister's advice as to the level of expected expenditure in 2021-22 under the grants programs specified at clause 13 of Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021-2022. The committee also requests that future explanatory memoranda to appropriation bills containing debit limit provisions include this information to assist in ensuring meaningful parliamentary oversight of the debit limits for these grant programs.³⁷

At the time of writing this Digest, the Minister’s response had not been received by the Scrutiny Committee.³⁸

5 Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

As required under Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth), the Government has assessed the Bills’ compatibility with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of that Act. The Government considers that the Bills are compatible.

The Bill seeks to appropriate money for the ordinary annual services of the Government [or services that are not considered to be ordinary annual services, or for expenditure by the Parliamentary Departments].

Accordingly, the Bill performs an important constitutional function, by authorising the withdrawal of money from the CRF for the broad purposes identified in the Bill.

However, as the High Court has emphasised, beyond this, Appropriation Acts do not ordinarily confer authority to engage in executive action. In particular, they do not ordinarily confer legal authority to spend. To the extent that any item of the Bill might be read as purporting to confer such authority, the Government does not rely on the item to provide it.

Given that the legal effect of Appropriation Bills is limited in this way, the Bill is not seen as engaging, or otherwise affecting, the rights or freedoms relevant to the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Detailed information on the relevant appropriations, however, is contained in the portfolio statements.³⁹

Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (PJCHR) considered the Appropriation Bills in its Scrutiny Digest of 16 June 2021. The PJCHR has repeatedly raised concerns about whether or not the allocation of funding proposed in Appropriation Bills might engage human rights considerations; particularly given the capacity for Appropriation Bills to give effect to a reduction in funding for programs that might be aimed at the realisation of human rights.⁴⁰

The PJCHR has recommended that statements of compatibility for Appropriation Bills should contain an assessment of overall trends in the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights including any retrogressive measures, the impact of Budget measures on vulnerable groups and key individual Budget measures which engage human rights, including a brief assessment of their human rights compatibility.⁴¹

6 Key issues and provisions

No. 1 Bill

Clauses 6–9 of the No. 1 Bill outline the quantum and types of appropriation from the CRF.

Clause 10 of the No. 1 Bill establishes the Advance to the Finance Minister of $2.0 billion for
2021–2022.

Clauses 11–13 of the No. 1 Bill provide for several technical matters, including details relating to special accounts and formally appropriating the amounts required from the CRF.

Schedule 1 of the No. 1 Bill provides details about the appropriations to both non-corporate entities and to corporate entities as defined by the PGPA Act.

Table 1 below sets out in summary form the amount of appropriations in Schedule 1 to the No. 1 Bill. These amounts are compared to the actual available appropriation in 2020–21.

Table 1:     Total Appropriation for 2021–22 (No. 1 Bill)

Portfolio

Appropriation in Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021–22

Actual Available Appropriation 2020–21⁴²

$'000

$'000

Agriculture

2,902,861

2,338,467

Attorney-General's

1,950,915

1,807,605

Defence

32,339,880

31,430,690

Education, Skills and Employment

7,750,677

7,590,558

Finance

1,058,577

1,245,922

Foreign Affairs and Trade

7,125,531

7,676,765

Health

18,037,894

16,120,399

Home Affairs

7,281,829

7,216,854

Industry, Science, Energy and Resources

4,857,652

3,382,832

Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications

5,702,926

6,126,784

Prime Minister and Cabinet

2,470,858

2,277,589

Social Services

24,863,409

20,649,377

Treasury

5,674,617

5,675,973

Total

122,017,626

113,539,815

No. 2 Bill

Clauses 6–11 of the No. 2 Bill outline the quantum and types of appropriation from the consolidated revenue fund.

Clause 12 of the No. 2 Bill establishes the Advance to the Finance Minister of $3.0 billion for 2021–2022.

The money in the No. 2 Bill is appropriated to incorporated and non-incorporated Government entities according to Schedule 2 of that Bill as either:

• grants to the states, territories and local governments (see also clause 16 below)

• new administered programs or

• non-operating (or ‘capital’) appropriations.

These three types of appropriations cannot be included in the No. 1 Bill as they do not relate to the ‘ordinary annual services of Government’.

Clause 13 of the No. 2 Bill sets appropriation limits for provisions of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009. For 2021–22 these debit limits are:

for general purpose assistance to the states and territories: $5,000,000,000 and

for national partnership payments: $25,000,000,000.

Clause 14 provides that the debit limits set under clause 13 are adjusted to take into account any GST liability that may arise in relation to particular payments.

Clauses 15–17 of the No. 2 Bill provide for several technical matters.

Table 2 below sets out in summary form, the amount of appropriations in Schedule 2 to the No. 2 Bill. These amounts are compared to the actual available appropriation in 2020–21.

Table 2:     Total Appropriation for 2021–22 (No. 2 Bill)

Portfolio

Appropriations in Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021–22

Actual Available Appropriations 2020–21⁴³

$'000

$'000

Agriculture

948,522

2,851,288

Attorney-General's

20,054

11,299

Defence

13,023,315

11,635,821

Education, Skills and Employment

269,874

344,802

Finance

60,400

351,056

Foreign Affairs and Trade

165,619

150,358

Health

221,136

729,848

Home Affairs

204,872

143,563

Industry, Science, Energy and Resources

519,326

955,107

Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications

3,655,573

3,244,025

Prime Minister and Cabinet

316,694

106,815

Social Services

286,005

197,956

Treasury

266,030

361,998

Total

19,957,420

21,083,936

7  

Parliamentary Departments Bill

Clause 3 of the Parliamentary Departments Bill defines the term responsible presiding officer as being:

(a)     in relation to the Department of the Senate—the President of the Senate

(b)     in relation to the Department of the House of Representatives—the Speaker of that House

(c)     in relation to the Department of Parliamentary Services—the President and the Speaker together or

(d)     in relation to the Parliamentary Budget Office—the President and the Speaker together.

Clauses 6–10 of the Parliamentary Departments Bill outline the quantum and types of appropriation from the consolidated revenue fund.

Clause 11 establishes the Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer for 2021–2022. The amount of appropriation is limited as follows:

• for the Department of the Senate—$300,000

• for the Department of the House of Representatives—$300,000

• for the Department of Parliamentary Services—$1 million and

• for the Parliamentary Budget Office—$300,000.

Clauses 12–14 of the Parliamentary Departments Bill provide for several technical matters, including details relating to special accounts, formally appropriating the amounts required from the CRF, and the repeal of the Act at the start of 1 July 2024.

Table 3 below sets out, in summary form, the amount of appropriations in Schedule 1 to the Parliamentary Departments Bill. These amounts are compared to the actual available appropriation in 2020–21.

Table 3:    Total Appropriation for 2021–22 (Parliamentary Departments Bill)

Portfolio

Appropriation in Appropriation Bill (Parliamentary Departments) 2021–22

Actual Available Appropriation 2020–21⁴⁴

$’000

$’000

Department of the Senate

26,011

26,211

Department of the House of Representatives

25,991

25,173

Department of Parliamentary Services

226,237

232,339

Parliamentary Budget Office

9,269

8,537

Total

287,508

292,260

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Notes

[←1]

.    Department of Finance (DoF), ‘Guide to appropriations—RMG 100’, DoF website, last updated 15 January 2021.

[←2]

.    Pape v Commissioner of Taxation (2009) 238 CLR 1, [2009] HCA 23.

[←3]

.    Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (the Constitution), section 81.

[←4]

.    DoF, ‘Guide to appropriations—RMG 100’, op. cit.

[←5]

.    Ibid. See sections 123ZN and 242 of the Social Security (Administration Act) 1999.

[←6]

.    Ibid.

[←7]

.    Pape v Commissioner of Taxation, op. cit.

[←8]

.    The Constitution, section 53.

[←9]

.    D Elder, ed, House of Representatives practice, 7th edn, Department of the House of Representatives, Canberra, 2018, p. 416.

[←10]

.    The Constitution, section 53.

[←11]

.    Ibid.

[←12]

.    R Laing, ed, Odgers' Australian Senate practice, 14th edn, The Senate, Canberra, 2016, p. 386

[←13]

.    Senate Appropriations and Staffing Committee, Ordinary annual services of the government: 50th report, The Senate, Canberra, June 2010, p. 3.

[←14]

.    Laing, op. cit., p. 387.

[←15]

.    Osborne v Commonwealth (1911) 12 CLR 321 at 336, [1911] HCA 19.

[←16]

.    Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB), Administered items, AASB 1050, December 2013.

[←17]

.    DoF, ‘Guide to appropriations—RMG 100’, op. cit.

[←18]

.    Combet v Commonwealth (2005) 224 CLR 494, [2005] HCA 61 at paragraph 123.

[←19]

.    See generally, Combet v Commonwealth, op. cit.

[←20]

.    Attorney-General (Vic); Ex rel Dale v Commonwealth (Pharmaceutical Benefits case) (1945) 71 CLR 237, per Latham CJ at 253, [1945] HCA 30.

[←21]

.    DoF, Guide to preparing the 2020–21 portfolio budget statements, August 2020, p. 81.

[←22]

.    Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (Cth), section 11, ‘Note’.

[←23]

.    Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021–2022, subclause 10(1); Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021–2022, subclause 12(1); Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021–2022, subclause 11(1).

[←24]

.    Subcclause 10(3) of Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021–2022.

[←25]

.    Subclause 12(3) of Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021–2022.

[←26]

.    Clause 11 of Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021–2022.

[←27]

.    Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021–2022, subclause 10(4); Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021–2022, subclause 12(4); Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021–2022, subclause 11(7).

[←28]

.    The two programs are: general purpose financial assistance under section 9 of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 and national partnership payments under section 16 of that Act.

[←29]

.    Federal Financial Relations Act 2009, subsections 9(3) and (4); and subsections 16(3) and (4).

[←30]

.    Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, Scrutiny digest, 8, 2021, The Senate, 16 June 2021.

[←31]

.    Ibid., p. 61.

[←32]

.    Ibid., p. 7.

[←33]

.    Ibid., pp. 7–8.

[←34]

.    Ibid., p. 9.

[←35]

.    Ibid. Footnote references have been omitted from this quotation and can be viewed in the source document.

[←36]

.    Ibid., p. 15.

[←37]

.    Ibid., pp. 15–16.

[←38]

.    Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, Ministerial Responses, The Senate, Canberra.

[←39]

.    Explanatory Memorandum, Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021–2022, p. 3; Explanatory Memorandum, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021–2022, p. 4; Explanatory Memorandum, Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021–2022, p. 4.

[←40]

.    Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, Human rights scrutiny report, 7, 2021, 16 June 2021, pp. 11–15.

[←41]

.    Ibid.

[←42]

.    Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021–22, Schedule 1.

[←43]

.    Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021–22, Schedule 1.

[←44]

.    Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021–22, Schedule 1.