Bills Digest No.
76, 2020–21
PDF version [447KB]
Phillip Hawkins
Economic Policy Section
22
June 2021
Contents
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.
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.
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.
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:
- 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.
- That appropriations for expenditure on:
- the construction of public works and
buildings;
- the acquisition of sites and buildings;
- 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);
- grants to the states under section 96 of
the Constitution;
- new policies not previously authorised by special
legislation;
- items regarded as equity injections and
loans; and
- 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.
- That, in respect of payments to international
organisations:
- the
initial payment in effect represents a new policy decision and therefore should
be in Appropriation Bill (No. 2); and
- 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).
- 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:
- to explain
and control the purposes for which annual appropriations are approved by the
Parliament for use by entities
- to provide
a basis for annual budgeting, including (financial) reporting against the use
of appropriated funds
- 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, […]:
- because of an erroneous omission or understatement; or
- 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.
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]
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]
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 2020–21[42] |
|
|
$'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 2020–21[43] |
|
|
$'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 |
Parliamentary Departments Bill
Clause 3 of the Parliamentary Departments Bill
defines the term responsible presiding officer as being:
- in relation to the
Department of the Senate—the President of the Senate
- in relation to the
Department of the House of Representatives—the Speaker of that House
- in
relation to the Department of Parliamentary Services—the President and the
Speaker together or
- 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 2020–21[44] |
|
|
$’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 |
[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.
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