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APPROPRIATION BILL (NO. 4) 2002-2003

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Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2002-2003
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2002 

The Parliament of the

Commonwealth of Australia

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Presented and read a first time

Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2002-2003

No. , 2002

(Finance and Administration)

A Bill for an Act to appropriate additional money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for certain expenditure, and for related purposes

Contents

A Bill for an Act to appropriate additional money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for certain expenditure, and for related purposes

The Parliament of Australia enacts:

Part 1 Preliminary

1 Short title

This Act may be cited as the Appropriation Act (No. 4) 2002-2003.

2 Commencement

This Act commences on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.

3 Definitions

In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

administered assets and liabilities item means an amount set out in Schedule 2 in relation to an entity opposite the heading Administered Assets and Liabilities.

administered item means an amount set out in Schedule 2 opposite an outcome of an entity under the heading New Administered Expenses.

Agency has the same meaning as in the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.

Commonwealth authority has the same meaning as in the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997.

Commonwealth company has the same meaning as in the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997.

current year means the financial year ending on 30 June 2003.

entity means any of the following:

(a) an Agency;

(b) a Commonwealth authority;

(c) a Commonwealth company.

expenditure means payments for expenses, acquiring assets, making loans or paying liabilities.

Finance Minister means the Minister administering this Act.

item means any of the following:

(a) a State payment item;

(b) an administered item;

(c) an administered assets and liabilities item;

(d) an other departmental item.

other departmental item means an amount set out in Schedule 2 in relation to an entity:

(a) opposite the heading Equity Injections; or

(b) opposite the heading Loans; or

(c) opposite the heading Previous Years Outputs.

Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements means the Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements that were tabled in the Senate or the House of Representatives in relation to the Bill for this Act and the Bill for the Appropriation Act (No. 3) 2002-2003.

Portfolio Budget Statements means the Portfolio Budget Statements that were tabled in the Senate or the House of Representatives in relation to the Bill for the Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2002-2003 and the Bill for the Appropriation Act (No. 2) 2002-2003.

Special Account has the same meaning as in the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.

State includes the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.

State payment item means an amount set out in Schedule 2 opposite an outcome of an entity under the heading Specific Payments to the States and Territories.

4 Portfolio Budget Statements and Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements

(1) The Portfolio Budget Statements and Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements are hereby declared to be relevant documents for the purposes of section 15AB of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.

Note: See paragraph 15AB(2)(g) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.

(2) If the Portfolio Budget Statements or Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements indicate that activities of a particular kind were intended to be treated as activities in respect of a particular outcome, then expenditure for the purpose of carrying out those activities is taken to be expenditure for the purpose of contributing to achieving the outcome.

5 Notional payments, receipts etc.

For the purposes of this Act, notional transactions between Agencies are to be treated as if they were real transactions.

Note: This section applies, for example, to a payment between Agencies that are both part of the Commonwealth. One of the effects of this section is that the payment will be debited from an appropriation for the paying Agency, even though no payment is actually made from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Part 2 Basic appropriations

6 Summary of basic appropriations

The total of the items specified in Schedule 2 is $263,750,000.

Note 1: Items in Schedule 2 can be increased under Part 3 of this Act and under section 12 of the Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2002-2003 (as modified by section 12 of the Appropriation Act (No. 3) 2002-2003).

Note 2: See also section 30A of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, which provides for adjustment of appropriations to take account of GST.

7 State payment itemsbasic appropriation

(1) For a State payment item for an outcome of an entity, the Finance Minister may issue out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund amounts that do not exceed, in total, the lesser of:

(a) the amount specified in the item; and

(b) the amount determined by the Finance Minister in relation to the item, having regard to the expenses incurred by the entity in the current year in relation to the item.

(2) An amount issued out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for a State payment item for an outcome of an entity may only be applied for the purpose of making payments to or for the States for the purpose of contributing to achieving that outcome.

8 Administered itemsbasic appropriation

(1) For an administered item for an outcome of an entity, the Finance Minister may issue out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund amounts that do not exceed, in total, the lesser of:

(a) the amount specified in the item; and

(b) the amount determined by the Finance Minister in relation to the item, having regard to the expenses incurred by the entity in the current year in relation to the item.

(2) An amount issued out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for an administered item for an outcome of an entity may only be applied for expenditure for the purpose of carrying out activities for the purpose of contributing to achieving that outcome.

Note: The acquisition of new administered assets will usually be funded from an administered assets and liabilities item.

9 Administered assets and liabilities itemsbasic appropriation

(1) For an administered assets and liabilities item for an entity, the Finance Minister may issue out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund amounts that do not exceed, in total, the amount specified in the item.

(2) An amount issued out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for an administered assets and liabilities item for an entity may only be applied for expenditure for the purpose of carrying out activities for the purpose of contributing to achieving any outcome that is specified in relation to the entity:

(a) in Schedule 2 to this Act; or

(b) in Schedule 1 to the Appropriation Act (No. 3) 2002-2003; or

(c) in Schedule 2 to the Appropriation Act (No. 2) 2002-2003; or

(d) in Schedule 1 to the Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2002-2003.

10 Other departmental itemsbasic appropriation

(1) For an other departmental item for an entity, the Finance Minister may issue out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund amounts that do not exceed, in total, the amount specified in the item.

Note: Generally, the Finance Minister is permitted, but not obliged, to issue the amounts out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. However, subsection (3) imposes an obligation on the Finance Minister to issue the amounts in certain circumstances.

(2) An amount issued out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for an other departmental item may only be applied for the departmental expenditure of the entity.

(3) If:

(a) an Act provides that an entity must be paid amounts that are appropriated by the Parliament for the purposes of the entity; and

(b) Schedule 2 contains an other departmental item for that entity;

then the Finance Minister, under subsection (1), must issue out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund the full amount specified in the item.

Part 3 Additions to basic appropriations

11 Other departmental itemsadjustments and borrowings

(1) The Finance Minister may determine that the amount specified in:

(a) an other departmental item in this Act; or

(b) an other departmental item in the Appropriation Act (No. 2) 2002-2003;

is to be increased by an amount specified in the determination.

(2) The total of the amounts determined by the Finance Minister under subsection (1) cannot be more than $20 million.

(3) The Finance Minister must give the Parliament details of increases made under this section.

12 Advance to the Finance Ministerunforeseen expenditure etc.

(1) This section applies if the Finance Minister is satisfied that:

(a) there is an urgent need for expenditure that is not provided for, or is insufficiently provided for, in Schedule 2; and

(b) the additional expenditure is not provided for, or is insufficiently provided for, in Schedule 2:

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

(ii) because the additional 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.

(2) This Act has effect as if Schedule 2 were amended, in accordance with a determination of the Finance Minister, to make provision for so much (if any) of the additional expenditure as the Finance Minister determines.

(3) The total of the amounts determined by the Finance Minister:

(a) under this section; and

(b) under section 12 of the Appropriation Act (No. 2) 2002-2003;

cannot be more than $215 million.

(4) The Finance Minister must give the Parliament details of amounts determined under this section.

Part 4 Miscellaneous

13 Crediting amounts to Special Accounts

If any of the purposes of a Special Account is a purpose that is covered by an item (whether or not the item expressly refers to the Special Account), then amounts may be debited against the appropriation for that item and credited to that Special Account.

14 Conditions etc. applying to State payment items

(1) This section applies to any payment made out of money appropriated by a State payment item for an outcome identified in column 2 of the table in Schedule 1.

(2) The payment:

(a) must be made on the applicable terms and conditions (if any) for that outcome; and

(b) must be made in the amounts, and at the times, that are determined in writing by the Minister specified in column 4 of the table.

(3) This section does not, by implication, limit the power of the Commonwealth to:

(a) apply terms and conditions to non-State payments; or

(b) determine the amounts and times of non-State payments.

(4) In this section:

applicable terms and conditions, in relation to an outcome identified in the table in Schedule 1, means terms and conditions from time to time determined (either before or after the commencement of this Act) in writing by the Minister specified in column 3 of the table as being the terms and conditions that apply to payments that are made to or for a State in relation to that outcome out of money appropriated by an annual Appropriation Act.

non-State payment means a payment made out of money that is appropriated by the Parliament (either under this Act or another Act), other than a payment out of money appropriated by a State payment item.

15 Appropriation of the Consolidated Revenue Fund

The Consolidated Revenue Fund is appropriated as necessary for the purposes of this Act.

Schedule 1Payments to or for the States

Note: See section 14.