Environment (Financial Assistance) Act 1977 (Cth)

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977
- Reprinted as at 30 April 1991 (#DATE 30:04:1991)

*1*The Environment (Financial Assistance) Act 1977 as shown in this reprint comprises Act No. 150, 1977 amended as indicated in the Tables below. The Environment (Financial Assistance) Act 1977 was modified by the A.C.T. Self-Government (Consequential Provisions) Regulations as amended. (See Note 2.) Table of Acts Act Number Date Date of Application, and year of Assent commencement saving or transitional provisions Environment (Financial Assistance) Act 1977 150, 1977 10 Nov 1977 10 Nov 1977 Administrative Changes (Consequential Provisions) Act 1978 36, 1978 12 June 12 June 1978 S. 8 1978 Table of Amendments ad.=added or inserted am.=amended rep.=repealed rs.=repealed and substituted ______________________________________________________________________________ __ Provision affected How affected Ss. 8-11 am. No. 36, 1978

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - TABLE OF PROVISIONS 
TABLE

                              TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section
     1. Short title
     2. Commencement
     3. Interpretation
     4. Agreement for financial assistance
     5. Financial assistance
     6. Agreements to be tabled in Parliament
     7. Payments to the States
     8. Advances
     9. Evidence of expenditure
    10. Conditions
    11. Deduction of amount payable or repayable by State
    12. (Not in operation -see Note 2)

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - LONG TITLE 
SECT

An Act to grant financial assistance to the States in connexion with projects
         related to the environment, and for other purposes

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - SECT 1 
Short title 
SECT

  1. This Act may be cited as the Environment (Financial Assistance) Act
1977.*1*
SEE NOTES TO FIRST ARTICLE OF THIS CHAPTER .

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - SECT 2 
Commencement 
SECT

  2. This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the
Royal Assent.*1*
SEE NOTES TO FIRST ARTICLE OF THIS CHAPTER .

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - SECT 3 
Interpretation 
SECT

  3.*2*    In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
  'agreement' means an agreement in force under section 4;
  'approved body' means a body approved by the Minister for the purposes of
this Act, being:
   (a)  an authority of a State;
   (b)  a local governing body; or
   (c)  any body corporate constituted for purposes other than the
acquisition
of gain by its individual members;
  'environment' includes all aspects of the surroundings of man, whether
affecting him as an individual or in his social groupings.
*2*Section 3-The Environment (Financial Assistance) Act 1977 was modified by
regulation 2 and Schedule 1 of the A.C.T. Self-Government (Consequential
Provisions) Regulations as amended. The provision of Schedule 1 applicable to
the abovementioned Act quoted below is not incorporated in this reprint.
Section 3
  Add at the end the following definition:
  "..State includes the Australian Capital Territory."
  These Regulations shall be taken to have commenced on 21 December 1989.

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - SECT 4 
Agreement for financial assistance 
SECT

  4.(1) The Minister may, from time to time, on behalf of the Commonwealth,
agree with a State upon financial assistance, whether by way of loan or
otherwise, to be provided by the Commonwealth to the State under this Act in
respect of amounts expended by the State or an approved body in respect of
projects related to the environment.
  (2) An agreement with a State under subsection (1) shall be in writing and
may relate to projects approved, or to be approved, by the Minister and the
appropriate Minister of the State, acting jointly.
  (3) An agreement with a State under subsection (1) may specify conditions to
which the grant of financial assistance in accordance with the agreement is
subject.
  (4) An agreement with a State under subsection (1) may include provision
for:
   (a)  the review of the operation of the agreement; and
   (b) the amendment of the agreement by a further agreement in consequence
of
such a review.

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - SECT 5 
Financial assistance 
SECT

  5. Subject to this Act, financial assistance is payable to a State in
accordance with an agreement.

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - SECT 6 
Agreements to be tabled in Parliament 
SECT

  6. The Minister shall cause a copy of every agreement, including every
amending agreement, to be laid before each House of the Parliament within 15
sitting days of that House after the date on which the agreement is made.

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - SECT 7 
Payments to the States 
SECT

  7. A payment (including an advance) to a State under this Act shall be made
out of moneys available under an appropriation made by the Parliament for the
purpose.

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - SECT 8 
Advances 
SECT

  8.(1) The Minister for Finance may, at such times as he thinks fit, make
advances to a State of such amounts as he thinks fit on account of an amount
that may become payable to the State under this Act.
  (2) Without limiting the discretion of the Minister for Finance under
subsection (1), the Minister for Finance may refrain from making an advance to
a State under that subsection until the State has furnished to the Minister
for Finance such documents and other evidence to justify the making of the
advance to the State or to show how an amount, or part of an amount, advanced
to the State under that subsection has been used or applied, as the Minister
for Finance requests.

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - SECT 9 
Evidence of expenditure 
SECT

  9. A State is not entitled to a payment of financial assistance under
section 5 in respect of any expenditure unless the State has furnished the
Minister for Finance with:
   (a) a statement in respect of that expenditure, in accordance with a form
approved by the Minister for Finance, accompanied by a certificate of the
Auditor-General of the State certifying that, in his opinion, the amounts
shown in the statement as having been expended were expended in accordance
with an agreement; and
   (b)  such further information (if any) as the Minister for Finance
requires
in respect of that expenditure.

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - SECT 10 
Conditions 
SECT

  10.(1) Payment of an amount (including an advance) to a State under this Act
in accordance with an agreement is subject to the condition that, if the
Minister informs the Treasurer of the State that he is satisfied that the
State has failed to fulfil a condition in the agreement, the State will repay
the amount paid to the State under this Act in accordance with the agreement,
or such part of that amount as the Minister specifies, to the Commonwealth.
  (2) Payment of an amount (including an advance) to a State under this Act is
subject to the condition that the State will repay to the Commonwealth, on
demand by the Minister for Finance, the amount by which, at the time of the
demand, the total of the amounts paid to the State under this Act exceeds the
total of the amounts that have become payable to the State under this Act.

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - SECT 11 
Deduction of amount payable or repayable by State 
SECT

  11. The Minister for Finance may deduct any amount payable or repayable by a
State to the Commonwealth under this Act from an amount payable by the
Commonwealth to the State under this Act.

ENVIRONMENT (FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE) ACT 1977 - SECT 12 
SECT

  12. *3*    *      *      *      *      *      *
*3*S. 12-The amendment made by section 12 has been incorporated in the reprint
of the States Grants (Nature Conservation) Act 1974