Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 2) 2023-2024

Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 2) 2023‑2024

No. 14, 2024

An Act to appropriate additional money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for expenditure in relation to the Parliamentary Departments, and for related purposes

Contents

Part 1—Preliminary

1 Short title

2 Commencement

3 Definitions

4 Portfolio statements

5 Notional transactions between entities that are part of the Commonwealth

Part 2—Appropriation items

6 Summary of appropriations

7 Departmental items

8 Administered items

9 Administered assets and liabilities items

10 Other departmental items

Part 3—Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer

11 Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer

Part 4—Miscellaneous

12 Crediting amounts to special accounts

13 Appropriation of the Consolidated Revenue Fund

14 Repeal of this Act

Schedule 1—Services for which money is appropriated

Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 2) 2023-2024

No. 14, 2024

An Act to appropriate additional money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for expenditure in relation to the Parliamentary Departments, and for related purposes

[Assented to 8 April 2024]

The Parliament of Australia enacts:

Part 1—Preliminary

1  Short title

  This Act is the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 2) 2023‑2024.

2  Commencement

 (1) Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.

Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as originally enacted. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this Act.

 (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this Act. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this Act.

3  Definitions

  In this Act:

administered assets and liabilities item means an amount set out in Schedule 1 in relation to a Parliamentary Department opposite the heading “Administered Assets and Liabilities”.

administered item means an amount set out in Schedule 1 opposite an outcome for a Parliamentary Department under the heading “Administered”.

departmental item means the total amount set out in Schedule 1 in relation to a Parliamentary Department under the heading “Departmental”.

Note: The amounts set out opposite outcomes, under the heading “Departmental”, are “notional”. They are not part of the item, and do not in any way restrict the scope of the expenditure authorised by the item.

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

item means any of the following:

 (a) a departmental item;

 (b) an administered item;

 (c) an administered assets and liabilities item;

 (d) an other departmental item.

non‑corporate entity means:

 (a) a non‑corporate Commonwealth entity within the meaning of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013; or

 (b) the High Court.

Note: Each Parliamentary Department is a non‑corporate Commonwealth entity for the purposes of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

other departmental item means an amount set out in Schedule 1 in relation to a Parliamentary Department opposite the heading “Equity Injections”.

Parliamentary Department means any of the following:

 (a) the Department of the Senate;

 (b) the Department of the House of Representatives;

 (c) the Department of Parliamentary Services;

 (d) the Parliamentary Budget Office.

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.

Portfolio Budget Statements means the Portfolio Budget Statements that were tabled in the Senate or the House of Representatives in relation to the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2023‑2024.

portfolio statements means:

 (a) the Portfolio Budget Statements; and

 (b) the Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements.

President means the President of the Senate.

responsible Presiding Officer means:

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

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

 (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.

Speaker means the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

special account has the same meaning as in the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

4  Portfolio statements

  The portfolio statements are 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 which provides that the material that may be considered in the interpretation of a provision of an Act includes any document that is declared by the Act to be a relevant document.

5  Notional transactions between entities that are part of the Commonwealth

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

Note: This section applies, for example, to a “payment” between non‑corporate entities 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 non‑corporate entity, even though no payment is actually made from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. This is consistent with section 76 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

Part 2—Appropriation items

6  Summary of appropriations

  The total of the items specified in Schedule 1 is $10,273,000.

Note 1: Items in Schedule 1 can be adjusted under Part 3 of this Act.

Note 2: Sections 74 to 75 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 also provide for the adjustment of amounts appropriated by this Act.

7  Departmental items

  The amount specified in a departmental item for a Parliamentary Department may be applied for the departmental expenditure of the Parliamentary Department.

8  Administered items

 (1) The amount specified in an administered item for an outcome for a Parliamentary Department may be applied for expenditure for the purpose of contributing to achieving that outcome.

 (2) If the portfolio 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.

9  Administered assets and liabilities items

 (1) The amount specified in an administered assets and liabilities item for a Parliamentary Department may be applied for expenditure for the purpose of contributing to achieving any outcome specified in Schedule 1 for the Parliamentary Department.

 (2) If the portfolio 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.

10  Other departmental items

  The amount specified in an other departmental item for a Parliamentary Department may be applied for the departmental expenditure of the Parliamentary Department.

Part 3—Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer

11  Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer

 (1) If a responsible Presiding Officer determined an amount under subsection 11(2) of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2023‑2024 before the commencement of this Act, the amount is to be disregarded for the purposes of subsections 11(3), (4), (5) and (6) of that Act.

Note: This means that, after the commencement of this Act, the responsible Presiding Officers have access to the following amounts under section 11 of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2023‑2024, regardless of amounts that have already been determined under that section:

(a) for the Department of the Senate—$300,000;

(b) for the Department of the House of Representatives—$300,000;

(c) for the Department of Parliamentary Services—$1 million;

(d) for the Parliamentary Budget Office—$300,000.

 (2) If:

 (a) this Act appropriates an amount for particular expenditure; and

 (b) before the commencement of this Act, a responsible Presiding Officer determined an amount (the advanced amount) under section 11 of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2023‑2024 for the expenditure;

the amount appropriated by this Act for the expenditure is taken to be reduced (but not below nil) by the advanced amount.

Part 4—Miscellaneous

12  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.

13  Appropriation of the Consolidated Revenue Fund

  The Consolidated Revenue Fund is appropriated as necessary for the purposes of this Act, including the operation of this Act as affected by the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

14  Repeal of this Act

  This Act is repealed at the start of 1 July 2026.

Schedule 1—Services for which money is appropriated

Note: See sections 6 and 13.

[Minister’s second reading speech made in—

House of Representatives on 7 February 2024

Senate on 26 February 2024]