EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Finance and Deregulation
The instrument to which this explanatory statement relates | Determination to Reduce Appropriations Upon Request (No. 8 of 2010-2011) |
Date instrument was made | 10 March 2011 |
The legislative authority under which the instrument is made
| Subsection 10(2) of:
and, Subsection 9(1) of:
enable the Minister for Finance and Deregulation to make a written determination reducing a departmental item for an agency by the amount specified in the Determination, upon receipt of a written request from the Minister responsible for that agency. Subsection 13(2) of Appropriation Act (No. 2) 2009‑2010 enables the Minister for Finance and Deregulation to make a written determination reducing an other departmental item (Previous Years Outputs) for an agency by the amount specified in the Determination, upon receipt of a written request from the Minister responsible for that agency. Determinations made under these subsections are legislative instruments and are disallowable. |
Purpose and effect of the instrument
| The purpose of the Instrument is to reduce appropriation items that the Minister for Trade has advised the Minister for Finance and Deregulation are surplus to the requirements of the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade). Schedule 1 of the Instrument determines that the departmental item for Austrade in Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2009‑2010 be reduced by $10,977,000.00. Schedule 2 of the Instrument determines that the other departmental item (Previous Years Outputs) for Austrade in Appropriation Act (No. 2) 2009‑2010 be reduced by $676,000.00. Schedule 3 of the Instrument determines that the departmental item for Austrade in Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2008‑2009 be reduced by $2,656.000.00. Schedule 4 of the Instrument determines that the departmental item for Austrade in Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2007‑2008 be reduced by $3,661,000.00. Schedule 5 of the Instrument determines that the departmental item for Austrade in Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2006‑2007 be reduced by $2,167,000.00. |
Background | The Minister for Trade wrote to the Minister for Finance and Deregulation on 10 February 2011 requesting determinations to reduce Austrade’s departmental items in:
The Minister for Trade also requested a determination to reduce the other departmental item (Previous Years Outputs) in Appropriation Act (No. 2) 2009-2010 by $676,000.00. The reduction in these appropriation items represents excess appropriations due to exchange rate differences arising from the stronger Australian dollar. The Australian Government Foreign Exchange Risk Management Guidelines require appropriations that are no longer required to be reduced. |
Notes on the Instrument | The Schedules to the Instrument contain a table listing the affected agency in column 1, the appropriation Act and appropriation item in column 2, which through the request by the responsible Minister in column 3, is reduced by the amount in column 4. In accordance with the Legislative Instruments Act 2003, Austrade were consulted in the preparation of this Instrument. |