EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Finance and Deregulation
The instrument to which this explanatory statement relates | Determination to Reduce Departmental and Administered Appropriations in Previous Appropriation Acts (No. 2 of 2009‑2010) |
Date instrument was made | 30 July 2010 |
The legislative authority under which the instrument is made | Subsection 14(1) of annual Appropriation Act (No. 3) 2009‑2010 enables the Minister for Finance and Deregulation (Finance Minister) to make a determination reducing a departmental item or an administered item for an agency in previous appropriation Acts. The provisions were included to allow the Finance Minister to reduce amounts identified by the Finance Minister as having been appropriated to agencies for depreciation and make good, but not yet applied by agencies. Determinations made under subsection 14(1) and subsection 18(1) are legislative instruments and are disallowable. |
Purpose and effect of the instrument | Schedule 1, Item 1 of the Instrument determines that administered items in previous annual appropriation Acts for the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (DITRDLG) be reduced by a total amount of $1,911,740.16. |
Background | With the introduction of accrual appropriations in 1999‑2000, appropriations have included amounts for expected depreciation and make good expenses. Since then, unspent amounts have accumulated which have not yet been applied by agencies. That arrangement ceases as of the 2010 Budget and so agencies no longer need to retain access to those appropriation amounts. Therefore, the 2009-2010 Additional Estimates Acts provided a process to reduce them at law. Subsection 14(1) of annual Appropriation Act (No. 3) of 2009-2010 and subsection 18(1) of Appropriation Act (No. 4) of 2009-2010 enabled the Minister for Finance and Deregulation to make a determination for reducing a departmental or an administered item for an agency in previous appropriation Acts. |
Notes on the Instrument | Schedule 1 to the Instrument contains a table listing the affected agency in column 1, the Appropriation Act and appropriation item in column 2, the legislative authority in column 3, is reduced by the amount in column 4. On 27 May 2010 Determination to Reduce Departmental and Administered Appropriations in Previous Appropriation Acts (No. 1 of 2009-2010) was registered. That Instrument determined that the departmental and administered items in previous annual appropriation Acts for the listed agencies be reduced by a total amount of $512,616,399.91. That represented amounts identified by the Finance Minister as having been provided as depreciation and make good amounts for agencies, but not yet applied by agencies. Subsection 14(6) of Appropriation Act (No. 3) 2009‑2010 and subsection 18(6) of Appropriation Act (No. 4) 2009-2010 defines the depreciation and make good amount. The Minister identified those amounts in the Attachment to the Explanatory Statement to Determination to Reduce Departmental and Administered Appropriations in Previous Appropriation Acts (No. 1 of 2009‑2010). Since then, administrative errors have been found, where five appropriation items for DITRDLG included in that determination were not reduced by that determination. As subsection 14(5) of annual Appropriation Act (No. 3) of 2009‑2010 provided that the determination cannot be rescinded, revoked, amended or varied, this Determination is in addition to Determination to Reduce Departmental and Administered Appropriations in Previous Appropriation Acts (No. 1 of 2009‑2010). Both instruments taken together determine that the departmental items and administered items in previous annual appropriation Acts be reduced by a total amount of $512,616,399.31. In accordance with the Legislative Instruments Act 2003, DITRDLG was consulted in the preparation of this Instrument. |