EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1984 NO. 127
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Finance
Subject - Finance Regulations (Amendment).
The attached Statutory Rules amend the Finance Regulations made under sub-section 71 (1) of the Audit Act 1901. The Statutory Rules amend:
• the definition of ‘head of expenditure’ in Finance Regulation 4 to include notional items;
• Finance Regulation 5A to include reference to the Finance (Overseas) Directions;
• Finance Regulation 6A to add two bodies to the prescribed authorities listed therein; and
• sub-paragraphs 44A(1) (c) (i) and 47(3) (a) (i) to extend their application to expenditure from Special Appropriations, where appropriate.
FINANCE REGULATION 4
The amendment to the definition of ‘head of expenditure’ is made as a consequence of the introduction into the Audit Act 1901, by the Audit Amendment Act 1984, of the concept of notional items.
The Audit Amendment Act 1984 introduced, with effect from 1 July 1984, a new section 29 which provides that where a sub-division in a Schedule to an Appropriation Act is not divided into items, the Minister for Finance may:
(a) direct in writing that, for the purposes of Part V of the Audit Act 1901 and of the Regulations, that sub-division shall be taken to be divided into notional items as detailed in the direction.
(b) approve, in writing, a variation to a direction referred to in (a) above.
The revised definition of ‘head of expenditure’ in regulation 4 includes such notional items and thus extends the Finance Regulations to cover such items.
FINANCE REGULATION 5A
Regulation 5A has been amended to provide that the Finance Regulations do not apply to any matter for which provision is made under the Finance (Overseas) Regulations or the Finance (Overseas) Directions (which are made pursuant to Finance (Overseas) Regulation 35).
Formerly, when a Finance Regulation had inappropriate application overseas, a Finance (Overseas) Regulation had to be made in respect of the matter before the relevant Finance Regulation was superseded. The amendment will allow matters of a purely administrative nature and which are not of public interest to be dealt with under the Finance (Overseas) Directions.
FINANCE REGULATION 6A
The list of prescribed authorities declared under regulation 6A has been amended by including the Australian Federal Police and the Prices Surveillance Authority.
The inclusion of those bodies under regulation 6A means that they are subject to the Audit Act and Finance Regulations in their own right and that their financial administration will be independent of, respectively, the Department the Special Minister of State and the Treasury, each of which previously exercised financial control. That independence is appropriate in the light of each body’s distinct responsibilities.
FINANCE REGULATIONS 44A AND 47
Sub-paragraphs 44A(1) (c) (i) and 47(3) (a) (i) have been amended. Formerly these sub-paragraphs provided that an officer could not:-
(i) incur an obligation involving expenditure of public moneys (regulation 44A); or
(ii) certify that there was sufficient appropriation to meet a payment (regulation 47);
unless moneys had been appropriated under a head of expenditure in an Appropriation Act for that financial year that were sufficient to meet that payment and all other payments that were to be met, or could reasonably be expected to be met during that financial year, from that head of expenditure.
Under that former wording, the foregoing restraints did not apply in the case of expenditure from Special Appropriations. Accordingly, sub-paragraphs 44A (1) (c) (i) and 47(3) (a) (i) have been amended to ensure that these control processes do apply in such instances, where appropriate.