Bills Digest no. 134 2005–06
Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No.
1) 2006–2007
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced
and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have
any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine
the subsequent official status of the Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Concluding Comments
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Appropriation
(Parliamentary Departments) Bill
(No. 1) 2006–2007
Date introduced: 9 May 2006
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Finance and Administration
Commencement: Royal Assent
To appropriate $171.607 million for recurrent and capital expenditure
of the three parliamentary departments for the 2006–07 financial year.
Since 1982 the appropriations for the parliamentary departments have
been effected by a separate Bill. This followed the Fraser Government’s
consideration of the Report of the Senate Select Committee on Parliamentary
Appropriations and Staffing which was tabled on 18
August 1981. Under current arrangements, the executive Government
maintains control over the contents of the Bill as introduced. In theory,
however, as the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill is not
for the ordinary annual services of the Government, it may be amended
by the Senate.
The Parliamentary Services Act 1999 provides that the administration
of the Parliament is undertaken by at least two parliamentary departments.
Only the Departments of the Senate and the House of Representatives (the
chamber departments) are created by force of law. Other departments may
be established or abolished by resolutions passed by each House.(1)
In August 2003 the Senate and the House of Representatives both resolved
that there would be a Department of Parliamentary Services to support
the work of the Parliament,(2) and that it would be established
by amalgamating the Joint House Department with the Departments of the
Parliamentary Reporting Staff and the Parliamentary Library. The amalgamation
was recommended by the 2002 Review by the Parliamentary Service Commissioner
of aspects of the administration of the Parliament, more popularly
known as the Podger Report.(3)
The new Department of Parliamentary Services commenced on 1 February 2004. The President of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives are joint Presiding
Officers responsible for the Department.
One of the major reasons in the Podger Report for amalgamating the three
departments was cost savings.(4) The report suggested that
these savings might:
imply significant resources could be redirected…to core
parliamentary business, eg to improve the quality of services to Senators
and Members.(5)
Reviewing the financial performance of the Department of Parliamentary
Services, the Portfolio Budget Statement 2006–07 states that:
Indications are that DPS will manage within the allocated
budget for 2005–06, although employee and supplier expenses are higher
and depreciation expense is lower than was anticipated in the original
budget. DPS’s capacity to manage within the allocated budget for 2006–07
and forward years will depend on the savings generated from the continuous
improvement reviews and the capacity of other areas within DPS to continue
to supplement the Security budget. The funds available for Security
are currently around $3.057m less than the anticipated full-year spending
for 2005–06.(6)
The Budget Statement also records that there has been a slowdown in building
work projects, so it is estimated that ‘$3m of the 2005–06 appropriation
will remain unspent at 30 June
2006.’ The Finance Minister recently approved an application
to move $3m from 2005–06 into 2006–07 to ensure this amount would not
lapse.(7)
The Citizenship Visits Program which was jointly funded by the Department
of the House of Representatives and the Department of the Senate and managed
by the House of Representatives, is to be transferred to the Department
of Education, Science and Training from the start of the 2006–07 budget
year.(8)
Proposed section 4 provides that Portfolio Budget Statements are
to be considered as relevant extrinsic material which may assist in the
interpretation of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) legislation.
Portfolio Budget Statements are statements prepared by portfolios (or
by departments in the case of the parliamentary departments) to explain
the Budget appropriations in terms of outcomes. Their purpose is to assist
in explaining the proposed appropriations in the Appropriation Bills.
Proposed section 6 lists the total amount appropriated by the
Bill – that is $171.607 million. This is approximately $7 million more
than the actual available appropriation for 2005–06. The appropriations
for the chamber departments have decreased slightly, with the Department
of Parliamentary Services receiving an increase of slightly less than
$8 million in 2006–07.
Proposed section 7 provides that for departmental items, the Finance
Minister may issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund amounts that do
not exceed that listed in the Schedule to the Bill, and that such funds
must be used for the departmental expenses of the relevant parliamentary
department. Departmental expenses are incurred by parliamentary departments
in providing the programs and services indicated in the Portfolio Budget
Statements. Subsection 7(3) provides that where the amount is for
remuneration or allowances payable under the Remuneration Tribunal
Act 1973 or the Remuneration and Allowances Act 1990, the Minister
for Finance must issue that amount.
For administered expenses, proposed section 8 provides that the
Finance Minister may issue the lesser of two amounts; either the amount
specified in the item or the amount the Minister determines to be the
administered expenses incurred by the parliamentary department during
the current year. Administered expenses are funds administered by the
parliamentary department on behalf of the Commonwealth for its purposes.
They include grants, subsidies and benefits. In many cases, administered
expenses fund the delivery of goods and services by third parties.(9)
Proposed section 11 provides that the responsible Presiding Officer
may request the Finance Minister to make a written determination reducing
the appropriation for an item in the budget of a parliamentary department
by an amount specified in the determination. The amount of reduction is
to be no greater than the amount requested, or, where payments have already
been made from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, the difference between the
amount appropriated to an item and the amount already paid (proposed
paragraph 11(4)(b).) Reductions can only be made at the request of
the responsible Presiding Officer (proposed subsections 11(1) and
11(3)). Proposed subsection 11(8) provides that a determination
made under this section may be disallowed by either House of Parliament
in accordance with the provisions of section 42 of the Legislative
Instruments Act 2003. However, the sunsetting provisions contained
in Part 6 of the Legislative Instruments Act do not apply to such a determination.
Under section 31 of the Financial Management and Accountability Act
1997, departments have access to certain monies received in payment
for services (proposed section 12). Services provided by
parliamentary departments that may attract receipts include contributions
from participants towards the cost of conferences and seminars conducted
by the departments, asset sales, monies for accrued leave entitlements
of transferred employees, and interest earned on fixed term deposits with
the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Under proposed section 13, the responsible Presiding Officer/s
will be able to increase the amount allocated to a departmental item by
a maximum of $200 000 for each of the three Departments.
Proposed section 14 is similar to proposed section 13
but deals with increases in items due to unforseen and urgent circumstances.
The maximum increase under proposed section 14 is a total
of $300 000 each for the chamber departments, and a total of $1 million
for the Department of Parliamentary Services.
Proposed section 17 will appropriate the funds for services specified
in Schedule 1 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
- Parliamentary Service Act 1999, section 54.
- The House of Representatives agreed to the resolution on 14
August 2003 and the Senate on 18 August 2003.
- Podger, Andrew, Review by the Parliamentary Service Commissioner
of aspects of the administration of the Parliament: final report,
Canberra, 2002, recommendation
5, p. 8.
http://www.aph.gov.au/publications/final_report.pdf
- ibid., see particularly pp. 40 and 45–6.
- ibid., p. 46.
- Department of Parliamentary Services, ‘Portfolio Budget Statement
2006–07’, Budget related paper no.
1.17C, p. [35].
- ibid., p. 36.
- Department of the Senate, ‘Portfolio Budget Statements 2006–07’,
Budget related paper no. 1.17B, p. 4.
- ibid., p. 43.
Rosemary Bell
19 May 2006
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
This paper has been prepared to support the work of the Australian Parliament
using information available at the time of production. The views expressed
do not reflect an official position of the Information and Research Service,
nor do they constitute professional legal opinion.
IRS staff are available to discuss the paper's contents
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2006
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