Bills Digest 88 1995-96
Supply (Parliamentary Departments) Bill 1996-97
WARNING:
This Digest is prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced
and does not canvass subsequent amendments.
This Digest was available from 23 May 1996
CONTENTS
Date introduced: 8 May 1996
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Finance
Commencement: Royal Assent
To appropriate $67 670 000 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF)
for expenditure by the Parliamentary Departments on capital works and
ordinary annual services during the 1996-97 financial year.
Prior to 1981 appropriations for Parliamentary Departments was included
in Appropriation and Supply Bills (No. 1), which appropriate funds for
the ordinary annual services of the Government for the upcoming financial
year.
Since 1982, appropriations for the Parliamentary Departments has been
by separate Bills following the Government's consideration of the report
of the Senate Select Committee on Parliament's Appropriations and Staffing
tabled on 18 August 1981. The Government agreed to a separate Bills for
Parliamentary Departments and further agreed that the Bills would not
be treated as Bills for the ordinary annual services of the Government.
The Bills are intended to cover both recurrent and capital expenditure
and recognises that detailed control by the Parliament over individual
items in this area is not necessary.
The Public Service Act 1922 provides that the administration
of the Parliament is conducted by five Parliamentary Departments - the
Department of the House of Representatives, the Department of the Senate,
the Department of the Parliamentary Library, the Department of the Parliamentary
Reporting Staff and the Joint House Department.
The Department of the House of Representatives and the Department of
the Senate are responsible for the provision of procedural, information
and administrative services to Members and Senators respectively. The
Department of the Parliamentary Library is responsible for the provision
of library, reference and research services to Members and Senators. The
Department of the Parliamentary Reporting Staff provides reporting, information
technology, telecommunications and broadcasting services to the Parliament
through Hansard, the Parliamentary Information Systems Office (PISO) and
the Sound and Vision Office (SAVO). The Joint House Department performs
building management, maintenance and catering functions associated with
Parliament House.
This Bill appropriates money to each of the above mentioned Parliamentary
Departments.
The $67 670 000 appropriated for the Parliamentary Departments represents
a small fraction of the total amount allocated in Supply Bill (No.
1) 1996-97 ($14 659 174 000) and Supply Bill (No. 2) 1996-97
($1 719 603 000).
The largest amount appropriated by this Bill goes to the Joint House
Department, $17 858 000. The majority of this total, $16 764 000, are
for its running costs.
The Minister for Finance will be authorised to issue $67 670 000 from
the CRF during 1996-97 for the purposes detailed in the Schedule to the
Bill (clause 3).
Clause 4 will allow the Minister for Finance, at any time before
1 December 1996, to issue funds from the CRF to meet increases in salaries
and wages arising from any law, order or determination which becomes payable
after 23 April 1996.
Clause 7 allows the President or Speaker, separately, to make
advances up to $300 000 for expenditure to cover unforseen, erroneously
omitted or understated circumstances in the appropriations proposed by
this Bill in relation to the Senate or the House of Representatives. The
President and Speaker can also make a joint advance, up to $1 million,
to cover urgent and unforeseen circumstances in relation to the Department
of the Parliamentary Reporting Staff, the Parliamentary Library or the
Joint House Department.
Ian Ireland Ph. 06 277 2438
Chris Field Ph. 06 277 2439
17 May 1996
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Research Service
This Digest does not have any official legal status. Other sources should
be consulted to determine whether the Bill has been enacted and, if so,
whether the subsequent Act reflects further amendments.
PRS staff are available to discuss the paper's contents with Senators
and Members and their staff but not with members of the public.
ISSN 1323-9032
© Commonwealth of Australia 1996
Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the Copyright Act
1968, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without the prior written consent of the Parliamentary Library,
other than by Members of the Australian Parliament in the course of their
official duties.
Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library, 1996.
This page was prepared by the Parliamentary Library, Commonwealth of
Australia
Last updated: 23 May 1996
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