Commonwealth Numbered Acts

STATES GRANTS (SCHOOLS ASSISTANCE) ACT 1984 No. 126 of 1984 - SECT 81

81. (1) If-

   (a)  a statement required to be furnished to the Minister in accordance
        with a condition specified in this Act or in a
        previous schools assistance Act, by the approved authority of a
        non-government school, or of an approved school system, contains
        information of a financial, statistical or other nature that is false
        or misleading; and

   (b)  in reliance on the information contained in the statement, the
        Minister has authorized a payment to a State under a provision of this
        Act in respect of the school, or of the approved school system, as the
        case may be, to which the statement relates, of an amount that, in the
        opinion of the Minister, exceeds the amount that would have been
        authorized to be paid if the information in the statement had not been
        false or misleading, the Minister may declare that there has been an
        excess authorization of an amount equal to the excess referred to in
        paragraph (b) in respect of the school or the approved school system,
        as the case may be.

(2) Where the Minister has, under sub-section (1), declared that there has
been an excess authorization in respect of a particular school or approved
school system in a State, the Minister may determine, subject to sub-sections
(3) and (4), that an amount authorized to be paid in accordance with a
provision of this Act, in respect of that school or approved school system,
shall be reduced by an amount specified in the determination, and on the
making of such a determination the amount so authorized to be paid shall be
deemed to be reduced by an amount equal to the amount so specified.

(3) The amount specified in a determination made by the Minister in accordance
with sub-section (2) in respect of a declaration made by the Minister under
sub-section (1) that there has been an excess authorization, or where the
Minister makes more than one such determination in respect of such a
declaration, the aggregate of the amounts specified in those determinations,
shall not exceed the amount of the excess authorization the subject of the
declaration.

(4) The Minister shall not make a determination under sub-section (2) in
respect of any particular amount authorized to be paid to a State in respect
of a particular school or approved school system at a time after the amount so
authorized has been paid to the State.

(5) Where, had the information of the kind referred to in sub-section (1)
contained in a statement that is furnished in respect of a non-government
school (being a non-systemic school) or an approved school system not been
false or misleading, the Minister is satisfied that he or she would have
altered, or desisted from altering, the level of assistance that is specified
in the list of non-systemic schools or in the list of approved school systems
in respect of that non-government school or that approved school system, then-

   (a)  any amount of financial assistance for general recurrent purposes
        authorized by the Minister to be paid in the year immediately
        following the furnishing of the statement in respect of that
        non-government school or that approved school system may be taken by
        the Minister to have been so authorized to be paid in reliance on the
        information contained in the statement; and

   (b)  the amount of financial assistance for general recurrent purposes so
        authorized to be paid may be taken by the Minister to exceed the
        amount of that financial assistance that would have been authorized to
        be paid if the information in the statement had not been false or
        misleading by the amount by which the amount of such financial
        assistance so authorized exceeds the amount of that financial
        assistance that, in the opinion of the Minister, would have been
        authorized if the Minister had altered, or desisted from altering, the
        level of assistance so specified.