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Australian Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills - Scrutiny Digests |
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Purpose
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The Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2023-2024 seeks to appropriate additional
money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the ordinary
annual services of
the government.
The Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2023-2024 seeks to appropriate additional
money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for services that
are not the
ordinary annual services of the government.
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Portfolio
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Finance
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Introduced
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House of Representatives on 7 February 2024
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Bill status
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Before the Senate
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2.2 Clause 4 of both Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2023-2024 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2023-2024 provide that portfolio statements (in this case known as Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements – or PAES) are relevant documents for the purposes of section 15AB of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901. That is, clause 4 provides that the PAES may be considered in interpreting the provisions of each bill. Moreover, the explanatory memoranda to the bills state that they should be read in conjunction with the PAES.[37]
2.3 Noting the important role of the PAES in interpreting Appropriation Bills Nos 3 and 4, the committee expresses its scrutiny concerns in relation to the inclusion of measures within the PAES that are earmarked as ‘not for publication’ (nfp), meaning that the proposed allocation of funding to those budget measures is not published within the PAES. Various reasons are provided for marking a measure as nfp, including that aspects of the relevant program are legally or commercially sensitive.
2.4 In Scrutiny Digest 3 of 2024, the committee requested the minister’s detailed advice as to:
• whether future Department of Finance guides on preparing portfolio budget or additional estimates statements can include guidance that, where a measure is marked as nfp, as much detail should be provided as is necessary to substantiate the decision to not publish the financial details of the measure due to the public interest; and
• the basis on which the financial details of the measures ‘Northern Endeavour decommissioning – future funding’ and ‘National Quantum Strategy – implementation’ have been marked as nfp.[38]
2.5 The Minister for Finance (the minister) advised the committee that she has asked her department to ‘consider, where possible, enhancing the guidance on information which may be provided as part of measure descriptions in budget papers and/or portfolio budget statements in relation to measures that have been marked as nfp’.
2.6 In relation to the specific measures the committee sought further information about, the minister advised that for the measure ‘Northern Endeavour decommissioning—future funding’, the amounts are commercially sensitive as the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) will undertake a procurement process for services to continue work to decommission the Northern Endeavour floating oil production, storage and offtake facility. Disclosure of amounts would impair the Commonwealth’s position in negotiation contracts for these services. The minister further noted that the application of nfp due to commercial sensitivities is consistent with previous expenditure measures related to the Northern Endeavour.
2.7 In relation to the ‘National Quantum Strategy—implementation’, the amounts include funding for Finance and DISR to test the maturity of the market around quantum computing and evaluate commercially sensitive information. Again, the minister advised that publication of the amounts would impair the Commonwealth’s negotiating position in relation to these activities.
2.8 The committee thanks the minister for this response and welcomes the advice that further consideration will be given to enhancing guidance on information which may be provided alongside budget measures marked as nfp.
2.9 The committee notes the information provided in relation to the basis upon which two specific budget measures, ‘Northern Endeavour decommissioning—future funding’ and ‘National Quantum Strategy—implementation’, were marked as nfp.
2.10 In light of the above, the committee welcomes the minister’s commitment to consider improving guidance on measures marked as nfp, but nevertheless draws its scrutiny concerns to the attention of senators and leaves to the Senate as a whole the appropriateness of being asked to authorise appropriations without clear information about the amounts that are to be appropriated under each individual budget measure.
[35] This entry can be cited as: Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2023-2024 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2023-2024, Scrutiny Digest 4 of 2024; [2024] AUSStaCSBSD 56.
[36] Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2023-2024, clause 4; Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2023-2024, clause 4. The committee draws senators’ attention to these provisions pursuant to Senate standing order 24(1)(a)(v).
[37] Explanatory memorandum to Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2023-2024, p. 5; Explanatory memorandum to Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2023-2024, p. 5.
[38] Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, Scrutiny Digest 3 of 2024 (28 February 2024) pp. 14–17.
[39] The minister responded to the committee’s comments in a letter dated 7 March 2024. A copy of the letter is available on the committee’s webpage (see correspondence relating to Scrutiny Digest 4 of 2024).
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/AUSStaCSBSD/2024/56.html