{"id":"tas:act-2026-007","name":"Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2026","slug":"appropriation-act-no-1-2026","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"tas","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"7 of 2026","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":508152,"registerId":"tas-tas:act-2026-007-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-07-10","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Short title","content":"### 1 Short title\n\n> This Act may be cited as the [Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2026](/view/html/inforce/2026-10-02/act-2026-007) .","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commencement","content":"### 2 Commencement\n\n> This Act commences on 1 July 2026, but if it does not receive the Royal Assent by that date this Act is taken to have commenced on 1 July 2026.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Interpretation","content":"### 3 Interpretation\n\n> For the purposes of this Act –\n> \n> > ***Capital Services*** means –\n> > \n> > > > (a) public works or property required for public purposes; or\n> > > \n> > > > (b) a loan authorised by law;\n> \n> > ***Operating Services*** means the ordinary annual services of the Government.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"4","sectionType":"section","heading":"Issue, application and appropriation of $9 104 688 000","content":"### 4 Issue, application and appropriation of $9 104 688 000\n\n> > (1)  In respect of the financial year ending on 30 June 2027, the Treasurer may –\n> > \n> > > > (a) issue the sum of $9 104 688 000 out of the Public Account; and\n> > > \n> > > > (b) apply that sum for the services of the Government.\n> \n> > (2)  The sum specified in [subsection (1)(a)](#GS4@Gs1@Hpa@EN) is appropriated.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"5","sectionType":"section","heading":"Purposes of appropriation","content":"### 5 Purposes of appropriation\n\n> The sum specified in [section 4(1)(a)](#GS4@Gs1@Hpa@EN) is to be applied for the purposes specified in [Schedule 1](#JS1@EN) and detailed in the agency information in support of the estimates for the financial year ending on 30 June 2027.","sortOrder":4},{"sectionNumber":"6","sectionType":"section","heading":"Expiry of Act","content":"### 6 Expiry of Act\n\n> This Act expires on 30 June 2028.","sortOrder":5},{"sectionNumber":"SCHEDULE 1 - Purposes of Appro","sectionType":"part","heading":"SCHEDULE 1 - Purposes of Appropriation 2026-27","content":"# SCHEDULE 1 - Purposes of Appro SCHEDULE 1 - Purposes of Appropriation 2026-27\n\n[Section 5](#GS5@EN)\n\n[![graphic image](/image/approp1-2627p1.gif)](/image/approp1-2627p1.gif)\n\n[![graphic image](/image/approp1-2627p2.gif)](/image/approp1-2627p2.gif)\n\n[![graphic image](/image/approp1-2627p3.gif)](/image/approp1-2627p3.gif)\n\n[![graphic image](/image/approp1-2627p4.gif)](/image/approp1-2627p4.gif)\n\n[![graphic image](/image/approp1-2627p5.gif)](/image/approp1-2627p5.gif)\n\n[![graphic image](/image/approp1-2627p6.gif)](/image/approp1-2627p6.gif)","sortOrder":6}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Appropriation Acts are, by design, narrowly focused on authorising expenditure from the Consolidated Fund for specified services and periods. There is no indication in the provided material that this Act expands beyond that core purpose. Any substantive scope change would normally appear as additional substantive clauses in the Act (for example, novel conditional grants, new redirection powers, or non-budgetary policy measures); none of those specific changes were visible in the supplied text."},"complexity_factors":["Standard appropriation structure: short primary text with numerical schedules (typical of Appropriation Acts)","Few defined legal concepts in the Act itself (mainly references to 'Consolidated Fund', 'Treasurer', 'appropriation' )","Limited conditional logic in the Act proper; most complexity usually sits in schedules (numerical) or cross-references to the Financial Management Act","Potential cross-references to other statutes and to administrative orders (e.g. Financial Management Act, Administrative Arrangements) but these are external rather than internal complexity","Temporal limitation to a single financial year (reduces ongoing conditionality)"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this law does (mechanically)\n\n- This is an Appropriation Act for the Tasmanian Government for the relevant financial year. Appropriation Acts authorise the government to withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund (the central government bank account) and to apply those funds to government services.\n- Practically, the Act gives the Treasurer and departments legal authority to spend specified amounts on specified services and programs. The detailed breakdown of how much is available for each agency or purpose is normally set out in schedules to the Act.\n\nWho it affects\n\n- Government departments and agencies: they receive legal authorisation to spend the allocated money.\n- Public service employees and recipients of government services: their programs and salaries flow from these authorised appropriations.\n- Private businesses and contractors that supply goods or services to government: their payments depend on the availability of appropriated funds.\n- Tasmanian taxpayers and the Consolidated Fund: the money authorised for spending comes from public revenue and affects the overall state budget position.\n\nWhy it matters\n\n- Without an Appropriation Act the government would not have lawful authority to spend money from the Consolidated Fund for ordinary services — this is the ordinary statutory mechanism that turns budget decisions into legally spendable cash.\n- The Act sets legal spending limits and purposes. That creates predictability for agencies and for private parties contracting with government, and it provides a parliamentary control point over public expenditure.\n\nPurpose claims and a quick test against costs and incentives\n\n- The official purpose is to implement the government budget by authorising expenditure. That is mechanically true: the Act grants authority to spend. (If the Act contains schedules or conditions, those determine the exact allocation and any restrictions on use.)\n- Who pays: ultimately the public (through revenue collected into the Consolidated Fund). The Act does not itself raise revenue; it permits spending of revenue already collected or to be collected.\n- Who decides: Parliament authorises the appropriations; the Treasurer and responsible ministers, acting under agency administrative rules and financial management laws, decide how authorised funds are executed within allocated limits.\n- Behaviour changes and incentives: agencies can commit to and pay for programs and contracts they could not lawfully honour without appropriation. Private suppliers gain payment certainty where funding is appropriated. There is an incentive for agencies to plan projects that fit within appropriation limits; conversely, if appropriations are tight, agencies may delay purchases or seek alternative funding (special appropriations, grants, loans, or off-budget arrangements).\n\nTrade-offs, implementation risks and administrative effects\n\n- Opportunity cost: every appropriation reflects a choice of spending that displaces alternative uses of the same funds.\n- Concentrated benefits vs diffuse costs: benefits are concentrated (to particular agencies, contractors, beneficiaries). Costs are diffuse (spread across taxpayers and the state budget). This is an ordinary feature of budgetary law rather than a unique policy design in this Act.\n- Compliance and administration: the Act imposes a compliance framework — agencies must manage expenditures within the sums and purposes authorised, which creates an administrative burden of budgeting, reporting and internal controls (usually governed by the state's Financial Management Act or equivalent).\n- Discretion and control risk: while the Act defines limits, day-to-day exercise of spending discretion lies with ministers, the Treasurer and agency accounting officers. Oversight depends on supplementary appropriation mechanisms, audit, and parliamentary reporting.\n\nEffect on private enterprise and markets (brief)\n\n- Direct: firms supplying government goods or services benefit where their contracts are funded by the appropriation.\n- Indirect: appropriation size and composition can affect demand for private sector services, employment in sectors dependent on government contracts, and the broader fiscal position that influences taxes and borrowing.\n\nNotes and caveat\n\n- The text provided for review is the legislative heading and metadata (showing the Act is current from 1 July 2026). The detailed operative provisions (schedules of amounts, any specific conditions, cross-references to other financial statutes) were not included in the material supplied. The summary therefore describes the standard legal function and likely mechanics of a Tasmanian Appropriation Act rather than clause-by-clause specifics of this particular instrument.\n\n"},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/appropriation-act-no-1-2026","history":"/api/acts/appropriation-act-no-1-2026/history","analysis":"/api/acts/appropriation-act-no-1-2026/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/appropriation-act-no-1-2026/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/appropriation-act-no-1-2026/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/appropriation-act-no-1-2026/documents"}}