{"id":"C2026A00054","name":"Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2026‑2027","slug":"appropriation-act-no-1-2026-2027","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"54 of 2026","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":537663,"registerId":"commonwealth-C2026A00054-1785795644817","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-08-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"Part 1","sectionType":"part","heading":"Preliminary","content":"Part 1—Preliminary","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Short title","content":"1  Short title\n\n  This Act is the Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2026‑2027.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commencement","content":"2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n\n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- 1. The whole of this Act The later of:(a) 1 July 2026; and(b) the day this Act receives the Royal Assent. 1 July 2026(paragraph (a) applies)\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as originally enacted. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this Act.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this Act. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this Act.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Definitions","content":"3  Definitions\n\n  In this Act:\n\nadministered item means an amount set out in Schedule 1 opposite an outcome for a non‑corporate entity under the heading “Administered”.\n\ncorporate entity means:\n\n (a) a corporate Commonwealth entity within the meaning of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013; or\n\n (b) a Commonwealth company within the meaning of that Act.\n\ncorporate entity item means the total amount set out in Schedule 1 in relation to a corporate entity under the heading “Administered”.\n\nNote: The amounts set out opposite outcomes for corporate entities, under the heading “Administered”, are “notional”. They are not part of the item, and do not in any way restrict the scope of the expenditure authorised by the item.\n\ncurrent year means the financial year ending on 30 June 2027.\n\ndepartmental item means the total amount set out in Schedule 1 in relation to a non‑corporate entity under the heading “Departmental”.\n\nNote: The amounts set out opposite outcomes, under the heading “Departmental”, are “notional”. They are not part of the item, and do not in any way restrict the scope of the expenditure authorised by the item.\n\nexpenditure means payments for expenses, acquiring assets, making loans or paying liabilities.\n\nFinance Minister means the Minister administering this Act.\n\nitem means any of the following:\n\n (a) an administered item;\n\n (b) a corporate entity item;\n\n (c) a departmental item.\n\nnon‑corporate entity means:\n\n (a) a non‑corporate Commonwealth entity within the meaning of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013; or\n\n (b) the High Court.\n\nPortfolio Budget Statements means the Portfolio Budget Statements that were tabled in the Senate or the House of Representatives in relation to the Bill for this Act.\n\nportfolio statements means the Portfolio Budget Statements.\n\nspecial account has the same meaning as in the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"4","sectionType":"section","heading":"Portfolio statements","content":"4  Portfolio statements\n\n  The portfolio statements are declared to be relevant documents for the purposes of section 15AB of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.\n\nNote: See paragraph 15AB(2)(g) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 which provides that the material that may be considered in the interpretation of a provision of an Act includes any document that is declared by the Act to be a relevant document.","sortOrder":4},{"sectionNumber":"5","sectionType":"section","heading":"Notional transactions between entities that are part of the Commonwealth","content":"5  Notional transactions between entities that are part of the Commonwealth\n\n  For the purposes of this Act, notional transactions between non‑corporate entities are to be treated as if they were real transactions.\n\nNote: This section applies, for example, to a “payment” between non‑corporate entities that are both part of the Commonwealth. One of the effects of this section is that the payment will be debited from an appropriation for the paying non‑corporate entity, even though no payment is actually made from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. This is consistent with section 76 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.","sortOrder":5},{"sectionNumber":"Part 2","sectionType":"part","heading":"Appropriation items","content":"Part 2—Appropriation items","sortOrder":6},{"sectionNumber":"6","sectionType":"section","heading":"Summary of appropriations","content":"6  Summary of appropriations\n\n  The total of the items specified in Schedule 1 is $178,650,611,000.\n\nNote 1: Items in Schedule 1 can be adjusted under Part 3 of this Act.\n\nNote 2: Sections 74 to 75 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 also provide for the adjustment of amounts appropriated by this Act.","sortOrder":7},{"sectionNumber":"7","sectionType":"section","heading":"Departmental items","content":"7  Departmental items\n\n  The amount specified in a departmental item for a non‑corporate entity may be applied for the departmental expenditure of the entity.","sortOrder":8},{"sectionNumber":"8","sectionType":"section","heading":"Administered items","content":"8  Administered items\n\n (1) The amount specified in an administered item for an outcome for a non‑corporate entity may be applied for expenditure for the purpose of contributing to achieving that outcome.\n\n (2) If the portfolio statements indicate that activities of a particular kind were intended to be treated as activities in respect of a particular outcome, then expenditure for the purpose of carrying out those activities is taken to be expenditure for the purpose of contributing to achieving the outcome.","sortOrder":9},{"sectionNumber":"9","sectionType":"section","heading":"Corporate entity items","content":"9  Corporate entity items\n\n (1) The amount specified in a corporate entity item for a corporate entity may be paid to the entity to be applied for the purposes of the entity.\n\n (2) If:\n\n (a) an Act provides that a corporate entity must be paid amounts that are appropriated by the Parliament for the purposes of the entity; and\n\n (b) Schedule 1 contains a corporate entity item for that entity;\n\nthen the entity must be paid the full amount specified in the item.","sortOrder":10},{"sectionNumber":"Part 3","sectionType":"part","heading":"Advance to the Finance Minister","content":"Part 3—Advance to the Finance Minister","sortOrder":11},{"sectionNumber":"10","sectionType":"section","heading":"Advance to the Finance Minister","content":"10  Advance to the Finance Minister\n\n (1) This section applies if the Finance Minister is satisfied that there is an urgent need for expenditure, in the current year, that is not provided for, or is insufficiently provided for, in Schedule 1:\n\n (a) because of an erroneous omission or understatement; or\n\n (b) because the expenditure was unforeseen until after the last day on which it was practicable to provide for it in the Bill for this Act before that Bill was introduced into the House of Representatives.\n\n (2) This Act has effect as if Schedule 1 were amended, in accordance with a determination of the Finance Minister, to make provision for so much (if any) of the expenditure as the Finance Minister determines.\n\n (3) The total of the amounts determined under subsection (2) cannot be more than:\n\n (a) $400 million for any purpose; and\n\n (b) an additional $2,000 million for expenditure for the purposes of responding to circumstances relating to fuel security.\n\n (4) A determination made under subsection (2) is a legislative instrument, but neither section 42 (disallowance) nor Part 4 of Chapter 3 (sunsetting) of the Legislation Act 2003 applies to the determination.","sortOrder":12},{"sectionNumber":"Part 4","sectionType":"part","heading":"Miscellaneous","content":"Part 4—Miscellaneous","sortOrder":13},{"sectionNumber":"11","sectionType":"section","heading":"Crediting amounts to special accounts","content":"11  Crediting amounts to special accounts\n\n  If any of the purposes of a special account is a purpose that is covered by an item (whether or not the item expressly refers to the special account), then amounts may be debited against the appropriation for that item and credited to that special account.","sortOrder":14},{"sectionNumber":"12","sectionType":"section","heading":"Appropriation of the Consolidated Revenue Fund","content":"12  Appropriation of the Consolidated Revenue Fund\n\n  The Consolidated Revenue Fund is appropriated as necessary for the purposes of this Act, including the operation of this Act as affected by the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.","sortOrder":15},{"sectionNumber":"13","sectionType":"section","heading":"Repeal of this Act","content":"13  Repeal of this Act\n\n  This Act is repealed at the start of 1 July 2029.","sortOrder":16}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"On its face this is a standard annual appropriation Act: it allocates a total sum (s6) into the usual departmental, administered and corporate categories (ss7–9), includes routine mechanisms for special accounts (s11) and notional transactions (s5), and contains a time‑limited repeal (s13). The notable addition is the Finance Minister’s advance power with monetary caps and a fuel‑security carve‑out (s10(1)–(3)), which broadens the scope for urgent spending within the appropriation framework but remains within the mechanical purpose of enabling parliamentary appropriation for government expenditure."},"complexity_factors":["Straightforward annual appropriation structure with a single total item ($178,650,611,000) and separate departmental/admin/corporate item types (ss6–9).","Multiple defined terms in s3 linking to external Acts (PGPA Act 2013) increasing interpretive links.","Cross‑references to other statutes and documents: PGPA Act 2013 (definitions and adjustment powers), Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (s15AB relevance of portfolio statements), and Legislation Act 2003 (s10 excluded disallowance/sunsetting).","Advance power (s10) has conditional logic (urgent need; erroneous omission or unforeseen after practicable drafting) and monetary caps with a fuel‑security carve‑out (s10(3)), creating nested conditions.","Notional transaction rule (s5) alters accounting treatment internally, which can affect how appropriations are debited without actual CRF payments.","Use of portfolio/portfolio budget statements as interpretive aid (s4 and definition of Portfolio Budget Statements) links statutory interpretation to external explanatory material.","Determinative instruments are legislative instruments but explicitly excluded from disallowance and sunsetting (s10(4)), an unusual procedural carve‑out."],"plain_english_summary":"**What it does:** This Act appropriates $178,650,611,000 for the 2026–27 financial year (s6), sets out departmental, administered and corporate‑entity items (ss7–9), treats notional intra‑Commonwealth transactions as real for appropriation purposes (s5), lets the Finance Minister add amounts by determination up to $400 million (plus up to $2,000 million for fuel‑security) for urgent omissions (s10(3)), allows crediting to special accounts (s11), and is repealed on 1 July 2029 (s13).\n\nThis is general legal information, not legal advice; I can make mistakes—get a qualified Australian lawyer to check before relying on it."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/appropriation-act-no-1-2026-2027","history":"/api/acts/appropriation-act-no-1-2026-2027/history","analysis":"/api/acts/appropriation-act-no-1-2026-2027/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/appropriation-act-no-1-2026-2027/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/appropriation-act-no-1-2026-2027/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/appropriation-act-no-1-2026-2027/documents"}}