{"id":"C2024A00049","name":"Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2024-2025","slug":"appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-1-2024-2025","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"49 of 2024","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":436398,"registerId":"C2024A00049-fast-fetch-1775953607571","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2024-2025","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.001.png)\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nAppropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2024-2025\n\n \n\nNo. 49, 2024\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nAn Act to appropriate money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for expenditure in relation to the Parliamentary Departments, and for related purposes\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\nPart 1—Preliminary\n\n1 Short title\n\n2 Commencement\n\n3 Definitions\n\n4 Portfolio statements\n\n5 Notional transactions between entities that are part of the Commonwealth\n\nPart 2—Appropriation items\n\n6 Summary of appropriations\n\n7 Departmental items\n\n8 Administered items\n\n9 Administered assets and liabilities items\n\n10 Other departmental items\n\nPart 3—Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer\n\n11 Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer\n\nPart 4—Miscellaneous\n\n12 Crediting amounts to special accounts\n\n13 Appropriation of the Consolidated Revenue Fund\n\n14 Repeal of this Act\n\nSchedule 1—Services for which money is appropriated\n\n![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.002.png)\n\n \n\n \n\nAppropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2024-2025\n\nNo. 49, 2024\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nAn Act to appropriate money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for expenditure in relation to the Parliamentary Departments, and for related purposes\n\n[Assented to 26 June 2024]\n\nThe Parliament of Australia enacts:\n\nPart 1—Preliminary\n\n \n\n1  Short title\n\n  This Act is the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2024‑2025.\n\n2  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 2024; and(b) the day this Act receives the Royal Assent. 1 July 2024(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.\n\n3  Definitions\n\n  In this Act:\n\nadministered assets and liabilities item means an amount set out in Schedule 1 in relation to a Parliamentary Department opposite the heading “Administered Assets and Liabilities”.\n\nadministered item means an amount set out in Schedule 1 opposite an outcome for a Parliamentary Department under the heading “Administered”.\n\ncurrent year means the financial year ending on 30 June 2025.\n\ndepartmental item means the total amount set out in Schedule 1 in relation to a Parliamentary Department 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\nitem means any of the following:\n\n (a) a departmental item;\n\n (b) an administered item;\n\n (c) an administered assets and liabilities item;\n\n (d) an other 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\nNote: Each Parliamentary Department is a non‑corporate Commonwealth entity for the purposes of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.\n\nother departmental item means an amount set out in Schedule 1 in relation to a Parliamentary Department opposite the heading “Equity Injections”.\n\nParliamentary Department means any of the following:\n\n (a) the Department of the Senate;\n\n (b) the Department of the House of Representatives;\n\n (c) the Department of Parliamentary Services;\n\n (d) the Parliamentary Budget Office.\n\nPortfolio Budget Statements means the Portfolio Budget Statements 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\nPresident means the President of the Senate.\n\nresponsible Presiding Officer means:\n\n (a) in relation to the Department of the Senate—the President; or\n\n (b) in relation to the Department of the House of Representatives—the Speaker; or\n\n (c) in relation to the Department of Parliamentary Services—the President and the Speaker together; or\n\n (d) in relation to the Parliamentary Budget Office—the President and the Speaker together.\n\nSpeaker means the Speaker of the House of Representatives.\n\nspecial account has the same meaning as in the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.\n\n4  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.\n\n5  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.\n\nPart 2—Appropriation items\n\n \n\n6  Summary of appropriations\n\n  The total of the items specified in Schedule 1 is $326,716,000.\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.\n\n7  Departmental items\n\n  The amount specified in a departmental item for a Parliamentary Department may be applied for the departmental expenditure of the Parliamentary Department.\n\n8  Administered items\n\n (1) The amount specified in an administered item for an outcome for a Parliamentary Department 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.\n\n9  Administered assets and liabilities items\n\n (1) The amount specified in an administered assets and liabilities item for a Parliamentary Department may be applied for expenditure for the purpose of contributing to achieving any outcome specified in Schedule 1 for the Parliamentary Department.\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.\n\n10  Other departmental items\n\n  The amount specified in an other departmental item for a Parliamentary Department may be applied for the departmental expenditure of the Parliamentary Department.\n\nPart 3—Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer\n\n \n\n11  Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer\n\n (1) This section applies if the responsible Presiding Officer is satisfied that there is an urgent need for expenditure in relation to a Parliamentary Department, 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 responsible Presiding Officer, to make provision for so much (if any) of the expenditure as the responsible Presiding Officer determines.\n\n (3) The total of the amounts determined under subsection (2) for the Department of the Senate cannot be more than $300,000.\n\n (4) The total of the amounts determined under subsection (2) for the Department of the House of Representatives cannot be more than $300,000.\n\n (5) The total of the amounts determined under subsection (2) for the Department of Parliamentary Services cannot be more than $1 million.\n\n (6) The total of the amounts determined under subsection (2) for the Parliamentary Budget Office cannot be more than $300,000.\n\n (7) 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.\n\nPart 4—Miscellaneous\n\n \n\n12  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.\n\n13  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.\n\n14  Repeal of this Act\n\n  This Act is repealed at the start of 1 July 2027.\n\nSchedule 1—Services for which money is appropriated\n\nNote: See sections 6 and 13.\n\n \n\n| Abstract |  |\n| --- | --- |\n| Department | Total |\n|  | $'000 |\n|  |  |\n| Department of the Senate | 29,061 |\n| Department of the House of Representatives | 30,026 |\n| Department of Parliamentary Services | 257,734 |\n| Parliamentary Budget Office | 9,895 |\n|  |  |\n| Total | 326,716 |\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n|  |\n| --- |\n|  |\n|  |\n|  |\n|  |\n|  |\n|  |\n| APPROPRIATIONS |\n|  |\n|  |\n|  |\n|  |\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n- SUMMARYSummary of Appropriations (plain figures)—2024‑2025 Actual Available Appropriation (italic figures)—2023‑2024\n- Entity Departmental Administered Non- operating Total\n- $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000\n- Department of the Senate 29,061 ‑ ‑ 29,061\n- 27,265 ‑ ‑ 27,265\n- Department of the House of 29,669 357 ‑ 30,026\n- Representatives 27,202 347 ‑ 27,549\n- Department of Parliamentary Services 210,169 6,432 41,133 257,734\n- 199,547 6,040 55,200 260,787\n- Parliamentary Budget Office 9,895 ‑ ‑ 9,895\n- 9,137 ‑ ‑ 9,137\n- Total: Parliamentary Departments 278,794 6,789 41,133 326,716\n- 263,151 6,387 55,200 324,738\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n- PARLIAMENTAppropriation (plain figures)—2024‑2025 Actual Available Appropriation (italic figures)—2023‑2024\n- Departmental Administered Total\n- $'000 $'000 $'000\n- DEPARTMENT OF THE SENATE\n- Operating\n- Outcome 1 ‑\n- Advisory and administrative support services to 29,061 ‑ 29,061\n- enable the Senate and Senators to fulfil their 27,265 ‑ 27,265\n- representative and legislative duties\n- Total: Department of the Senate 29,061 ‑ 29,061\n- 27,265 ‑ 27,265\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n- PARLIAMENTAppropriation (plain figures)—2024‑2025 Actual Available Appropriation (italic figures)—2023‑2024\n- Departmental Administered Total\n- $'000 $'000 $'000\n- DEPARTMENT OF THE HOUSE OF\n- REPRESENTATIVES\n- Operating\n- Outcome 1 ‑\n- Advisory and administrative services support the 29,669 357 30,026\n- House of Representatives to fulfil its 27,202 347 27,549\n- representative and legislative role\n- Total: Department of the House of 29,669 357 30,026\n- Representatives 27,202 347 27,549\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n- PARLIAMENTAppropriation (plain figures)—2024‑2025 Actual Available Appropriation (italic figures)—2023‑2024\n- Departmental Administered Total\n- $'000 $'000 $'000\n- DEPARTMENT OF PARLIAMENTARY\n- SERVICES\n- Operating\n- Outcome 1 ‑\n- Support the functions of Parliament and 210,169 6,432 216,601\n- parliamentarians through the provision of 199,547 6,040 205,587\n- professional services, advice and facilities and\n- maintain Australian Parliament House\n- Total: Operating 210,169 6,432 216,601\n- 199,547 6,040 205,587\n- Non‑operating\n- Administered Assets and Liabilities 41,133\n- 55,200\n- Total: Non‑operating 41,133\n- 55,200\n- Total: Department of Parliamentary Services 210,169 6,432 257,734\n- 199,547 6,040 260,787\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n- PARLIAMENTAppropriation (plain figures)—2024‑2025 Actual Available Appropriation (italic figures)—2023‑2024\n- Departmental Administered Total\n- $'000 $'000 $'000\n- PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE\n- Operating\n- Outcome 1 ‑\n- Inform the Parliament by providing independent 9,895 ‑ 9,895\n- and non‑partisan analysis of the budget cycle, 9,137 ‑ 9,137\n- fiscal policy and the financial implications of\n- proposals\n- Total: Parliamentary Budget Office 9,895 ‑ 9,895\n- 9,137 ‑ 9,137\n\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n[Minister’s second reading speech made in—\n\nHouse of Representatives on 14 May 2024\n\nSenate on 24 June 2024]\n\n \n\n(55/24)\n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: appropriating funds for parliamentary departments. The scope has not expanded beyond the traditional annual appropriation framework for parliamentary services."},"complexity_factors":["Short, focused statute with only 14 operative sections plus a schedule","Minimal cross-referencing – primarily references to the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and Acts Interpretation Act 1901 for standard machinery provisions","Straightforward defined terms (12 definitions in section 3), mostly intuitive concepts like 'departmental item' and 'Parliamentary Department'","Simple conditional logic limited to the emergency advance provisions in section 11, with clear monetary caps","No nested exceptions or complex temporal provisions beyond standard commencement and repeal dates","Schedule 1 consists of straightforward tables appropriating specific dollar amounts to named entities"],"plain_english_summary":"This legislation authorises the Australian Government to spend **$326.7 million** from the national budget (the Consolidated Revenue Fund) to run Australia's parliamentary departments during the 2024-2025 financial year.\n\n**Who gets the money:**\n- **Department of the Senate** ($29.1 million) – supports Senators and Senate operations\n- **Department of the House of Representatives** ($30.0 million) – supports MPs and House operations  \n- **Department of Parliamentary Services** ($257.7 million) – the biggest chunk, covering Parliament House facilities, security, catering, IT, and library services\n- **Parliamentary Budget Office** ($9.9 million) – provides independent budget analysis to all MPs\n\n**What the money covers:**\n- **Departmental items** – day-to-day running costs like salaries, rent, and utilities\n- **Administered items** – specific programs and services the departments deliver on behalf of government\n- **Administered assets and liabilities** – capital works and major purchases (mostly for Parliament House)\n- **Equity injections** – additional funding for departmental operations\n\n**Key features:**\n- **Emergency top-ups**: The President of the Senate and/or Speaker of the House can approve urgent extra spending if something was accidentally left out or unforeseen (capped at $300,000 for most departments, $1 million for Parliamentary Services)\n- **Notional transactions**: Internal \"payments\" between parliamentary departments are treated as real for accounting purposes, even though no actual cash leaves the system\n- **Automatic repeal**: The Act self-destructs on 1 July 2027, ensuring it doesn't linger on the books indefinitely\n\nThis is one of several annual \"Appropriation Acts\" – essentially the legal permission slip that lets the government spend money that Parliament has already approved in the budget."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This Act is a routine, annual appropriation that confines itself to funding the four Parliamentary Departments for 2024–25 and setting limited procedural rules for interpretation, accounting and small urgent advances. It does not materially expand the scope of what an appropriation Act of this type normally does. The only features extending ordinary appropriations are (a) the explicit treatment of notional transactions as real for appropriation accounting (section 5), and (b) the advance mechanism with specified caps and an exclusion from disallowance/sunsetting (section 11), but these are modest procedural additions rather than a substantive broadening of purpose."},"complexity_factors":["Short, single-purpose annual appropriation instrument (one Schedule with funding amounts)","About 15 defined terms in the definitions section (section 3) including cross‑references to officeholders and the PGPA Act","Cross-references to external statutes and documents: Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (accounting/adjustment rules) and Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (interpretation materials) (sections 4, 5, and notes)","Provision for notional intra‑Commonwealth transactions to be treated as real (section 5) — accounting effect rather than substantive policy","Advance mechanism with conditional triggers and numeric caps for each department (section 11) and procedural special rule making the determination a non‑disallowable legislative instrument","Allowing transfers to special accounts where purposes overlap (section 12)","Repeal date fixed (section 14)","Limited conditional logic (mainly in section 11) but no deep nesting of exceptions"],"plain_english_summary":"The Act appropriates $326,716,000 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund to fund the four Parliamentary Departments for 2024–25, ties interpretation of the appropriations to the Portfolio Budget Statements, and treats notional intra‑Commonwealth transactions as real for appropriation accounting. It also permits limited, capped urgent advances by the Presiding Officers and allows credits to overlapping special accounts.\n\nIt primarily affects the named departments, their suppliers and contractors, and the President/Speaker who may authorise advances; it sustains operations and alters some oversight and accounting mechanics."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-1-2024-2025","history":"/api/acts/appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-1-2024-2025/history","analysis":"/api/acts/appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-1-2024-2025/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-1-2024-2025/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-1-2024-2025/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-1-2024-2025/documents"}}