{"id":"C2004A00786","name":"Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 2) 2000-2001","slug":"appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-2-2000-2001","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"19 of 2001","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":6158,"registerId":"commonwealth-C2004A00786-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-30","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 2) 2000-2001","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![](image.001.png)\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nAppropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 2) 2000‑2001\n\n \n\nNo. 19, 2001\n\n![](image.001.png)\n\nAppropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 2) 2000-2001\n\n \n\nNo. 19, 2001\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nAn Act to appropriate additional 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 Budget Statements and Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements\n\n5 Notional payments, receipts etc.\n\nPart 2—Basic appropriations\n\n6 Summary of basic appropriations\n\n7 Departmental items—basic appropriation\n\n8 Administered items—basic appropriation\n\n9 Administered capital items—basic appropriation\n\n10 Departmental capital items—basic appropriation\n\nPart 3—Additions to basic appropriations\n\n11 Net appropriations\n\n12 Departmental items and departmental capital items—adjustments and borrowings\n\n13 Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer—unforeseen expenditure etc.\n\n14 Comcover receipts\n\nPart 4—Miscellaneous\n\n15 Crediting amounts to Special Accounts\n\n16 Appropriation of the Consolidated Revenue Fund\n\nSchedule —Services for which money is appropriated\n\n \n\n![](image.001.png)\n\nAppropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 2) 2000-2001\n\nNo. 19, 2001\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nAn Act to appropriate additional money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for expenditure in relation to the Parliamentary Departments, and for related purposes\n\n[Assented to 6 April 2001]\n\nThe Parliament of Australia enacts:\n\nPart 1—Preliminary\n\n \n\n1  Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 2) 2000‑2001.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n  This Act commences on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.\n\n3  Definitions\n\n  In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:\n\nadministered capital item means an amount set out in the Schedule in relation to a Parliamentary Department opposite the heading “Administered Capital”.\n\nadministered item means an amount set out in the Schedule opposite an outcome of a Parliamentary Department under the heading “Administered Expenses”.\n\nAgency has the same meaning as in the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.\n\nNote: Each Parliamentary Department is an Agency for the purposes of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.\n\nChief Executive has the same meaning as in the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.\n\ncurrent year means the financial year ending on 30 June 2001.\n\ndepartmental capital item means an amount set out in the Schedule in relation to a Parliamentary Department:\n\n (a) opposite the heading “Equity Injections”; or\n\n (b) opposite the heading “Loans”; or\n\n (c) opposite the heading “Carryover from previous years”.\n\ndepartmental item means the total amount set out in the Schedule in relation to a Parliamentary Department under the heading “Departmental Outputs”.\n\nNote: The amounts set out opposite outcomes, under the heading “Departmental Outputs”, 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) a departmental item;\n\n (b) an administered item;\n\n (c) a departmental capital item.\n\n (d) an administered capital item.\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 the Parliamentary Library;\n\n (d) the Department of the Parliamentary Reporting Staff;\n\n (e) the Joint House Department.\n\nPortfolio Additional Estimates Statements means the Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements that were tabled in the Senate or the House of Representatives in relation to the Bill for this Act.\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 the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2000‑2001.\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 the Parliamentary Library—the President and the Speaker together; or\n\n (d) in relation to the Department of the Parliamentary Reporting Staff—the President and the Speaker together; or\n\n (e) in relation to the Joint House Department—the President and the Speaker together.\n\nsection 31 agreement means an agreement under section 31 of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.\n\nSpeaker means the Speaker of the House of Representatives.\n\nSpecial Account has the same meaning as in the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.\n\n4  Portfolio Budget Statements and Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements\n\n (1) The Portfolio Budget Statements and Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements are hereby 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.\n\n (2) If the Portfolio Budget Statements or Portfolio Additional Estimates 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\n5  Notional payments, receipts etc.\n\n  For the purposes of this Act, notional transactions between Agencies are to be treated as if they were real transactions.\n\nNote: This section applies, for example, to a “payment” between Agencies 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 Agency, even though no payment is actually made from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.\n\n\n\n\nPart 2—Basic appropriations\n\n \n\n6  Summary of basic appropriations\n\n  The total of the items specified in the Schedule is $500,000.\n\nNote 1: Items in the Schedule can be increased under Part 3 of this Act and under section 14 of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2000‑2001 (as modified by section 14 of this Act).\n\nNote 2: See also section 30A of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, which provides for adjustment of appropriations to take account of GST.\n\n7  Departmental items—basic appropriation\n\n (1) For a departmental item for a Parliamentary Department, the Finance Minister may issue out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund amounts that do not exceed, in total, the amount specified in the item.\n\nNote: Generally, the Finance Minister is permitted, but not obliged, to issue the amounts out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. However, subsection (3) imposes an obligation on the Finance Minister to issue the amounts in certain circumstances.\n\n (2) An amount issued out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for a departmental item for a Parliamentary Department may only be applied for the departmental expenditure of the Parliamentary Department.\n\nNote: The acquisition of new departmental assets will usually be funded from a departmental capital item.\n\n (3) If a departmental item for a Parliamentary Department includes provision for payment of remuneration and allowances to the holder of:\n\n (a) a public office (within the meaning of the Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973); or\n\n (b) an office specified in a Schedule to the Remuneration and Allowances Act 1990;\n\nthen the Finance Minister, under subsection (1), must issue out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, under that item, amounts that are sufficient to pay the remuneration and allowances and must apply the amounts for that purpose.\n\n8  Administered items—basic appropriation\n\n (1) For an administered item for an outcome of a Parliamentary Department, the Finance Minister may issue out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund amounts that do not exceed, in total, the lesser of:\n\n (a) the amount specified in the item; and\n\n (b) the amount determined by the Finance Minister in relation to the item, having regard to the expenses incurred by the Parliamentary Department in the current year in relation to the item.\n\n (2) An amount issued out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for an administered item for an outcome of a Parliamentary Department may only be applied for expenditure for the purpose of carrying out activities for the purpose of contributing to achieving that outcome.\n\nNote: The acquisition of new administered assets will usually be funded from an administered capital item.\n\n9  Administered capital items—basic appropriation\n\n (1) For an administered capital item for a Parliamentary Department, the Finance Minister may issue out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund amounts that do not exceed, in total, the amount specified in the item.\n\n (2) An amount issued out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for an administered capital item for a Parliamentary Department may only be applied for expenditure for the purpose of carrying out activities for the purpose of contributing to achieving any outcome that is specified in the Schedule in relation to the Parliamentary Department.\n\n10  Departmental capital items—basic appropriation\n\n (1) For a departmental capital item for a Parliamentary Department, the Finance Minister may issue out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund amounts that do not exceed, in total, the amount specified in the item.\n\n (2) An amount issued out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for a departmental capital item for a Parliamentary Department may only be applied for the departmental expenditure of the Parliamentary Department.\n\n\n\n\nPart 3—Additions to basic appropriations\n\n \n\n11  Net appropriations\n\n (1) If a section 31 agreement applies to a departmental item, then the amount specified in the item is taken to be increased in accordance with the agreement, and on the conditions set out in the agreement. The increase cannot be more than the relevant receipts covered by the agreement.\n\n (2) For the purposes of section 31 of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, each departmental item is taken to be marked “net appropriation”.\n\n12  Departmental items and departmental capital items—adjustments and borrowings\n\n (1) The responsible Presiding Officer may determine that the amount specified in a departmental item or departmental capital item is to be increased by an amount specified in the determination.\n\n (2) The total of the amounts determined for the Department of the Senate:\n\n (a) under this section; and\n\n (b) under section 12 of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2000‑2001;\n\ncannot be more than $200,000.\n\n (3) The total of the amounts determined for the Department of the House of Representatives:\n\n (a) under this section; and\n\n (b) under section 12 of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2000‑2001;\n\ncannot be more than $200,000.\n\n (4) The total of the amounts determined for all the other Parliamentary Departments together:\n\n (a) under this section; and\n\n (b) under section 12 of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2000‑2001;\n\ncannot be more than $200,000.\n\n (5) The responsible Presiding Officer must give the Parliament details of amounts determined under this section.\n\n13  Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer—unforeseen expenditure etc.\n\n (1) This section applies if the responsible Presiding Officer is satisfied that:\n\n (a) there is an urgent need for expenditure that is not provided for, or is insufficiently provided for, in the Schedule; and\n\n (b) the additional expenditure is not provided for, or is insufficiently provided for, in the Schedule:\n\n (i) because of an erroneous omission or understatement; or\n\n (ii) because the additional 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 the Schedule were amended, in accordance with a determination of the responsible Presiding Officer, to make provision for so much (if any) of the additional expenditure as the responsible Presiding Officer determines.\n\n (3) The total of the amounts determined for the Department of the Senate:\n\n (a) under this section; and\n\n (b) under section 13 of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2000‑2001;\n\ncannot be more than $300,000.\n\n (4) The total of the amounts determined for the Department of the House of Representatives:\n\n (a) under this section; and\n\n (b) under section 13 of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2000‑2001;\n\ncannot be more than $300,000.\n\n (5) The total of the amounts determined for all the other Parliamentary Departments together:\n\n (a) under this section; and\n\n (b) under section 13 of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2000‑2001;\n\ncannot be more than $1 million.\n\n (6) The responsible Presiding Officer must give the Parliament details of amounts determined under this section.\n\n14  Comcover receipts\n\n  After the commencement of this Act, section 14 of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2000‑2001 has effect as if the reference to an item included a reference to an item in the Schedule to this Act.\n\nNote: Section 14 of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2000‑2001 provides for amounts to be added to items for a Parliamentary Department in respect of Comcover payments to the Parliamentary Department.\n\n\n\n\nPart 4—Miscellaneous\n\n \n\n15  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\n16  Appropriation of the Consolidated Revenue Fund\n\n  The Consolidated Revenue Fund is appropriated as necessary for the purposes of this Act.\n\nSchedule —Services for which money is appropriated\n\n \n\n![](image.002.png)  Note:  See Sections 6 and 16\n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nDepartments and Services\n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\nSummary\n\nAdditional Appropriation (bold figures) – 2000-2001\n\nBudget Appropriation (italic figures) – 2000-2001\n\n![](image.003.png)\n\n\nSENATE\n\nAdditional Appropriation (bold figures) – 2000-2001\n\nBudget Appropriation (italic figures) – 2000-2001\n\nActual Available Appropriation (light figures) – 1999-2000\n\n![](image.004.png)\n\n\nHOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES\n\nAdditional Appropriation (bold figures) – 2000-2001\n\nBudget Appropriation (italic figures) – 2000-2001\n\nActual Available Appropriation (light figures) – 1999-2000\n\n![](image.005.png)\n\n \n\n \n\n[Minister’s second reading speech made in—\n\nHouse of Representatives on 29 November 2000\n\nSenate on 26 March 2001]\n\n \n\n(183/00)\n\n\n \n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 1 (Short title) & General Structure","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Australian financial years run from 1 July to 30 June. A No. 2 Appropriation Act made on 6 April 2001 only leaves roughly 85 days of the 2000-2001 financial year remaining. While this is standard practice for Additional Estimates legislation (hence 'No. 2'), the practical effect is that a significant portion of the expenditure being authorised has likely already occurred under the advance to the responsible Presiding Officer mechanism in section 13, creating a situation where Parliament is retrospectively rubber-stamping spending rather than prospectively authorising it.","confidence":0.72,"description":"The Act is titled 'Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 2) 2000-2001' but was registered and made on 2001-04-06, meaning it was enacted after approximately three-quarters of the financial year it purports to appropriate funds for (2000-2001) had already elapsed."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Section 13 — Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer","severity":"low","reasoning":"The advance mechanism for 'unforeseen' expenditure becomes logically strained when it operates as the primary mechanism for authorising spending in arrears. If expenditure was genuinely unforeseen, it would by definition have occurred before this Act's passage, meaning the advance is used to retrospectively regularise already-incurred spending rather than to prospectively cover genuinely unforeseeable future events. The label 'unforeseen' is thus functionally a fiction.","confidence":0.6,"description":"Section 13 provides an advance for 'unforeseen expenditure etc.' to the responsible Presiding Officer, but in a No. 2 Appropriation Act enacted in April of the financial year, virtually all remaining expenditure for the year is now foreseeable, making the 'unforeseen' criterion potentially impossible to satisfy in good faith for the remaining ~85 days of the financial year."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 4 — Portfolio Budget Statements and Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Incorporating external, non-statutory documents by reference as interpretive guides for statutory appropriations creates a logical gap: the Act delegates interpretive authority to documents that are neither law nor subsidiary legislation. If a PAES statement is ambiguous, revised, or inconsistent with the Schedule, there is no clear legal hierarchy for resolving the conflict. The Act neither makes PAES binding nor provides a tiebreaker, leaving compliance criteria partially undefined.","confidence":0.78,"description":"Section 4 gives interpretive and contextual weight to Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements (PAES) as a guide to the purposes of appropriations, but PAES are not legally binding documents and are not tabled as part of the Act itself. This creates a situation where the legal meaning of an appropriation is partly determined by reference to an external document that has no legal status and can be amended or clarified outside of any Parliamentary process."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"Section 5 — Notional payments, receipts etc.","severity":"low","reasoning":"An appropriation is constitutionally grounded in the requirement that money not be drawn from the CRF without Parliamentary authorisation (s.83 of the Constitution). Authorising 'notional' transactions that do not actually draw from the CRF is arguably either redundant (no authorisation is needed if no money moves) or a legal fiction that stretches the concept of 'appropriation' beyond its constitutional meaning. The provision is internally coherent for accounting purposes but logically absurd as a matter of appropriation law.","confidence":0.65,"description":"Section 5 authorises 'notional' payments and receipts — transactions that are recorded as if money moved between accounts but where no actual transfer of funds occurs. This creates the logical absurdity of an Appropriation Act that authorises the movement of money that is never actually moved, meaning the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) is treated as simultaneously depleted and intact."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 11 — Net appropriations","severity":"medium","reasoning":"A core constitutional principle behind s.83 of the Constitution is that Parliament must authorise specific amounts drawn from the CRF. Net appropriation mechanisms, while administratively convenient, mean that the final appropriated amount cannot be known when Parliament votes. The cap is set by the Schedule, but the floor is undefined — a department receiving unexpectedly large receipts could significantly exceed the originally contemplated spending envelope while remaining technically within the Act.","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 11 allows the effective appropriation amount to be increased by receipts received by a department, meaning the actual quantum of the appropriation is indeterminate at the time of enactment and depends on future, uncertain revenue. Parliament is therefore voting to appropriate an unknown and unknowable final amount."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 13 — Advance to the responsible Presiding Officer (unforeseen expenditure)","section_b":"Section 6 — Summary of basic appropriations (Schedule-fixed amounts)","confidence":0.75,"description":"Section 6 and the Schedule fix the amounts appropriated for specific services with apparent finality. Section 13 then permits the responsible Presiding Officer to draw additional funds for 'unforeseen' expenditure beyond those Schedule amounts. This creates a tension between Parliamentary control through fixed Schedule amounts and executive flexibility through the advance mechanism — Parliament enacts specific figures in the Schedule, but section 13 functionally allows those figures to be exceeded unilaterally."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 11 — Net appropriations (variable amounts based on receipts)","section_b":"Section 16 — Appropriation of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (fixed CRF appropriation)","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 16 appropriates the Consolidated Revenue Fund to the extent necessary to give effect to the Act, implying a defined and bounded draw on the CRF. Section 11 makes the actual appropriation amount variable and dependent on receipts, meaning the amount drawn from the CRF under section 16 cannot be determined at the time of enactment. These two sections are in tension: section 16 implies a fixed appropriation while section 11 makes it indeterminate."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 4 — Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements as interpretive guide","section_b":"Schedule — Services for which money is appropriated (legally binding amounts)","confidence":0.8,"description":"Section 4 directs readers to the Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements (PAES) to understand the purposes of appropriations, elevating those external documents as the primary guide to interpreting the Schedule. However, the Schedule contains the only legally authoritative statement of what is appropriated. If the PAES and the Schedule describe purposes or services differently — which is plausible given they are produced by different processes — there is no mechanism within the Act to resolve which prevails. The Act creates a two-tier interpretive framework without a tiebreaker."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 7 — Departmental items (basic appropriation for departmental outputs)","section_b":"Section 12 — Departmental items and departmental capital items—adjustments and borrowings","confidence":0.72,"description":"Section 7 establishes fixed basic appropriations for departmental items. Section 12 then permits 'adjustments and borrowings' between departmental items and departmental capital items, effectively allowing the fixed amounts in section 7 to be varied administratively. This means the section 7 appropriation amounts are not genuinely fixed — they can be reduced through borrowings in favour of capital items — creating an internal inconsistency between the apparent finality of section 7 and the plasticity introduced by section 12."}]},"summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This Act stays squarely within its original and stated purpose: authorising supplementary appropriations for parliamentary departments for the 2000–2001 financial year. It follows the standard template used for parliamentary appropriation acts of this type and does not venture into new policy territory or expand beyond the conventional mechanics of Commonwealth budget appropriation."},"complexity_factors":["Relatively short Act with only 16 sections across 4 parts plus one Schedule","A small number of defined terms in section 3 (e.g. 'administered item', 'departmental item', 'departmental capital item', 'Presiding Officer')","Cross-references to external legislation such as the Financial Management and Accountability Act and the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act for definitions and mechanisms","Four distinct categories of appropriation (departmental, administered, departmental capital, administered capital) requiring readers to track which rules apply to each","The 'net appropriations' and 'advance to Presiding Officer' mechanisms add conditional logic — spending authority can expand based on receipts or ministerial approval","Comcover receipts provision adds a specialist insurance-law layer unfamiliar to general readers","Relies heavily on Portfolio Budget Statements and Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements as external reference documents that are not reproduced in the Act itself"],"plain_english_summary":"This Act is a supplementary (second-round) budget appropriation for Australia’s parliamentary departments in 2000–01, authorising extra spending from the Consolidated Revenue Fund so those departments can cover operating, administered and capital needs. It also allows net appropriations for departmental revenue, credits to Special Accounts, handles Comcover receipts, and provides an advance to a Presiding Officer for unforeseen urgent spending.\n\nIt matters because, under the Constitution, Parliament must expressly authorise public expenditure."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-2-2000-2001","history":"/api/acts/appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-2-2000-2001/history","analysis":"/api/acts/appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-2-2000-2001/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-2-2000-2001/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-2-2000-2001/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/appropriation-parliamentary-departments-act-no-2-2000-2001/documents"}}