{"id":"C1936A00013","name":"Appropriation (Unemployment Relief) Act 1936","slug":"appropriation-unemployment-relief-act-1936","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"13 of 1936","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":3782,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1936A00013-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-30","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Appropriation (Unemployment Relief) Act 1936","content":"APPROPRIATION (UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF).\n\nNo. 13 of 1936.\n\nAn Act to grant and apply out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund a sum for the purposes of the Grant of Financial Assistance to the States.\n\n\\[Assented to 27th May, 1936.\\]\n\nPreamble.\n\nBE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, for the purpose of appropriating the grant originated in the House of Representatives, as follows:—\n\nShort title.\n\n1. This Act may be cited as the Appropriation (Unemployment Relief) Act 1936.\n\n  \n\nAppropriation.\n\n2. There shall be payable out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which is hereby appropriated accordingly, for the purposes of this Act, the sum of Four hundred and fifty-one thousand five hundred pounds.\n\nGrants to States for assistance of metalliferous mining and forestry.\n\n3.—(1.) Subject to this Act, there are hereby granted to each State, by way of financial assistance during the financial years ending the thirtieth day of June, One thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven and the thirtieth day of June, One thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight, amounts not exceeding the amounts respectively specified in the second and third columns of the Schedules to this Act opposite to the name of that State.\n\n(2.) Any amount granted to a State by this section and specified in the First Schedule to this Act is granted upon condition that it is used by the State, in such manner and subject to such conditions as the Treasurer approves, in providing, for the purpose of relieving unemployment, assistance to the metalliferous mining industry.\n\n(3.) Any amount granted to a State by this section and specified in the Second Schedule to this Act is granted upon condition that it is used by the State, in such manner and subject to such conditions as the Treasurer approves, in providing, for the purpose of relieving unemployment, assistance to forestry.\n\nMethod of Payment to States.\n\n4. Any amount granted to a State by this Act shall be paid to that State at such times and in such manner as the Treasurer approves.\n\nTHE SCHEDULES. Section 3.\n\nTHE FIRST SCHEDULE.\n\nAmounts which may be granted to the States to Provide Assistance to the Metalliferous Mining Industry.\n\n| Column 1.                            | Column 2.               | Column 3.               |\n| ------------------------------------ | ----------------------- | ----------------------- |\n| State.                               | Financial Year 1936–37. | Financial Year 1937–38. |\n|                                      | £                       | £                       |\n| New South Wales...................   | 19,600                  | 13,600                  |\n| Victoria.........................    | 27,000                  | 18,700                  |\n| Queensland.......................    | 35,600                  | 24,900                  |\n| South Australia....................  | 12.800                  | ..                      |\n| Western Australia................... | 34,600                  | 9,800                   |\n| Tasmania........................     | 10,400                  | 3,000                   |\n| Total..................              | 140,000                 | 70,000                  |\n\n  \n\nTHE SECOND SCHEDULE.\n\nAmounts which may be granted to the States for the Purposes of Forestry.\n\n| Column 1.                           | Column 2.               | Column 3.               |\n| ----------------------------------- | ----------------------- | ----------------------- |\n| State.                              | Financial Year 1936–37. | Financial Year 1937–38. |\n|                                     | £                       | £                       |\n| New South Wales..................   | 25,000                  | 12,500                  |\n| Victoria.........................   | 50,000                  | 25,000                  |\n| Queensland......................    | 15,000                  | 7,500                   |\n| South Australia.................... | 8,500                   | 4,250                   |\n| Western Australia.................. | 50,000                  | 25,000                  |\n| Tasmania........................    | 12,500                  | 6,250                   |\n| Total....................           | 161,000                 | 80,500                  |","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act is entirely consistent with its original and stated purpose: appropriating a specific sum of Commonwealth money for unemployment relief via grants to States for metalliferous mining and forestry. There is no evidence of scope creep — the operative provisions, schedules, and title are all perfectly aligned. The Act was always narrow and time-limited by design, covering only two financial years with fixed dollar amounts per State."},"complexity_factors":["Very short — only 4 operative sections plus 2 schedules","Minimal defined terms — no interpretation section at all","Simple conditional logic: grants are subject only to Treasurer approval of manner and conditions","Straightforward two-variable structure (industry type × financial year) expressed in plain schedule tables","No cross-references to other Acts or regulations","No exceptions, carve-outs, or nested provisions"],"plain_english_summary":"## What This Law Does\n\nThe **Appropriation (Unemployment Relief) Act 1936** is a Depression-era Commonwealth law that unlocked government money to help put unemployed Australians back to work. It authorised the federal government to draw **£451,500** (roughly equivalent to tens of millions of dollars today) from the national treasury — called the **Consolidated Revenue Fund** (the main pool of Commonwealth money) — and distribute it to the six Australian States as financial grants.\n\n---\n\n## Who Gets the Money and What For?\n\nThe money was split across **two industries** and paid out over **two financial years** (1936–37 and 1937–38):\n\n- **Metalliferous mining** (mining for metals like gold, copper, lead, zinc, and tin): A total of **£210,000** was shared among all six States to support this industry and create jobs within it.\n- **Forestry** (timber and forest management): A total of **£241,500** was shared among all six States for forestry activities.\n\nEach State received a specific, fixed amount — you can see the breakdown in the two Schedules (tables) attached to the Act.\n\n---\n\n## Key Conditions\n\nThe grants came with strings attached:\n- Each State **had to use the money** specifically for the stated purpose (mining or forestry).\n- The **federal Treasurer** had the power to approve *how* the money was spent and set any additional conditions.\n- The Treasurer also controlled *when* and *how* payments were made to each State.\n\n---\n\n## Why It Matters\n\nThis law is a snapshot of how the Australian government responded to the **Great Depression's lingering unemployment crisis**. Rather than giving money directly to individuals, the federal government funnelled funds through the States to prop up struggling industries — particularly those in regional and rural areas — as a form of **job creation through industry support**. It reflects the constitutional reality that the Commonwealth raises tax revenue but the States often deliver services, requiring these kinds of formal financial assistance arrangements."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"other","section":"Section 2 & Schedules","severity":"low","reasoning":"The arithmetic across the two Schedules does reconcile to £451,500, so the total is internally consistent. However, Section 2 appropriates one undivided sum with no sub-appropriation or cap separating the metalliferous mining allocation from the forestry allocation. Section 4 leaves timing and manner entirely to the Treasurer, so there is no legal mechanism preventing over-payment to one program at the expense of the other beyond the per-State caps in each Schedule.","confidence":0.65,"description":"The total appropriation of £451,500 does not match the sum of all Schedule amounts. The First Schedule totals £140,000 + £70,000 = £210,000. The Second Schedule totals £161,000 + £80,500 = £241,500. Combined that is £451,500 — which actually does match. However, the Act only appropriates a single lump sum with no mechanism to ensure the split between the two Schedules is respected, meaning the entire £451,500 could theoretically be applied to one Schedule alone."},{"type":"other","section":"First Schedule (South Australia, Column 3)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 3(1) states that amounts granted shall not exceed the amounts 'respectively specified' in the Schedules. If no amount is specified for South Australia in 1937–38 (Column 3 of the First Schedule), it is ambiguous whether the permitted maximum is zero, nil, or simply unspecified. A court would struggle to determine whether the Treasurer is authorised to grant any amount at all to South Australia in that year, or whether the blank is a drafting omission that should have read '£0'. This creates genuine legal uncertainty for South Australia's entitlement and for the Treasurer's authority to pay.","confidence":0.92,"description":"South Australia's Column 3 (Financial Year 1937–38) entry for metalliferous mining is recorded as '..' — a blank or null — rather than a monetary figure. This leaves the maximum grant amount legally indeterminate for that State in that year."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 3(1)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 3(1) uses a single unified reference — 'the second and third columns of the Schedules' — but Sections 3(2) and 3(3) then separately condition grants on amounts appearing in the First Schedule and Second Schedule respectively. The drafting assumes the reader will infer which Schedule's columns apply to which condition, but the operative grant provision in 3(1) does not itself distinguish between the two Schedules. A strict reading could suggest a State receives amounts from both Schedules simultaneously under a single undifferentiated grant, with conditions only attaching retrospectively in sub-sections (2) and (3).","confidence":0.72,"description":"Section 3(1) refers to 'the second and third columns of the Schedules' in the singular structure, but there are two entirely separate Schedules (First and Second), each with their own second and third columns. The cross-reference is ambiguous as to which Schedule's columns govern which grant condition."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"Preamble & Section 1 (Title vs. Section 3 subject matter)","severity":"low","reasoning":"The short title 'Appropriation (Unemployment Relief) Act 1936' and the preamble's reference to 'Grant of Financial Assistance to the States' imply broad unemployment relief. However, the operative provisions (Sections 3(2) and 3(3)) confine expenditure strictly to two specific industries. Any unemployed person outside metalliferous mining or forestry receives no benefit. While this is a common legislative style (a descriptive title need not capture all detail), the disconnect between the headline purpose and the tightly restricted operative provisions is stark enough to be noted as a drafting tension.","confidence":0.55,"description":"The Act's title and preamble describe its purpose as 'Unemployment Relief', but Section 3 restricts grants to 'metalliferous mining' and 'forestry' industries specifically. There is no provision authorising general unemployment relief, meaning the Act cannot fulfil the purpose stated in its own title."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 3(1)","severity":"low","reasoning":"The £451,500 is appropriated from the Consolidated Revenue Fund immediately upon assent (27 May 1936), but grants to States are only authorised 'during' the two specified financial years, the first of which does not begin until 1 July 1936. For approximately 35 days, the money is appropriated but cannot lawfully be granted to any State under the Act's own terms. Section 4 gives the Treasurer discretion over timing but cannot override Section 3(1)'s limitation to the specified financial years.","confidence":0.78,"description":"The Act was assented to on 27 May 1936, yet Section 3(1) purports to grant financial assistance 'during the financial years ending' 30 June 1937 and 30 June 1938. The first financial year (1936–37) had already commenced on 1 July 1935 — wait, the 1936–37 year runs from 1 July 1936 to 30 June 1937, so the Act was actually passed before that year began. However, the Act makes no provision for the period between its assent (27 May 1936) and the commencement of the first financial year (1 July 1936), creating a ~5 week gap in which the appropriated funds exist but no authorised grant period has commenced."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 3(1)","section_b":"Section 3(2) and 3(3)","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 3(1) creates a single unified grant to each State with amounts drawn from 'the Schedules', while Sections 3(2) and 3(3) impose separate and distinct conditions depending on which Schedule the amount appears in. This structure implies a State receives one grant subject to two mutually exclusive conditions simultaneously, rather than two clearly separated grants each with its own condition. There is no mechanism in Section 3(1) to split the grant into two discrete payments before the conditions in (2) and (3) attach."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 2","section_b":"First Schedule (South Australia, Column 3)","confidence":0.82,"description":"Section 2 appropriates a fixed total sum of £451,500, which arithmetically assumes all Schedule entries are defined monetary amounts. South Australia's 1937–38 metalliferous mining entry is blank ('..'), making the Schedule's total for that year mathematically unverifiable and potentially inconsistent with the appropriated sum if the blank represents an amount other than zero."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 4","section_b":"Section 3(1)","confidence":0.75,"description":"Section 3(1) restricts grants to amounts 'during the financial years ending' 30 June 1937 and 30 June 1938, imposing a temporal boundary. Section 4 grants the Treasurer unfettered discretion over the timing of payments ('at such times … as the Treasurer approves'), which could theoretically authorise payment outside those financial years. The two provisions are in tension: one caps when grants may be made, the other gives the Treasurer unlimited discretion over when payments occur."}]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/appropriation-unemployment-relief-act-1936","history":"/api/acts/appropriation-unemployment-relief-act-1936/history","analysis":"/api/acts/appropriation-unemployment-relief-act-1936/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/appropriation-unemployment-relief-act-1936/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/appropriation-unemployment-relief-act-1936/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/appropriation-unemployment-relief-act-1936/documents"}}