{"id":"C2013A00068","name":"Australian Education (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Act 2013","slug":"australian-education-consequential-and-transitional-provisions-act-2013","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"68 of 2013","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":8522,"registerId":"commonwealth-C2013A00068-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-30","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 Australian Education (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Act 2013.","sortOrder":0},{"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```html\n

Commencement information

Column 1

Column 2

Column 3

Provision(s)

Commencement

Date/Details

1. Sections 1 to 3 and anything in this Act not elsewhere covered by this table

The day this Act receives the Royal Assent.

27 June 2013

2. Schedules 1 and 2

At the same time as the Australian Education Act 2013 commences.

1 January 2014

\n```\n\n> Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as originally enacted.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":1},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Schedule(s)","content":"#### 3 Schedule(s)\n\n Each Act that is specified in a Schedule to this Act is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this Act has effect according to its terms.\n\nSchedule 1—Amendments\n\nFederal Financial Relations Act 2009\n\n1 Section 11\n\nRepeal the section.\n\n2 Subsections 12(3), 13(3) and 14(3) (notes)\n\nRepeal the notes.\n\n3 Section 15\n\nRepeal the section.\n\n4 Transitional provisions\n\n(1) Section 11 of the FFR Act continues to apply (subject to subitem (3)) in relation to the financial year starting on 1 July 2013 despite the repeal of that section by this Schedule.\n\n(2) To avoid doubt, the Minister may do the following in relation to that financial year after section 11 has been repealed:\n\n (a) make a determination under subsection 11(4) or (5);\n (b) if a State has been paid less than the amount that, under section 11, it was entitled to receive for that financial year—make a payment to the State under that section of an amount equal to the shortfall.\n\n(3) The total amount of all financial assistance payable under subsection 11(1) of the FFR Act to the States for that financial year is half the amount worked out in accordance with paragraph 11(2)(c) of that Act.\n\n(4) Subitem (3) does not apply in relation to subsection 65(6) (amount payable for non‑participating schools) of the Australian Education Act 2013.\n\n(5) In this item:\n\nFFR Act means the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009.\n\nState has the meaning given by the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009.\n\nSchools Assistance Act 2008\n\n5 Paragraph 3(3)(b)\n\nOmit “2014”, substitute “2013”.\n\n6 Section 4 (paragraph (b) of the definition of program year)\n\nOmit “, 2013 or 2014”, substitute “or 2013”.\n\nSchedule 2—Transitional provisions\n\n1 Definitions\n\n(1) In this Schedule:\n\nthe new Act means the Australian Education Act 2013.\n\nthe old Act means the Schools Assistance Act 2008.\n\n(2) Expressions used in this Schedule that are defined for the purposes of the new Act, and used in relation to the new Act, have the same meaning as in the new Act.\n\n(3) Expressions used in this Schedule that are defined for the purposes of the old Act, and used in relation to the old Act, have the same meaning as in the old Act.\n\n2 Approved authorities for non‑government schools\n\n(1) This item applies in relation to a body that was an approved authority under the old Act on 31 December 2013.\n\nDeemed approval\n\n(2) If the body was an approved authority for an approved school system, then for the purposes of the new Act, the Minister is taken to have approved, under subsection 73(1) of that Act, the body to be an approved authority for each approved school that was a member of the system on 31 December 2013.\n\n(3) If the body was an approved authority for an approved non‑systemic school, then for the purposes of the new Act, the Minister is taken to have approved, under subsection 73(1) of that Act, the body to be an approved authority for the school.\n\nWhen approval is taken to be in force\n\n(4) An approval under this item is taken to be in force on and after 1 January 2014.\n\nThings taken to be specified in deemed approval\n\n(5) For the purposes of section 79 (limitation on approval) of the new Act, the following things are taken to be specified in an approval of an approved authority that is taken to be in force under this item:\n\n (a) each approved school for which the authority is taken to be approved;\n (b) each location that, on 31 December 2013, was approved for each such school;\n (c) each level of education that, on 31 December 2013, was approved for each such location.\n\n3 Non‑bodies corporate\n\n(1) Despite subsection 75(2) of the new Act, an approved authority that:\n\n (a) is taken to be an approved authority for the purposes of the new Act under item 2 of this Schedule; and\n (b) was not a body corporate on 31 December 2013;\n\nis required to be a body corporate only on and after 1 January 2015.\n\n(2) If:\n\n (a) an approved authority is taken to be an approved authority (the new approved authority) for the purposes of the new Act under item 2 of this Schedule; and\n (b) the new approved authority becomes a body corporate before 1 January 2015;\n\nthen for the purposes of the new Act, the body corporate is taken to be the new approved authority.\n\nNote: The effect of subitem (2) is that if the new approved authority was originally covered by section 59, 61 or 62 of the new Act (transitional recurrent funding for participating schools), those provisions will continue to apply to the body corporate even though it is a new legal entity.\n\n4 Applications for approved authorities that have not been dealt with by 31 December 2013\n\n(1) This item applies if:\n\n (a) a body applies for the purposes of the old Act to be approved as an approved authority for a school; and\n (b) a decision on the application has not been made by 31 December 2013.\n\n(2) For the purposes of the new Act, the application is taken to have been made under section 72 of the new Act.\n\n(3) Despite subsection 73(6) of the new Act, a day specified under that subsection in relation to an application that is taken, under this item, to have been made under section 72 of the new Act must not be earlier than 1 January 2014.\n\n5 Approved authorities for government schools\n\n(1) For the purposes of the new Act, the Minister is taken to have approved, under subsection 73(1) of that Act, a State or Territory to be the approved authority for government schools located in the State or Territory.\n\nWhen approval is taken to be in force\n\n(2) An approval under this item is taken to be in force on and after 1 January 2014.\n\nThings taken to be specified in deemed approval\n\n(3) For the purposes of section 79 (limitation on approval) of the new Act, the following things are taken to be specified in an approval of an approved authority for government schools located in a State or Territory that is taken to be in force under this item:\n\n (a) each school for which the authority is taken to be approved;\n (b) each location that, on 31 December 2013, was approved by the State or Territory for each government school;\n (c) each level of education that, on 31 December 2013, was approved by the State or Territory for each location.\n\n6 Block grant authorities\n\n(1) This item applies in relation to a body corporate that was a block grant authority under the old Act on 31 December 2013.\n\nDeemed approval\n\n(2) For the purposes of the new Act, the Minister is taken to have approved, under subsection 83(1) of that Act, the body to be a block grant authority for each school in relation to which the body was, on 31 December 2013, a block grant authority under the old Act.\n\nWhen approval is taken to be in force\n\n(3) An approval under this item is taken to be in force on and after 1 January 2014.\n\nThings taken to be specified in deemed approval\n\n(4) For the purposes of section 86 (limitation on approval) of the new Act, the schools referred to in subitem (2) are taken to be specified in the approval of the block grant authority that is taken to be in force under this item.\n\n7 No notice of decision required\n\nSection 119 (notice of decision) of the new Act does not apply in relation to an approval that is taken to be in force under this Schedule.\n\n8 Variation or revocation of deemed approvals\n\nThis Schedule does not prevent an approval that is taken to be in force under this Schedule from being varied or revoked.\n\n10 Majority Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander schools\n\nFor the purposes of the definition of majority Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school in section 8 of the new Act, a school’s census day for 2013 is the schools census day for the school for that year under the old Act.\n\n11 SES scores\n\n(1) If a determination of a school’s SES score is in force under subsection 72(2) of the old Act on 31 December 2013, then for the purposes of the new Act, the determination is taken to have been made for the school under section 52 of the new Act.\n\n(2) A determination that is taken to have been made under subitem (1) is not a reviewable decision.\n\n(3) A determination under this item is taken to be in force on and after 1 January 2014.\n\n(4) Subitem (1) does not prevent a new determination being made for the school under section 52 of the new Act.\n\n12 Regulations\n\n(1) Before 1 January 2015, regulations made under section 130 of the new Act may prescribe modifications of the operation of that Act that are necessary or convenient to deal with transitional matters arising from the enactment of that Act.\n\n(2) Without limiting subitem (1), a modification of the operation of that Act may result in a different amount of financial assistance being payable under that Act.\n\n(3) Subsection 130(5) of the new Act (requirement to consult Ministerial Council) does not apply in relation to any regulations made before 1 January 2014.","sortOrder":2}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act does exactly what its title suggests — it manages the consequential amendments to other laws and the transitional arrangements needed to move from the Schools Assistance Act 2008 to the Australian Education Act 2013. There is no evidence of scope creep; the provisions are tightly focused on the mechanics of the switchover and short-term funding continuity."},"complexity_factors":["Operates entirely by reference to two other Acts (the Australian Education Act 2013 and the Schools Assistance Act 2008), making it impossible to understand in isolation","Multiple layers of 'deemed' or 'taken to have been' provisions — legal fictions that treat things as having happened when they technically haven't","Staggered commencement dates with provisions tied to another Act's commencement rather than a fixed date","Transitional financial calculations involving partial-year funding formulas (half-year amounts under old Act provisions)","Interplay between three separate Acts (Federal Financial Relations Act, Schools Assistance Act, Australian Education Act) requiring cross-referencing","Different treatment of different categories of approved authorities (government vs non-government, systemic vs non-systemic, body corporate vs non-body corporate)","Carve-outs and exceptions within transitional items (e.g. subitem (3) not applying for non-participating schools)","Regulation-making power that can modify the operation of the parent Act, including altering funding amounts — broad and unusual power"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a housekeeping transition law that smooths the switch from the old federal school‑funding framework to the Australian Education Act 2013. It preserves existing approvals, funding arrangements and SES‑based calculations so schools, state/territory authorities and block‑grant bodies keep funding and legal status during the changeover, and gives time for entities to meet new corporate requirements.\n\nIt matters because it prevents funding gaps or reapplication chaos for schools, families and education authorities."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"Schedule 1, Item 4(3) and Item 4(4)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"A single pool of financial assistance payable for the 2013-14 financial year under s.11(1) of the FFR Act cannot logically be both half the normal amount (for FFR Act purposes) and the full normal amount (for AEA 2013 s.65(6) purposes) at the same time. The legislation provides no mechanism to reconcile these two conflicting quantifications of the same liability.","confidence":0.72,"description":"Item 4(3) modifies the total financial assistance payable under s.11(1) of the FFR Act to half the normal amount, but Item 4(4) then carves out that this reduction does not apply for the purposes of s.65(6) of the Australian Education Act 2013 (non-participating schools). This creates a situation where the same pool of money has two different totals simultaneously depending on which Act's lens is applied — the half-amount under the FFR Act and presumably the full amount under the AEA 2013. The mechanism for reconciling two different totals from the same financial year appropriation is not explained."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Schedule 1, Item 4(2) and Item 4(3)","severity":"high","reasoning":"If States were entitled to receive the full amount under s.11 but only half has been set as the aggregate cap, any individual State that received less than its proportionate share of the half-pool could argue it has a shortfall relative to its s.11 entitlement — but paying that shortfall would breach the half-cap in Item 4(3). The two provisions are structurally irreconcilable.","confidence":0.68,"description":"Item 4(2) preserves the Minister's power to make payments under s.11 of the FFR Act after it has been repealed, including topping up shortfalls. Item 4(3) then reduces the total payable to half the normal amount. This means the Minister could be compelled to pay a 'shortfall' relative to full entitlements under s.11, while simultaneously the total cap is half that entitlement. It is impossible to comply with both provisions: you cannot simultaneously guarantee full shortfall payments and cap the total at half the normal amount."},{"type":"other","section":"Schedule 2, Item 7","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Natural justice and workable administration require that a regulated entity know it has been approved and what conditions attach. Disapplying notice while imposing legal consequences from the deemed approval date creates a situation where compliance obligations attach to an entity that has received no official notification of the fact triggering those obligations.","confidence":0.78,"description":"Section 119 of the Australian Education Act 2013 (notice of decision) is disapplied for deemed approvals under the Schedule. This means approved authorities and block grant authorities receive no formal notice that they have been approved, despite being subject to enforceable obligations flowing from that approval from 1 January 2014. Bodies are bound by an approval they were never formally told about."},{"type":"other","section":"Schedule 2, Item 3(1) and Item 3(2) Note","severity":"low","reasoning":"Funding entitlements normally vest in a legal person. Treating a non-body-corporate as capable of holding and then transferring such entitlements is a legal fiction that may not survive scrutiny, particularly if third-party rights or liabilities arise in the interim period.","confidence":0.55,"description":"Item 3(1) allows a deemed approved authority that is not a body corporate to defer incorporating until 1 January 2015. The note to Item 3(2) states that if such an authority incorporates before that date, provisions concerning transitional recurrent funding (ss.59, 61, 62 of the new Act) 'will continue to apply to the body corporate even though it is a new legal entity.' This is potentially absurd: a non-body-corporate entity cannot strictly be a party to funding arrangements designed for legal persons, yet the transitional provisions treat it as capable of holding such entitlements — which then transfer to a new legal entity upon incorporation."},{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Schedule 1, Items 5 and 6 (Schools Assistance Act 2008 amendments)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Amending a definition of 'program year' to remove 2014 as a program year, effective 1 January 2014, potentially retroactively extinguishes rights and obligations that arose during 2013 under the reasonable expectation that 2014 would also be a program year. Bodies that made 2014 program plans in reliance on the unamended definition may have no remedy.","confidence":0.65,"description":"Item 5 amends paragraph 3(3)(b) of the Schools Assistance Act 2008 to substitute '2013' for '2014', and Item 6 removes '2013 or 2014' and substitutes 'or 2013' from the definition of 'program year'. These amendments are made in an Act that also commences on 1 January 2014 (Schedule 1 commencement per the table in s.2). This means the Schools Assistance Act 2008 is amended on 1 January 2014 to retrospectively shorten its operative life — potentially affecting 2013 program year obligations that had already crystallised before the amending Act came into force."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Schedule 2, Item 12(3)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"The commencement provision in s.2 and the table make Schedules 1 and 2 operative from 1 January 2014. Item 12(3) exempts regulations made before that date from consultation requirements, but the power to make those regulations only arises on that date. The exemption has no possible field of operation.","confidence":0.82,"description":"Item 12(3) disapplies the requirement to consult the Ministerial Council (s.130(5) of the new Act) for regulations made before 1 January 2014. However, Schedule 1 and 2 — including the regulation-making power in Item 12 itself — only commence on 1 January 2014 per the commencement table. Therefore, the carve-out for pre-1 January 2014 regulations is meaningless: the power to make regulations under Item 12 does not exist before 1 January 2014, so there can be no regulations made under it before that date."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 2, Commencement Table (Schedules 1 and 2 commence 1 January 2014)","section_b":"Schedule 2, Item 12(3) (disapplies consultation requirement for regulations made before 1 January 2014)","confidence":0.82,"description":"The commencement table provides that Schedules 1 and 2 commence on 1 January 2014. Item 12(3) of Schedule 2 purports to disapply the Ministerial Council consultation requirement for regulations made before 1 January 2014. Since Schedule 2 itself does not exist as law before 1 January 2014, the regulation-making power in Item 12 cannot be exercised before that date, making Item 12(3) self-defeating and internally contradictory."},{"severity":"high","section_a":"Schedule 1, Item 4(3) (total assistance capped at half the normal amount)","section_b":"Schedule 1, Item 4(2)(b) (Minister may pay shortfall to States)","confidence":0.7,"description":"Item 4(3) caps total financial assistance under s.11(1) of the FFR Act at half the amount normally calculated under s.11(2)(c). Item 4(2)(b) preserves the Minister's power to top up any State that received less than its full s.11 entitlement. These two provisions directly contradict each other: the half-cap means every State will receive less than its full s.11 entitlement, yet the shortfall payment power implies those full entitlements must be honoured."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Schedule 2, Item 2(4) (deemed approval in force from 1 January 2014)","section_b":"Schedule 2, Item 7 (no notice of decision required for deemed approvals)","confidence":0.75,"description":"Item 2(4) makes deemed approvals legally operative from 1 January 2014, imposing immediate obligations on approved authorities. Item 7 disapplies s.119 of the new Act, which would otherwise require the Minister to notify affected bodies of the decision. The result is that legal obligations are imposed on bodies from a fixed date without any required notification — contradicting the general legislative scheme of s.119 which treats notification as integral to an approval taking effect."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Schedule 2, Item 3(1) (non-body-corporate need not incorporate until 1 January 2015)","section_b":"Schedule 2, Item 2 (deemed approved authority subject to new Act obligations from 1 January 2014)","confidence":0.65,"description":"Item 3(1) acknowledges that a deemed approved authority may not be a body corporate during 2014. However, Item 2 makes deemed approvals operative under the new Act from 1 January 2014, and the new Act (per s.75(2)) requires approved authorities to be bodies corporate. Item 3(1) purports to override s.75(2) but does not address the full suite of new Act obligations that presuppose legal personality, creating a contradiction between the transitional deferral and the operative provisions of the new Act that attach from the same date."}]},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act narrows and reshapes prior arrangements by repealing provisions of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 while preserving their effect for the 2013 financial year subject to a transitional reduction in total payable assistance (Schedule 1 item 4). It transfers existing approvals and block‑grant status from the Schools Assistance Act 2008 into the Australian Education Act 2013 by deeming those approvals under the new Act (Schedule 2 items 2, 5 and 6), defers corporate‑status requirements for some approved authorities to 1 January 2015 (Schedule 2 item 3), and makes certain transitional determinations non‑reviewable (Schedule 2 item 11(2)), thereby changing who decides and the legal remedies available during transition."},"complexity_factors":["Cross‑legislation interaction: repeals and saves provisions in the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 and transitions many functions from the Schools Assistance Act 2008 (Schedules 1 and 2).","Deeming provisions: prior approvals and block grant status are \"taken to be\" approvals under the new Act (Schedule 2 items 2, 5 and 6), which changes legal identity without individual reassessments.","Temporal staging: staggered commencement dates and delayed obligations (e.g. corporate requirement deferred to 1 January 2015, Schedule 2 item 3).","Financial adjustment rule: transitional cap/alteration to amounts payable for the 2013 financial year (Schedule 1 item 4(3)).","Limits on procedural rights: some transitional determinations are declared non‑reviewable (Schedule 2 item 11(2)) and section 119 (notice requirement) does not apply to deemed approvals (Schedule 2 item 7).","Regulatory discretion: interim regulation‑making power to modify operation of the new Act for transitional matters before 1 January 2015, with a limited consultative exception (Schedule 2 item 12).","Potential compliance burden: converting applications and preserving approvals involves administrative steps for the Minister, school authorities and States (Schedule 2 items 2–4, 6)."],"plain_english_summary":"This Act provides the consequential and transitional legal steps needed when the Australian Education Act 2013 begins. It amends or repeals parts of earlier schooling and finance laws and creates rules so existing approvals, block‑grant arrangements, SES determinations and funding entitlements carry over into the new regime.\n\nThe measures affect the Commonwealth (the Minister), States and Territories, non‑government approved authorities, block‑grant authorities and schools by preserving approvals, allowing certain 2013 payments and determinations, deferring some corporate requirements and enabling transitional regulations."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose as a consequential and transitional instrument. It performs the narrow technical function of bridging two funding regimes without expanding into substantive policy areas. The scope is appropriately limited to machinery provisions necessary for legislative continuity."},"complexity_factors":["Heavy reliance on cross-references to two other Acts (Australian Education Act 2013 and Schools Assistance Act 2008) without reproducing their content","Multiple deeming provisions (legal fictions where something is 'taken to be' true even if the formal process wasn't followed)","Staggered commencement dates with conditional application (some provisions tied to Royal Assent, others to the new Act's commencement)","Transitional calculations for financial year 2013-14 requiring reference to repealed provisions","Nested conditions in items 3 and 4 regarding body corporate status and pending applications","Dual definition systems (expressions defined by reference to either the 'new Act' or 'old Act' depending on context)"],"plain_english_summary":"This legislation is a 'clean-up' and 'bridge' law that helps Australia switch from one school funding system to a new one.\n\n**What it does:**\nIn 2014, Australia replaced the *Schools Assistance Act 2008* (the old funding law) with the *Australian Education Act 2013* (the new funding law). This Act makes sure the changeover happens smoothly without schools losing their funding or having to reapply from scratch.\n\n**Key changes:**\n- **Repeals old funding rules** in the *Federal Financial Relations Act 2009* that dealt with the old school funding system, but keeps them working for the 2013 financial year to avoid a gap.\n- **Grandfathers existing approvals**: Schools and bodies that were already approved under the old system are automatically treated as approved under the new system from 1 January 2014. This includes:\n - Non-government school authorities (like Catholic dioceses or independent school groups)\n - Government schools (States and Territories are deemed approved)\n - Block grant authorities (bodies that handle capital works funding)\n- **Carries over pending applications**: If someone applied to be an approved authority but hadn't received a decision by 31 December 2013, their application continues under the new law.\n- **Preserves SES scores**: A school's Socio-Economic Status (SES) score calculated under the old system carries over to the new system.\n- **Gives flexibility for regulations**: Allows temporary modifications to the new law through regulations until 2015 to fix any teething problems.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- State and Territory governments (who run government schools)\n- Non-government schools and their approving bodies\n- Block grant authorities handling school infrastructure money\n- The Federal Education Minister\n\n**Why it matters:**\nWithout this Act, the switch to the new 'Gonski' funding model in 2014 would have created chaos. Schools might have lost their approved status overnight, funding payments could have stalled, and thousands of schools would have needed to reapply for basic recognition. This Act ensures continuity—treating existing approvals as valid under the new regime while the old law is wound down."},"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/australian-education-consequential-and-transitional-provisions-act-2013","history":"/api/acts/australian-education-consequential-and-transitional-provisions-act-2013/history","analysis":"/api/acts/australian-education-consequential-and-transitional-provisions-act-2013/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/australian-education-consequential-and-transitional-provisions-act-2013/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/australian-education-consequential-and-transitional-provisions-act-2013/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/australian-education-consequential-and-transitional-provisions-act-2013/documents"}}