{"id":"C1968A00029","name":"States Grants (Drought Assistance) Act 1968","slug":"states-grants-drought-assistance-act-1968","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"29 of 1968","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":5391,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1968A00029-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-30","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"States Grants (Drought Assistance) Act 1968","content":"States Grants (Drought Assistance)\n\nNo. 29 of 1968\n\nAn Act to grant Financial Assistance to the States of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia in relation to Loss of Revenue due to the Effects of Drought.\n\n\\[Assented to 7 June 1968\\]\n\nBE it enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—\n\nShort title.\n\n1. This Act may be cited as the States Grants (Drought Assistance) Act 1968.\n\nCommencement.\n\n2. This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.\n\nPayment of financial assistance.\n\n3.—(1.) There is payable during the year that commenced on the first day of July, One thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven, to the States of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, by way of financial assistance in relation to loss of revenue due to the effects of  \n\ndrought, an amount of Thirteen million dollars, which shall be apportioned between them in proportion to the amounts respectively payable to them during that year under section 5 of the States Grants Act 1965-1967.\n\n(2.) There is payable to the State of Victoria, during the year that commenced on the first day of July, One thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven, by way of financial assistance in relation to loss of revenue due to the effects of drought, an amount of One million dollars, which is in addition to any amount that is payable to that State under the last preceding sub-section.\n\nAdvances.\n\n4. The Treasurer may make advances to a State of portions of the grant to which it appears to him the State will be entitled under this Act.\n\nAppropriation.\n\n5. Payments in accordance with this Act shall be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which is appropriated accordingly.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"_metrics":{"model":"kimi-k2.5","source":"moonshot-batch","completionTokens":1475},"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation maintains its original narrow scope as a specific one-year appropriation for drought assistance to four specified states for the 1967-68 financial year. It has not expanded beyond this purpose."},"complexity_factors":["Only 5 operative sections","No definitions section or technical legal terms defined in the Act","Single cross-reference to external legislation (section 5 of States Grants Act 1965-1967)","No conditional logic, exceptions, or nested provisions","Linear structure with straightforward appropriation mechanics"],"plain_english_summary":"This Act provides one-off federal funding to help four states cover revenue they lost because of drought during the 1967–68 financial year.\n\n**What the money is for:**\n*   **$13 million** total to be shared between New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Each state gets a slice proportional to their share of general grants under the *States Grants Act 1965-1967* (the regular federal funding formula).\n*   **An extra $1 million** specifically for Victoria, paid on top of its share of the main $13 million pool.\n\n**How it works:**\n*   The federal Treasurer can pay the money in advance installments if he believes a state will be entitled to it.\n*   The funds are drawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (the government's main bank account), which is formally set aside (*appropriated*) for this purpose.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n*   The state governments of NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia (they receive the grants to refill their drought-depleted coffers).\n\n**Key point:** This was a temporary, time-limited measure that applied only to the financial year that started 1 July 1967."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 3(1)","severity":"high","reasoning":"The 1967–68 financial year ran from 1 July 1967 to 30 June 1968. The Act received Royal Assent on 7 June 1968, meaning there were only approximately 23 days remaining in that financial year when the Act commenced. The obligation to pay '$13 million during the year' was therefore almost entirely retroactive — the Commonwealth was being required to make payments 'during' a year that was nearly over. By the time the Act could practically be administered, the year it refers to had expired. Section 3(2) compounds this for Victoria's additional $1 million. While retrospective appropriation Acts are not unheard of in Australian practice, the temporal framing here creates a genuine compliance problem: you cannot pay money 'during' a year that has already passed.","confidence":0.88,"description":"The Act, assented to on 7 June 1968 and commencing on that same date, purports to make a payment 'during the year that commenced on the first day of July, One thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven' — a financial year that had already ended approximately five weeks before the Act came into operation."},{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 4","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 4 authorises the Treasurer to make 'advances to a State of portions of the grant to which it appears to him the State will be entitled under this Act.' Advances are forward-looking instruments — they anticipate entitlements not yet crystallised. But since the Act commenced on 7 June 1968 and the payment year ended 30 June 1968, the Treasurer had approximately three weeks to assess likely entitlements, calculate advance amounts, and process payments across four States before the year expired. The advance mechanism is functionally vestigial given the timing.","confidence":0.75,"description":"The advances power is rendered largely moot — and potentially impossible to exercise meaningfully — because the financial year to which the grants relate had nearly concluded (with only ~23 days remaining) by the time the Act commenced. There is almost no 'future' period left in the relevant year during which the Treasurer could make advance payments of any practical utility."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Section 3(1)","severity":"low","reasoning":"With roughly 23 days remaining in the 1967–68 financial year when the Act commenced, the final amounts payable under the States Grants Act 1965–1967 for that year may not yet have been definitively established or paid. If those reference amounts were not yet finalised, the precise apportionment of the $13 million between the four States could not be calculated. This is a low-severity issue because the States Grants Act 1965–1967 figures were likely based on statutory formulae determinable in advance, but it remains a timing anomaly.","confidence":0.6,"description":"The apportionment formula — allocating the $13 million 'in proportion to the amounts respectively payable to them during that year under section 5 of the States Grants Act 1965–1967' — requires reference to figures from a financial year that, as at the date of the Act, had not yet concluded, making the final apportionment amounts technically incalculable at the time of commencement."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"high","section_a":"Section 2 (Commencement)","section_b":"Section 3(1) (Payment obligation for year commencing 1 July 1967)","confidence":0.85,"description":"Section 2 provides that the Act commences on the date of Royal Assent (7 June 1968), but Section 3(1) imposes a payment obligation 'during the year that commenced on the first day of July, One thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven' — a year that ends on 30 June 1968, just 23 days after commencement. The Act cannot prospectively impose an obligation to pay money 'during' a year that is simultaneously in the past relative to commencement, creating a direct tension between when the Act takes legal effect and the temporal window it purports to operate within."}]},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act is precisely targeted at its original purpose — a one-time drought relief payment to four named states for the 1967–68 financial year. There is no evidence of scope creep or expansion beyond that narrow intent. It does exactly what the title says and nothing more."},"complexity_factors":["Only 5 sections in total — extremely short","Single financial year scope (1967–68) with no ongoing obligations","Minimal defined terms — no interpretation section at all","One cross-reference to the States Grants Act 1965–1967 for the apportionment formula, adding a small layer of external dependency","Minor conditional logic: Victoria receives an additional separate payment on top of its proportional share"],"plain_english_summary":"The States Grants (Drought Assistance) Act 1968 is a one‑off Commonwealth relief measure that authorised $14 million to compensate four states (NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia) for revenue lost to drought in the financial year beginning 1 July 1967. Of that, $13 million was divided among the four under an existing grants formula and $1 million was an extra payment to Victoria; the Treasurer could pay advances.\n\nIt exemplifies short‑term federal support to states in a crisis."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/states-grants-drought-assistance-act-1968","history":"/api/acts/states-grants-drought-assistance-act-1968/history","analysis":"/api/acts/states-grants-drought-assistance-act-1968/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/states-grants-drought-assistance-act-1968/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/states-grants-drought-assistance-act-1968/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/states-grants-drought-assistance-act-1968/documents"}}