{"id":"C1953A00075","name":"States Grants (Universities) Act 1953","slug":"states-grants-universities-act-1953","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"75 of 1953","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":4566,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1953A00075-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-30","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"States Grants (Universities) Act 1953","content":"STATES GRANTS (UNIVERSITIES).\n\nNo. 75 of 1953.\n\nAn Act to make provision for the grant of Financial Assistance to the States in connexion with Universities.\n\n\\[Assented to 10th December, 1953.\\]\n\nBE it enacted by the Queen’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 States Grants (Universities) Act 1953.\n\nCommencement.\n\n2. This Act shall be deemed to have come into operation on the first day of January, One thousand nine hundred and fifty-three.\n\nRepeal.\n\n3.—(1.) The States Grants (Universities) Act 1951 is repealed.\n\n(2.) An amount paid to a State in respect of the year One thousand nine hundred and fifty-three under a provision of the Act repealed by this section shall be deemed to have been paid in respect of that year under the corresponding provision of this Act.\n\nInterpretation.\n\n4.—(1.) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—\n\n“capital expenditure” means—\n\n(a) expenditure on the erection of a new building; and\n\n(b) expenditure, exceeding Five hundred pounds, on the alteration of an existing building or for the purchase of, or otherwise in connexion with, a single item of equipment;\n\n“fees” means tuition, examination, matriculation and other fees payable to a University by a student enrolled at, or applying for enrolment at, the University in connexion with his course of study or attendance at the University, and includes fees payable to the University in respect of the conferring of a degree or diploma, but does not include fees the payment of which is voluntary or fees payable to an organization of students;\n\n  \n\n“State grants” means moneys paid by a State to a University for university purposes, not being—\n\n(a) moneys used for capital expenditure; or\n\n(b) moneys paid in fulfilment of the conditions upon which a payment is made to the State under this Act;\n\n“the Joint Engineering Board of Management” means the Joint Engineering Board of Management established under an agreement made on the first day of January, One thousand nine hundred and twenty-six, between the Minister for Education of the State of Tasmania and the Council of the University of Tasmania;\n\n“University” means a University specified in the first column of the Schedule to this Act, and includes the New England University College;\n\n“university purposes” means the general teaching and research purposes of a University in connexion with courses of study at the University, and includes external tuition for courses of study at the University.\n\n(2.) For the purposes of this Act, moneys paid by the State of Tasmania to the Joint Engineering Board of Management for the general teaching purposes of that Board in connexion with courses of study in chemistry and engineering conducted by that Board in the University of Tasmania and the Hobart Technical College shall be deemed to be moneys paid by that State to the University of Tasmania and to have been so paid for university purposes.\n\nFinancial assistance to States.\n\n5.—(1.) Subject to this Act, if the sum of the fees and State grants received by a University during either of the years One thousand nine hundred and fifty-three and One thousand nine hundred and fifty-four exceeds the amount specified in the second column of the Schedule to this Act opposite to the name of that University, there is payable, in respect of that year, to the State in which the University is situated, for the purposes of financial assistance—\n\n(a) an amount equal to one-third of the amount of that excess; and\n\n(b) an amount equal to the amount specified in the third column of that Schedule opposite to the name of the University.\n\n(2.) The maximum amount payable to a State under paragraph (a) of the last preceding sub-section in relation to a University in respect of a year is the amount specified in the fourth column of that Schedule opposite to the name of the University.\n\nConditions on which payments made.\n\n6.—(1.) The financial assistance to a State constituted by a payment referred to in paragraph (a) of sub-section (1.) of the last\n\n  \n\npreceding section in relation to a University is granted on the conditions that—\n\n(a) the State will, in the year in which that payment is received, pay to the University an amount equal to that payment; and\n\n(b) the State will ensure that the amount so paid to the University is applied by the University for expenditure, not being capital expenditure, on university purposes.\n\n(2.) The financial assistance to a State constituted by a payment referred to in paragraph (b) of sub-section (1.) of the last preceding section in relation to a University is granted on the conditions that—\n\n(a) the State will, in the year in which that payment is received, pay to the University an amount equal to that payment; and\n\n(b) the State will ensure that—\n\n(i) a portion of the amount so paid to the University, being a portion equal to the amount specified in the fifth column of the Schedule to this Act opposite to the name of the University, is applied by the University towards the teaching and administrative costs of the residential colleges of the University; and\n\n(ii) the remaining portion of that amount is applied by the University for expenditure, not being capital expenditure, on university purposes.\n\n(3.) In addition to the conditions specified in the last two preceding sub-sections, an amount of financial assistance to a State under this Act is granted on the conditions that—\n\n(a) if the Treasurer informs the Treasurer of the State that he is satisfied that the State has failed to fulfil the conditions applicable to that amount, the State will repay that amount to the Commonwealth; and\n\n(b) if that amount exceeds the amount properly payable, the State will repay the excess to the Commonwealth.\n\nPayment of financial assistance by Treasurer.\n\n7. The Treasurer may, at such times as he thinks fit. make advances of such amounts as he thinks fit to a State on account of an amount that may become payable under this Act to the State.\n\nAppropriation.\n\n8. Payments under this Act shall be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which is appropriated accordingly.\n\nValidation of certain payments.\n\n9. The States Grants (Universities) Act 1951 shall be deemed to have operated in respect of the year One thousand nine hundred and fifty-two as if the amounts set out in the Schedule to that Act in relation to the New South Wales University of Technology had been the following :—\n\n| £     | £      | £       | £      | £     |\n| ----- | ------ | ------- | ------ | ----- |\n| 7,280 | 81,885 | 605,805 | 30,826 | 2,356 |\n\n  \n\nSections 5 and 6. THE SCHEDULE.\n\nAMOUNTS USED IN CALCULATION OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.\n\n| First Column.                            | Second Column.                   | Third Column.                                           | Fourth Column.                                   | Fifth Column.                                                         |\n| ---------------------------------------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |\n| University.                              | Amount of fees and State grants. | Amount of financial assistanceunder section 5 (1.) (b). | Maximum amount payable under section 5 (1.) (a). | Amount for teaching and administrative costs of residential colleges. |\n| New South Wales—                         | £                                | £                                                       | £                                                | £                                                                     |\n| University of Sydney.............        | 783,369                          | 270,023                                                 | 202,140                                          | 8,900                                                                 |\n| New South Wales University of Technology | 605,805                          | 81,885                                                  | 61,652                                           | 2,356                                                                 |\n| New England University College......     | 64,164                           | 13,099                                                  | 9,960                                            | 220                                                                   |\n| Victoria—                                |                                  |                                                         |                                                  |                                                                       |\n| University of Melbourne...........       | 655,159                          | 220,414                                                 | 165,000                                          | 7,265                                                                 |\n| Queensland—                              |                                  |                                                         |                                                  |                                                                       |\n| University of Queensland...........      | 309,269                          | 93,226                                                  | 69,780                                           | 3,073                                                                 |\n| South Australia—                         |                                  |                                                         |                                                  |                                                                       |\n| University of Adelaide............       | 272,394                          | 93,893                                                  | 70,320                                           | 3,095                                                                 |\n| Western Australia—                       |                                  |                                                         |                                                  |                                                                       |\n| University of Western Australia......    | 183,531                          | 62,845                                                  | 47,400                                           | 1,668                                                                 |\n| Tasmania—                                |                                  |                                                         |                                                  |                                                                       |\n| University of Tasmania............       | 106,319                          | 33,127                                                  | 22,920                                           | 505                                                                   |\n|                                          | 2,980,010                        | 868,512                                                 | 649,172                                          | 27,082                                                                |","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act is a straightforward two-year renewal and replacement of the 1951 Act of the same name, covering the same subject matter (Commonwealth grants to States for university funding) with the same structural formula. The inclusion of the New England University College and the Tasmanian deeming provision are minor additions consistent with the original intent. The retrospective correction of the NSW University of Technology figures is a housekeeping fix, not a scope expansion. The legislation remains squarely focused on its original purpose of channelling federal financial assistance to States for their universities."},"complexity_factors":["7 defined terms in the interpretation section, some with multi-part definitions (e.g. 'fees', 'capital expenditure', 'State grants')","Conditional funding formula with two separate payment types (formula-based top-up plus fixed base payment), each with different conditions attached","Cross-referencing between sections and the Schedule table (sections 5 and 6 repeatedly reference Schedule columns by number)","Nested conditions in section 6 — sub-conditions within conditions for each payment type, plus overarching conditions in subsection (3)","Retrospective operation clause (backdated to 1 January 1953) and a retrospective correction of figures from a prior Act (section 9)","Special deeming provision for Tasmania's Joint Engineering Board of Management requiring readers to trace an external 1926 agreement","Monetary amounts expressed in pounds (£) with five separate financial columns in the Schedule, requiring cross-referencing to understand the full funding picture","Repeal and transitional provisions requiring readers to understand interaction with the superseded 1951 Act"],"plain_english_summary":"## States Grants (Universities) Act 1953\n\nThis Act is a **Commonwealth funding law** that channels money from the federal government to the states, which in turn must pass that money on to their universities. It covers the 1953 and 1954 calendar years.\n\n### Who does it affect?\n- **The Commonwealth government** (which provides the money)\n- **State governments** (which receive the grants and must pass them on)\n- **Eight named universities** (which ultimately receive the funds for day-to-day operations):\n  - University of Sydney\n  - NSW University of Technology\n  - New England University College\n  - University of Melbourne\n  - University of Queensland\n  - University of Adelaide\n  - University of Western Australia\n  - University of Tasmania\n\n### What does it actually do?\n\n**It sets up a matching-style funding formula.** The more a university earns through student fees and State government grants, the more federal money flows to it — up to a cap. Specifically:\n\n- If a university's combined income from **fees** (tuition, exam, enrolment fees, etc.) and **State grants** (general funding from the state) exceeds a threshold set in the Schedule (the table at the back of the Act), the Commonwealth pays the relevant State:\n  1. **A top-up amount** equal to one-third of that excess, up to a maximum cap; **plus**\n  2. **A fixed base payment** regardless of the formula calculation.\n\n- All amounts are expressed in **pounds (£)**, the currency of the time.\n\n### Strict conditions on the money\nStates can't just pocket the cash. The Act imposes binding conditions:\n- The State **must pass every dollar** it receives on to the relevant university **in the same year** it receives it.\n- The money **must be used for running costs** (teaching, research, administration) — **not for building or major equipment purchases** (called \"capital expenditure\").\n- A **specific slice** of the fixed base payment must go toward the **running costs of residential colleges** (on-campus accommodation with teaching functions).\n- If the Commonwealth's Treasurer (finance minister) finds the State has **broken these conditions**, the State must **repay** the money.\n\n### Other notable features\n- The Act **replaces** the earlier *States Grants (Universities) Act 1951* but validates payments already made under that old law.\n- It **backdates** its operation to 1 January 1953.\n- It **corrects a historical error** — it retrospectively fixes the funding figures that had been incorrectly applied to the NSW University of Technology under the 1951 Act.\n- There is a **special rule for Tasmania**: money paid to the *Joint Engineering Board of Management* (a joint body running engineering and chemistry courses between the University of Tasmania and the Hobart Technical College) counts as money paid to the university for funding purposes.\n- The **Treasurer can make advance payments** to States before final figures are calculated.\n- Funding comes from the **Consolidated Revenue Fund** (the main Commonwealth account).\n\n### Why does it matter?\nThis Act is an early example of the Commonwealth using its financial power to directly support Australian universities — a role that has since grown enormously. At the time, universities were almost entirely funded by state governments and student fees, and this Act represented a significant step toward federal involvement in higher education funding."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 2","severity":"high","reasoning":"Section 2 creates a retroactive commencement date of 1 January 1953, yet the Act was not assented to until 10 December 1953. This means the Act purports to impose legal obligations, create entitlements, and govern conduct across an 11-month period during which it did not exist. Any party subject to the Act — States, Universities, the Treasurer — could not have known of, let alone complied with, its conditions during that period. While retrospective legislation is not uncommon in grants law, the practical effect here is that compliance obligations under sections 5 and 6 (e.g., the State paying the University 'in the year in which that payment is received', applying funds for non-capital university purposes) were technically required during a period when the Act had no legal existence. This is especially acute for 1953 obligations already concluded by the time of assent.","confidence":0.92,"description":"The Act, assented to on 10 December 1953, deems itself to have commenced on 1 January 1953 — nearly a full year before it legally existed."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 3(2)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 3(1) repeals the 1951 Act entirely. Section 3(2) then deems payments already made under that repealed Act to have been made under 'the corresponding provision of this Act'. This is problematic in two ways. First, there is no mechanism to identify which provision 'corresponds' — if the 1953 Act restructures grant conditions or payment formulas, no true correspondence may exist. Second, payments already made and received in 1953 under the 1951 Act would retroactively become subject to the conditions of the 1953 Act (sections 6(1), 6(2), 6(3)), including repayment obligations, which the States could not have known about when they received the funds.","confidence":0.78,"description":"Payments made under the repealed 1951 Act are deemed to have been made under 'the corresponding provision of this Act' — but no corresponding provisions may exist, or the conditions attached to those provisions differ, retroactively altering the legal character of past payments."},{"type":"circular_definition","section":"Section 4(1) — definition of 'State grants'","severity":"high","reasoning":"Under section 5(1), the Commonwealth payment is triggered when 'fees and State grants' exceed the Schedule threshold. Under section 6(1)(a), upon receiving that Commonwealth payment, the State must pass an equal amount to the University. The definition of 'State grants' in section 4(1) explicitly excludes moneys paid in fulfilment of those section 6 conditions. This means the State's on-payment to the University (required by section 6) does not count as 'State grants' for the next year's threshold calculation. So far, so logical. However, the circularity emerges because whether a payment is a 'State grant' depends on whether it was made 'in fulfilment of conditions upon which a payment is made under this Act' — which itself depends on whether the Commonwealth payment was properly made — which depends on whether 'State grants' reached the threshold. A State grant that tips the threshold triggers a Commonwealth payment, which triggers a conditional on-payment, which is excluded from State grants, which may affect whether the threshold is met the following year. The definition's self-referential exclusion makes it impossible to calculate 'State grants' without already knowing the answer to the Commonwealth payment question.","confidence":0.72,"description":"The definition of 'State grants' excludes 'moneys paid in fulfilment of the conditions upon which a payment is made to the State under this Act' — but those conditional payments are themselves calculated using 'State grants', creating a circular dependency."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Section 6(1)(a) and Section 6(3)(a)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Sections 6(1)(a) and 6(2)(a) require the State to on-pay the Commonwealth grant to the University within the same calendar year of receipt. However, section 7 allows the Treasurer to make advance payments 'at such times as he thinks fit', meaning a payment could theoretically arrive very late in the year (e.g., December), leaving the State an impractically short window to on-pay and ensure proper application by the University. More critically, if the Treasurer makes an advance under section 7 that is later found not to be 'properly payable', the State must repay under section 6(3)(b) — but the State would already have on-paid the funds to the University under the section 6(1)(a) obligation, leaving it to recover funds from the University, a process not contemplated or facilitated by the Act.","confidence":0.68,"description":"A State is required to pass Commonwealth funds to the University 'in the year in which that payment is received', yet the repayment condition in section 6(3)(a) is only triggered after the Treasurer informs the State of non-compliance — which may occur after the year has ended, making timely compliance retroactively impossible to remedy."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"Section 9","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 3(1) repeals the States Grants (Universities) Act 1951. Section 9 then provides that the 1951 Act 'shall be deemed to have operated in respect of the year 1952 as if' different Schedule amounts applied. You cannot deem an already-repealed Act to have operated differently — the legal vehicle for the deemed operation no longer exists at the time section 9 purports to modify it. The 1953 Act repeals the 1951 Act and then attempts to amend it in the same instrument, which is internally contradictory. The practical intent (validating 1952 payments to NSW University of Technology) is clear, but the mechanism is legally awkward since the Act being deemed to have 'operated' differently has been simultaneously stripped of its operative force.","confidence":0.81,"description":"Section 9 retrospectively amends the Schedule of a repealed Act (the 1951 Act) to validate payments, but section 3(1) has already repealed that Act entirely, meaning the Act being amended no longer exists."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 4(1) — definition of 'University' and Schedule","severity":"low","reasoning":"The definition of 'University' in section 4(1) states it 'includes the New England University College', suggesting that without this express inclusion it would not qualify. Yet the Schedule, which governs financial calculations, lists it alongside full universities with its own row of figures. The conditions in section 6 — including residential college cost requirements — are expressed in terms of 'University'. Whether the New England University College, as an institution of a different character, actually has 'residential colleges' in the same sense as the Schedule contemplates (column 5 allocates £220 for this purpose) is unclear. More substantively, a 'University College' by definition is not an autonomous degree-granting body, raising questions about whether 'fees' (which include degree-conferral fees under section 4(1)) are properly attributable to it.","confidence":0.65,"description":"The New England University College is included in the definition of 'University' and also listed separately in the Schedule as a New South Wales institution, yet it is designated a 'University College' not a 'University', creating ambiguity about whether conditions applicable to 'Universities' apply to it."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"high","section_a":"Section 3(1)","section_b":"Section 9","confidence":0.85,"description":"Section 3(1) fully repeals the States Grants (Universities) Act 1951, yet Section 9 purports to deem that same repealed Act to have operated differently in respect of 1952. A fully repealed Act cannot be simultaneously deemed to have had a different operative effect — the subject matter of Section 9's modification has been legislatively extinguished by Section 3(1) within the same instrument."},{"severity":"high","section_a":"Section 2","section_b":"Section 6(1)(a) and 6(2)(a)","confidence":0.88,"description":"Section 2 deems the Act to have commenced on 1 January 1953, while Sections 6(1)(a) and 6(2)(a) require States to on-pay Commonwealth grants to Universities 'in the year in which that payment is received'. Since the Act was not assented to until 10 December 1953, any payments made under section 7 advances during 1953 would have been received in a year when the Act notionally already applied, but the on-payment obligation could not have been known to or acted upon by States for most of that year. The retroactive commencement directly contradicts the forward-looking, time-bound compliance obligation."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 7","section_b":"Section 6(1)(a) and 6(2)(a)","confidence":0.75,"description":"Section 7 gives the Treasurer unfettered discretion to make advance payments 'at such times as he thinks fit', potentially delivering funds late in a calendar year. Sections 6(1)(a) and 6(2)(a) require the State to on-pay those funds to the University within the same calendar year of receipt. These provisions are in tension: the Treasurer's unrestrained timing discretion could make it practically impossible for a State to satisfy the same-year on-payment obligation, exposing it to repayment liability under section 6(3)(a) through no fault of its own."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 4(1) — definition of 'State grants' (exclusion paragraph (b))","section_b":"Section 5(1)","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 5(1) calculates Commonwealth assistance based on 'fees and State grants', while the definition of 'State grants' in Section 4(1) excludes moneys paid by a State in fulfilment of the conditions of a payment under this Act (i.e., the section 6 on-payments). However, those conditional on-payments, once made by the State to the University and applied for university purposes, are functionally indistinguishable from other State grants for university purposes. The exclusion means a State that increases its support to a university partly via compliance on-payments receives no threshold credit for those amounts, potentially distorting the excess calculation in section 5(1) and discriminating between States that receive more or fewer Commonwealth advances."}]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/states-grants-universities-act-1953","history":"/api/acts/states-grants-universities-act-1953/history","analysis":"/api/acts/states-grants-universities-act-1953/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/states-grants-universities-act-1953/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/states-grants-universities-act-1953/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/states-grants-universities-act-1953/documents"}}