Appropriation Act (No. 1) 1995-96

| Department | Allocation | |---|---| | Defence | $10.5 billion | | Veterans' Affairs | $1.76 billion | | Employment, Education & Training | $3.36 billion | | Human Services & Health | $2.8 billion | | Treasury | $1.78 billion | | Foreign Affairs & Trade | $2.33 billion | | Social Security | $1.33 billion | | Prime Minister & Cabinet | $1.05 billion |

The Special Rules

Beyond the headline sum, the Act includes several important additional mechanisms:

• Salary increases (section 4): Extra money can be released if wages rise under awards or laws during the year — the Minister must report this to Parliament.
• Loan Consolidation Reserve (section 5): The Finance Minister can direct additional funds to a special reserve fund.
• Net appropriations (section 7): Some agencies can offset their spending against revenue they earn (e.g., from selling goods or services) — reducing the net cost to government.
• Employment subsidies (section 8): Special rules allow payments from employment subsidy programs to be channelled back through departmental running cost budgets.
• Transition provisions (sections 9–15): Several sections anticipate that new government bodies were being created (e.g., the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Airservices Australia) and provide flexible rules for transferring appropriations to those new bodies once they were legally established.
• Accounting corrections (section 17): Even after the financial year closes, minor corrections to the accounting records are permitted, as long as no new net spending results.
• Financial Management Act (Part 2, sections 18–20): A special Part anticipates the commencement of a new financial management law, and automatically adjusts the Act's mechanics if that law started before 30 June 1996 — essentially future-proofing the Act for a planned reform of Commonwealth financial administration.

Why It Matters

Without this Act, the government could not legally pay public servants, fund hospitals, maintain the military, or deliver any Commonwealth service. It is the constitutional and legal foundation for all ordinary government spending in 1995-96.