Determination of the GST Revenue Sharing Relativities for 2013-14 in accordance with the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009

The text uses a small set of technical labels and a single statutory hook. The key concepts that appear in the source are: “Section 8”, “Federal Financial Relations Act 2009”, “determination”, “GST revenue sharing relativity”, “State”, and “payment year”. The instrument repeatedly frames the Treasurer’s act as a determination of a GST revenue sharing relativity for each State for the 2013‑14 payment year.

“Section 8” is the statutory provision invoked. The text states the legal permissibility of the Treasurer to make the determination under s 8; it does not reproduce s 8 itself, nor does it quote any other sections of the Act. The phrase “GST revenue sharing relativity” is used as a technical term of art in the determination, but the instrument does not define the term within the text provided. Likewise, “payment year” is used without definition; the document plainly fixes the relevant payment year as 2013‑14.

“Determination” in the text functions as an administrative act taken by the Treasurer. The instrument records the decision and the authority relied on. The text indicates that the determination is made “in accordance with the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009”, establishing the chain from statute to administrative act.

The document also identifies the decision‑maker explicitly: Wayne Maxwell Swan, Treasurer, with a dated signature block of 25 May 2013. The presence of a signed determination implies it is intended to be a final administrative act rather than a draft or consultation paper; the text itself, however, contains no procedural history, explanatory memorandum, or annexed working papers.

Two structural features are notable from the supplied text. First, the substantive numerical content , the per‑State relativities , is contained in an image/table in the source rather than as inline text, and those numbers are not accessible from the plain text supplied here. Second, the instrument is short and narrowly framed: it announces the existence and exercise of power under s 8, states the temporal scope (2013‑14), and records the signatory and date. There are no express saving clauses, transitional arrangements, or related administrative directions in the supplied text.

The instrument, as drafted, directly affects the States. The operative phrase is “the GST revenue sharing relativity for each State for the 2013‑14 payment year”. The instrument therefore identifies the States as the recipients of an allocation rule or parameter , the relativity , used for GST revenue sharing for that payment year. No Territories, local governments, agencies, private parties, or individuals are named in the text provided.

The decision‑maker is the Treasurer. The instrument records that Wayne Maxwell Swan, as Treasurer, made and dated the determination on 25 May 2013. That identifies who decides and who takes the administrative act.

Beyond the immediate parties named, the document implies at least two classes of affected actors without naming them. First, the Commonwealth departments or agencies charged with administering GST revenue payments to States would be operationally affected because they are the executors of any payment system that uses the relativity. Second, State treasury departments and agencies charged with budgeting and intergovernmental financial reporting would be affected because determinations of relativity determine the parameter used in calculating each State’s share for a payment year.

The text does not identify whether the determination affects amounts already paid, future payments within the 2013‑14 payment year, or the timing and mechanism for payment. The instrument does not name any private parties or specify any compliance obligations for businesses or individuals. It also does not identify any review mechanisms or rights of challenge for States or third parties in the text supplied.

Because the numeric values are embedded in an image in the supplied text, any party seeking to operationalise the determination will need to obtain the authoritative numeric table from the official source (the Commonwealth Gazette, Treasury website, or other official repository) to calculate the precise financial effect on each State. The instrument as supplied identifies who decides (the Treasurer) and who the decision is about (each State’s relativity) but does not set out the downstream administrative mechanics, timing, or interlocutory procedures.

The text of the determination itself establishes limited procedural and substantive markers of duty and right. The primary legal duty it records is the Treasurer’s power under s 8 of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 to make a determination of GST revenue sharing relativities. The instrument demonstrates the Treasurer exercising that statutory power; it does not expressly impose duties on other parties within the text provided.

Rights that can be inferred from the document are circumscribed and implicit. The determination sets a parameter , a “GST revenue sharing relativity for each State” , that, in practice, would be a relevant determinant of each State’s share of GST revenues for the 2013‑14 payment year. The document does not itself create a payment obligation, specify amounts, or instruct any department to pay, but the setting of the relativity is a substantive administrative act that will inform downstream calculations. The text does not create or describe enforceable private rights or entitlements, nor does it purport to alter contractual rights between private parties.

The instrument does not include provisions for review, internal appeal, merits review, judicial review, or correction of errors. There is no express clause granting a right to a State to challenge the determination within the instrument itself. The only institutional right recorded is the Treasurer’s authority to make the determination under s 8, as stated.

There are no explicit duties placed on States in the text. There is no requirement stated that a State must accept, consent to, or publicly disclose matters relating to the determination. The text does not require any reporting by States or prescribe processes for how the relativities must be used by Commonwealth agencies. The instrument is narrowly framed as a determination; any downstream duties or rights that arise would be sourced in other statutory text or payment rules not included in the supplied document.

Because the numeric table is included as an image and not in inline text, stakeholders who need to apply the determination must obtain the authoritative numeric values from the issuing source. That practical step can be framed as a compliance activity, but the instrument as supplied does not create a separate statutory duty to do so.

The supplied text contains no penalty provisions and no statement of enforcement mechanisms. The determination simply records the exercise of authority under s 8 of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 and sets out that the GST revenue sharing relativity for each State for the 2013‑14 payment year is “as follows,” with the per‑State numbers apparently provided in an embedded image. There is no language in the text imposing sanctions, fines, criminal offence provisions, or administrative penalties for non‑compliance with the determination.

Because no enforcement clause appears in the instrument as supplied, any enforcement or compliance mechanisms that convert a relativity into cash payments, account adjustments, or offsets must be located in other statutory provisions, subordinate instruments, departmental administrative rules, or payment protocols that are not reproduced here. The text does not identify the agency responsible for implementing the distribution, nor does it specify remedies for error or misapplication.

The absence of enforcement language in the determination means two things evident from the source. First, the instrument is declaratory: it determines a parameter and records the decision by the Treasurer. Second, any practical consequences , collection, payment, reconciliation, or recourse , must be implemented under other legal or administrative authorities. The document does not itself delegate enforcement to an officer or specify time limits, audits, or penalty triggers.

For practitioners, that means the authoritative enforcement and operational rules relevant to the practical effect of this determination must be sought elsewhere: in the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 itself beyond s 8, in payment rules, departmental manuals, or ministerial directions. None of those are included in the supplied text, and the determination does not purport to be self‑executing as an enforcement instrument within its four corners.

The instrument explicitly identifies its statutory foundation: s 8 of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009. The determination is made “in accordance with the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009,” and that is the only cross‑reference or interaction with another law recorded in the supplied text. The text does not quote s 8, reproduce other provisions of the Act, or explicitly reference any other statutes, regulations, rules, or intergovernmental agreements.

Therefore, the interaction that is visible from the document is a direct one: the Treasurer exercises an authority conferred by the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 to make a determination about GST revenue sharing relativities for a particular payment year. Any further legal interaction , for example, how this determination feeds into payment schedules, budget appropriation processes, accounting rules, or intergovernmental transfer mechanisms , is not described in the determination as supplied.

Because the determination does not reproduce ancillary provisions, practitioners should treat the instrument as an administrative act whose legal consequences will depend on the Act and subordinate instruments or departmental practices implementing the Act. The supplied text does not indicate whether the determination modifies, supplements, or supersedes earlier determinations, nor does it refer to transitional arrangements or to previous years’ relativities.

The determination also does not refer to constitutional provisions, although GST revenue sharing involves constitutional and fiscal relations in practice; such interaction is not evidenced in the supplied text. It does not assert primacy over conflicting instruments or state arrangements, nor does it reference memoranda of understanding or agreements such as those that sometimes accompany intergovernmental fiscal arrangements. Any interaction the determination may have with other laws or agreements must be traced back to the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 and any subordinate instruments or administrative rules that operationalise GST revenue sharing; those texts are not included here and therefore their content cannot be assumed.

The supplied instrument is a single dated determination with no recorded amendment history in its text. It is dated 25 May 2013 and signed by Wayne Maxwell Swan as Treasurer. The text is repeated twice in the supplied material, but there is no editorial history, no subsequent variation, and no express revocation clause included in the document as provided.

No amendment procedure is set out in the determination. The instrument does not describe whether it can be revoked or varied, whether the Treasurer retains power to make subsequent determinations modifying the relativities for the same payment year, or whether there is any limitation on making late or corrective determinations. The document does not reference prior determinations or identify whether this determination replaces an earlier one for 2013‑14.

Because the instrument relies on s 8 of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 as its statutory source, any amendment procedure pertinent to the determination will be governed by the Act and by any relevant statutory or administrative rules about making, varying, or revoking determinations under that Act. Those procedural details are not reproduced in the supplied text and therefore are not evidenced here.

Practically, for anyone tracking amendment history, the key steps that the supplied text implies are necessary but does not provide are: obtain the officially published version (for example, the Commonwealth Gazette or Treasury publication) where the determination and any subsequent amendments or replacing determinations would be recorded; check the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 for procedural limits on amendments; and confirm whether any subsequent determinations for 2013‑14 or later years have been issued. None of those follow‑up materials are included in the supplied instrument.

The supplied text contains no mention of litigation, disputes, appeals, or adjudication related to this determination. There are no references to court cases, tribunal decisions, or litigation strategies. The instrument is a brief administrative determination with a statutory citation and a signature; it does not contain any notes about challenges, protests, or legal contestation.

Because the document itself is silent on litigation, one cannot infer from the supplied text whether any State or third party sought judicial review, merits review, or other remedies in relation to the 2013‑14 relativities. The absence of litigation history in the instrument means that any practitioner seeking to understand disputes arising from this determination must consult external sources: court registers, administrative tribunal records, or public record notices that are not included in the supplied text.

If litigation were a practical concern, the text provides at least two useful factual anchors: the statutory basis of the determination is s 8 of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009, and the determination was signed and dated by Wayne Maxwell Swan on 25 May 2013. Those facts supply the basic locus of review , an administrative decision under statutory authority , but the instrument provides no procedural detail on remedies, time limits, or internal review avenues that a litigant might need to know. Such procedural detail would have to be taken from the Act or other administration‑level documents not included here.

Several practical risks and informational gaps are evident in the supplied instrument that are material for lawyers, accountants, compliance officers, and State officials.

1. Numeric values not present in plain text. The instrument states that relativities “are as follows,” but the per‑State numbers are presented only as an embedded image in the supplied file. The image content is not available in the plain text provided here. Practical consequence: one cannot compute or reconcile entitlements from this text alone. Users must retrieve the authoritative numeric table from the Commonwealth Gazette or Treasury to operationalise the determination.

2. No method, reasons, or supporting data. The determination contains no explanation of how the relativities were computed, what data were used, or what formula was applied. That absence complicates auditing, independent verification, and challenges based on errors of fact or process. If a State seeks to query the basis for its relativity, the source document gives no immediate grounds for such an inquiry.

3. No procedural or review information. The instrument does not set out any review mechanism, appeal pathway, or timeframe for contesting the determination. Practitioners should not assume that such rights do not exist; they will need to consult the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 and relevant administrative rules for review avenues. The determination itself is silent.

4. Single‑year scope. The document explicitly covers the 2013‑14 payment year only. There is no rollover clause or multi‑year implication. Stakeholders must not infer continuity for subsequent years from this determination alone.

5. No implementation detail. The instrument does not identify which Commonwealth agency will apply the relativities, the payment timetable, or whether adjustments will be made to prior payments. This requires cross‑reference to implementing administrative instruments or departmental instructions.

6. Possible duplicate or transcription errors. The supplied text repeats the same determination twice and includes a table tag block that appears to have formatting placeholders and an incomplete date rendering. That suggests the reproduced file may be a cut from a larger record and may contain formatting artefacts. Users should obtain the original published instrument to ensure no transcription errors.

7. Narrow statutory citation. The instrument cites only s 8. If a practitioner is assessing legality or procedural regularity, they must examine s 8 and other related provisions of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 to determine whether prerequisites (consultation, data availability, concurrence, or reporting) apply. Those prerequisites are not evident in the determination.

8. No mention of Territories. The instrument references “each State” and does not mention Territories. If a Territory’s GST treatment is a concern, the determination as supplied does not address it.

9. Signature and dating issues. The signature block is present but formatting in the supplied text shows broken numeric rendering for the year. Users should confirm the exact date and signatory from the official source.

10. Reliance on external record for effects. Because the determination is declaratory of a parameter, its fiscal effect depends on how payments are calculated elsewhere. Practitioners must therefore treat this document as one node in a larger administrative and legal framework and not as a self‑contained source of payment obligations.

The determination itself imposes no express duties on addressees within the text supplied, but several practical compliance steps flow from its existence and from the gaps noted above. For a State treasury, a Commonwealth payments office, or a compliance officer responsible for intergovernmental payments, the following source‑grounded actions are necessary.

1. Obtain the authoritative numeric table. The determination’s operative numbers are embedded as an image in the supplied file and are not reproduced as text. The first compliance step is to obtain the official published instrument in its original form (for example, the Commonwealth Gazette, Treasury website, or the department’s official determination record) so that the per‑State relativities can be read and applied. Without those numbers, no payment calculations can be made from this instrument alone.

2. Cross‑check the statutory basis. The instrument relies on s 8 of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009. Compliance teams should retrieve s 8 and related provisions to confirm any statutory prerequisites for the determination (procedural steps, consultation obligations, timing, and any limits on variation) and to confirm whether any further administrative steps are required to operationalise the determination.

3. Confirm implementation pathway. Identify which Commonwealth agency is responsible for converting the relativity into an actual payment schedule or ledger adjustment for the 2013‑14 payment year. The determination does not specify an implementing agency or timetable; administrative instructions or departmental payment rules will provide that detail.

4. Reconcile with budgets and accounts. Once the numeric relativities are obtained, State and Commonwealth accounting teams should reconcile those relativities with budget projections, ledger entries, and GST pool calculations for 2013‑14. The determination is a parameter; its practical effect requires calculation against the GST pool and any other statutory formulas used for distributing funds.

5. Document audit trail. Because the determination contains no reasons or supporting data in the supplied text, practitioners should request the working papers, data sets, and methodology from Treasury, and record any correspondence. This will assist in later audits or queries given the absence of explanatory material in the determination itself.

6. Check for amendments or replacements. Confirm that the 25 May 2013 determination is the final and operative instrument for 2013‑14 by checking subsequent Commonwealth Gazettes or Treasury publications for any replacement, correction, or variation. The supplied text shows no amendment history.

7. Assess review options. If a State wishes to challenge or query the relativity, identify the relevant statutory or administrative review routes by reference to the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 and any internal administrative review processes. The determination itself is silent on appeals.

8. Ensure record‑keeping and disclosure. Maintain a clear record of the authoritative determination, the numeric values, and the calculations used to implement state payments. Given the determination’s lack of explanation, transparency in records will reduce future disputes.

9. Coordinate intergovernmental communication. Notify relevant State treasury contacts and the Commonwealth payments office of the determination and the availability of the numeric table, to ensure that all parties use the same authoritative parameter for 2013‑14 calculations.

10. Seek clarifying guidance if necessary. Where the implementation path or the methodology used to set the relativity is material to budgeting or legal compliance, seek written guidance from Treasury or the Department responsible for Federal Financial Relations. The determination’s plain text does not provide methodological detail, so clarifying correspondence will be necessary for full compliance and auditability.

Taking these steps reflects the limited content of the supplied instrument: the determination declares a parameter but leaves operational, methodological, and implementation detail to other documents and administrative processes.