The determination relies on and operationalises a small set of statutory and administrative concepts drawn from the Federal Financial Relations regime. The document itself names the power relied on, the recipients, the purpose and the amounts. The central concepts in the text are:

• Determination power under subsection 9(1) of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009. The instrument opens with the statement that the Assistant Minister "make[s] this determination under subsection 9(1) of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009." That citation is the legal hook that authorises the instrument; it is the explicit statutory source of power recorded in the preamble.

• Commencement. Paragraph 2 is a standard commencement clause: "This determination commences on the day on which it is made." The effect is immediate operation from the date of signature (17 May 2018 as shown). This matters for administrative timing (the payment date in the table is 21 May 2018).

• Specified purpose. Paragraph 3 frames the legal purpose of the payment: "for the purpose of making a grant of general purpose financial assistance to those States." The language is textual and directionally narrow: the Commonwealth is to pay amounts for the stated purpose. The phrase "general purpose financial assistance" is a term of art in the Federal Financial Relations Act framework, but the determination does not elaborate eligibility conditions, allocation methodology or downstream use; it merely records the purpose in broad terms.

• Allocation table (operational schedule). The table headed "General purpose financial assistance for payment on 21 May 2018" provides the specific allocation mechanics: recipients (States), a payment date and monetary entries. Two jurisdictions have positive amounts recorded (Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory), the rest are shown with a hyphen, and a total line adds the positive entries to $69,361,092.40.

• Actor signatures and dating. The document records the identity of the decision-maker (Michael Sven Sukkar, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer) and the date signed (17 May 2018). That identifies who has exercised the delegated statutory power and when.

These concepts combine to effect a unilateral Commonwealth instruction to pay the listed sums by the listed date. The determination does not, within the text provided, state any further operational detail such as the appropriation authority used, accounting classifications, conditionality, reporting or audit requirements, or transfer mechanisms. The document is thus an allocation schedule that sits inside the broader Federal Financial Relations architecture but invokes only the statutory authorisation point (s 9(1)) and the practical elements of commencement, recipient, amount and payment date.

The instrument identifies three immediate groups affected by the determination and a set of intermediate operational actors.

Primary recipients

• Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory are named in the table as recipients of positive payment amounts (Western Australia $66,064,287.47; Australian Capital Territory $3,296,804.93). These jurisdictions are the direct financial beneficiaries of the determination as written in the table and paragraph 3. The total of those entries is $69,361,092.40, which the table records as the Total.

Other States

• The remaining jurisdictions (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory) appear in the table with a hyphen in the amount column. The table is the authoritative schedule in the instrument; the hyphen is the only symbol used for those jurisdictions’ amounts. The instrument itself does not expressly interpret the hyphen; readers and administrators must treat the hyphen as indicating no positive payment is specified for those jurisdictions on the table's date. Practitioners should note this as a determinative operational fact: the allocation is concentrated in two jurisdictions.

Commonwealth decision-makers and administrators

• The Assistant Minister to the Treasurer is the officer who made the determination under subsection 9(1) of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009. That identifies a Commonwealth decision-maker and indicates delegated executive action. Administrative actors within the Department of the Treasury, the Finance portfolio, and the payments systems of the Commonwealth will be affected operationally because they will need to process the payments on the stated payment date (21 May 2018). The instrument itself communicates an instruction to those agencies to arrange the payments.

State financial managers and auditors

• The finance departments and treasuries of the recipient States (WA and ACT) will be affected in receiving and recording the incoming funds. State budget managers, auditors and statutory officers will need to incorporate the receipts into state accounts for the relevant financial reporting period. For the States shown with hyphens, budget officers must also record the absence of a Commonwealth allocation from this determination for the specified payment date.

Parliamentary and oversight actors

• Parliament, committees and oversight bodies are indirectly affected because this determination is a statutory instrument that the Executive must table/record in accordance with whatever parliamentary processes apply to determinations under the Federal Financial Relations Act; the instrument itself evidences Executive allocation decisions which oversight agencies and committees can scrutinise. The instrument provides the factual basis for public transparency about Commonwealth-to-State transfers on the specified date.

Stakeholders in service delivery

• The instrument’s stated purpose is to effect "a grant of general purpose financial assistance to those States." Recipients of such general purpose financial assistance, in the broader federal fiscal system, are often state agencies, local governments or program areas, depending on how a State chooses to use the funds. The determination itself does not list downstream beneficiaries, conditionalities or program directions, but the funds paid will enter the recipient jurisdiction's fiscal mix and thereby potentially affect service delivery decisions within the State.

In short, the direct fiscal transfers are concentrated to two jurisdictions; the Commonwealth executive (as payor) and the recipient States’ financial officers are the primary operational actors. The instrument does not create direct obligations on private parties; the ultimate effect on service delivery or third parties depends on how the recipient States deploy the funds, which is outside the instrument’s text.

The determination creates a narrow set of duties and corresponding entitlements within the Commonwealth-State financial relations framework, limited to what the text states.

Commonwealth duty to pay

• Paragraph 3 commands that "The amounts specified in the following table are to be paid to the States for the purpose of making a grant of general purpose financial assistance to those States." That language imposes a duty on the Commonwealth (via the agencies responsible for Commonwealth payments) to disburse the monetary amounts set out in the table. The instrument uses mandatory phrasing ("are to be paid"), which from an implementation perspective functions as an instruction to the relevant Commonwealth finance agencies to effect the transfers on the stated payment date (21 May 2018). The decision-maker who made the instruction is recorded (Assistant Minister to the Treasurer), giving the duty an identifiable source.

Recipient entitlement

• Once the determination is made, the States named with positive amounts in the table have an entitlement under the instrument to receive the specified amounts on the payment date. The instrument does not expressly set conditions precedent in the text supplied. The entitlement is limited to the amount and the stated purpose in paragraph 3.

Commencement duty

• Paragraph 2 states that the determination "commences on the day on which it is made." That clause creates an operational duty on the Commonwealth to treat the instrument as effective from signature date (17 May 2018). Given the payment date is 21 May 2018, the effect is that implementation occurs within a short window after commencement.

No express duties on States in the text

• The determination does not create explicit duties on the recipient States in its own text. It states the payment purpose but does not impose conditions, reporting obligations, or use restrictions. Any duties on States would derive from other instruments, agreements or the broader Federal Financial Relations Act framework, but such duties are not set out in this determination itself.

No express rights of third parties

• The instrument does not create direct rights for private parties, local governments, or beneficiaries beyond the State-level entitlement to payment. The use of the funds by States is for general purpose financial assistance; how States allocate those resources is not governed by the text.

Operational responsibilities for Commonwealth administrators

• Although not itemised as obligations in numbered form, the application of the instrument creates administrative duties for Commonwealth payment authorities to process the payments, ensure amounts and nomenclature align with the table, effect the transactions to the correct state bank accounts, and record the payments in Commonwealth financial accounts. Those practical duties are implied by the "are to be paid" language and the payment date but are not described as separate clauses.

Absence of specified enforcement or recoupment rights inside the instrument

• The instrument does not contain clauses authorising the Commonwealth to withhold, claw back, or seek repayment, nor does it mention remedies or dispute mechanisms linked to these payments. Any such rights must therefore be sought in other statutory provisions or instruments.

In short, the primary duties and rights created by the document are the Commonwealth’s duty to pay and the recipient States’ entitlement to receive the specified sums on the stated payment date. The instrument leaves operational details (appropriation, payment mechanics, downstream conditionality) to other parts of the Federal Financial Relations architecture or administrative practice, none of which are described in the provided text.

The determination supplied contains no express provisions on penalties, enforcement mechanisms, sanctions, administrative review, or clawback powers. The instrument is limited to authorising and scheduling payments: it contains a commencement clause, an instruction to pay specified amounts, the payment table and a signature block. It does not specify:

• any penalty for non-payment by the Commonwealth;
• any repayment or recovery mechanism if a payment is incorrectly made;
• any compliance or reporting requirements on the recipient States linked to the payment;
• administrative sanctions for misuse of funds; or
• any dispute resolution process between Commonwealth and States relating to this determination.

Consequently, enforcement and penalty issues must be referenced to other statutory or contractual edifices outside this determination if a problem arises. Two observations are relevant for practitioners seeking to understand enforcement pathways, noting that these are inferences from what the instrument omits rather than positive provisions:

• External statutory remedies: The Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 provides the statutory framework under which this determination is made. Subsection 9(1) is cited as the enabling power, but the determination does not reproduce any enforcement or sanction clauses from the Act. Practitioners should therefore review the Federal Financial Relations Act and any relevant Commonwealth financial management legislation (for example, appropriations law and the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013) to identify statutory remedies or administrative levers that govern Commonwealth payments, overpayments, or misuse of Commonwealth funds. Those Acts are not reproduced in the text provided.

• Administrative practice and recoupment: Where determinations are silent on recoupment, standard Commonwealth financial management practice typically provides mechanisms to correct or recover erroneous payments; such mechanisms will rest on general financial-management instruments, not on this determination. The determination itself does not create those mechanisms. Practitioners should therefore seek advice from Treasury/Finance on how overpayments or unintended transfers are to be managed operationally for this specific payment.

For auditing and oversight, the determination serves as the authoritative administrative record that a payment was authorised; oversight bodies and auditors can use the instrument to test whether payments matched the authorised schedule. However, the instrument contains no enforcement or penalty architecture within its text; those elements lie elsewhere in statute and administrative rules and would need to be located in the broader legislative framework.

The present determination is expressly made under subsection 9(1) of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009, which is the single statutory reference contained in the instrument. The instrument’s legal effect is to exercise that power, and its content must be read as operating within the legal framework established by the Federal Financial Relations Act and other Commonwealth financial legislation. The determination does not reproduce or restate other statutory provisions, but there are necessary interaction points that practitioners must consider:

Statutory authority and limits

• The instrument records its enabling provision: it is made "under subsection 9(1) of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009." The interaction is therefore hierarchical: the determination must be within the scope of powers granted by that subsection. The text supplied does not reproduce subsection 9(1), so practitioners should review the Act to understand limits, preconditions, or procedural obligations attached to the power used to make the determination. The determination itself does not assert any limits beyond the amounts and recipients.

Appropriation and public finance law

• The instrument authorises payments of specific amounts on a specific date. Under Australian constitutional and statutory public finance rules, payments of public money require appropriate appropriation and financial management compliance. The determination is an administrative authorisation; funding the payments ordinarily requires that there are appropriation lines or that the payments are covered by a relevant appropriation act. The determination itself does not mention appropriation. While the text does not assert or deny that appropriation exists, in practice the determination will need to be implemented through the Commonwealth's financial management processes, which are governed by the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and appropriation legislation. These are not mentioned in the determination.

Federal-State financial relations architecture

• The instrument sits within the architecture of Commonwealth grants to States. It uses the label "general purpose financial assistance." That label is a term commonly used in federal financial relations to denote untied payments that States may use at their discretion. The determination does not create rules on how States must use the money; it simply records the Commonwealth payment to States for that purpose. Any conditions or reporting requirements applying to general purpose financial assistance would be established in the Act or other determinations or intergovernmental agreements; they are not present in this determination. Therefore, the interaction with other laws that may impose conditions or reporting on the States must be examined elsewhere.

Administrative law and judicial review

• The instrument is an exercise of a statutory power by an executive officer. As such, it is potentially subject to administrative law principles and judicial review if a party with standing were to challenge its legality. The text itself does not address administrative review or appeal routes. Legal challenges, if any, would be grounded in the Federal Financial Relations Act or in general administrative law principles. The document, however, contains no litigated matters or procedural directions.

Auditing and accountability frameworks

• The determination will interact with auditing regimes overseen by the Auditor-General and State auditors. The instrument provides the formal authorisation necessary to trace the funds in Commonwealth accounts and to verify transfers to State accounts. The determination itself does not set audit rules, but it is an evidentiary starting point for audit work.

In summary, the determination exercises a statutory power and must be read against the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 and the Commonwealth’s broader public finance and administrative law framework. The instrument itself is narrowly focused and omits express references to appropriation, reporting, conditions, or enforcement, so practitioners should consult the relevant Acts and administrative instruments to identify the full set of legal obligations and constraints that interact with this determination.

The text supplied does not include any amendment history for this determination. The instrument is titled "Federal Financial Relations (General Purpose Financial Assistance) Determination No.110 (May 2018)" and is dated and signed on 17 May 2018 by the Assistant Minister to the Treasurer. There are repeated blocks in the supplied text that duplicate the "Name of determination" and "Commencement" and "Determination" material; those duplications appear to be editorial or formatting repetitions rather than formal amendments.

Key points regarding amendment history as can be drawn from the instrument itself:

• Date of making: The signature block records "Dated: 17 May 2018." That is the operative making date and, pursuant to paragraph 2, the date of commencement ("commences on the day on which it is made"). There is no later date shown that would indicate any subsequent amendment.

• Instrument number and title: The instrument identifies itself as Determination No.110 (May 2018). No prior versions or superseded instrument numbers are cited in the text supplied.

• No textual amendment clauses: The determination contains no provision that amends earlier determinations, nor does it adopt or repeal any prior instrument. It is presented as a standalone allocation instrument for the payment date 21 May 2018.

• No schedule of changes: The supplied text contains a single allocation table and does not provide a schedule of prior or subsequent changes, nor an "as amended" note. If this instrument were amended subsequently, those amendments are not recorded in the provided copy.

Practical consequence for practitioners seeking amendment history

• To ascertain whether this determination has been amended, revoked, or superseded after 17 May 2018, one must consult the consolidated Federal Register of Legislation (or the Commonwealth’s legislative instrument register) and check for revocation or amendment notices. The supplied document gives no indication of any such later action. The duplication of certain headings and parts in the supplied text suggests possible formatting artefacts; however, these do not constitute amendments.

• If a user needs to confirm the current status (in-force, superseded, revoked) of the instrument, the appropriate step is to consult the official Commonwealth legislative instrument database or the Department of the Treasury records. The instrument as supplied provides the original making date and the text of the allocation; it does not assert any later changes.

In short, the supplied determination shows a single making date (17 May 2018) and contains no embedded amendment history. Any subsequent amendments or revocations are not part of the text provided and must be located through official registers.

The document provided contains no reference to litigation, legal challenges, judicial decisions, or disputes related to this specific determination. It is an administrative instrument that records a decision to effect payments on a specific date; the text includes no litigation history, case citations, or references to court proceedings.

What the absence of litigation references means in practice

• The instrument itself is silent on litigation. Practitioners should not infer from that silence that there has been no litigation , only that this text does not record any. To establish whether there has been litigation relating to this determination, one would need to search legal databases, court records, or relevant administrative law case indices to identify any judicial review proceedings, contractual disputes over payments, or constitutional challenges that might refer to this or associated determinations. The supplied instrument does not provide any such references.

Where litigation commonly arises for similar instruments

• In similar Commonwealth-State financial instruments, disputes that reach litigation tend to involve questions about the legal validity of a determination, the executive’s statutory power under the enabling Act, the adequacy of process, or compliance with procedural requirements. The instrument here records use of subsection 9(1) of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009; if a legal challenge were mounted, it would typically focus on whether the decision-maker had authority and whether the decision complied with statutory requirements. The present instrument contains no such litigation record.

Practical research steps for a practitioner

• If the user requires confirmation of any litigation history, the standard steps are: search AustLII, Jade, LexisNexis AU, Westlaw AU and Federal Court and Federal Circuit Court registries, using the instrument title, the determination number, the decision-maker's name, and the dates indicated (17 May 2018, 21 May 2018) as search terms. The supplied document does not itself contain or point to any judicial or tribunal decisions.

In summary, the instrument as supplied contains no litigation history. Any assertion about legal challenges or court decisions would require external legal research; none of that material is contained in the determination text provided.

The instrument is short and procedural, but there are a number of practical "gotchas" that can cause confusion or operational error if not addressed explicitly. These issues arise from the instrument's narrow drafting and its reliance on contextual practice outside the text provided.

Hyphen entries in the allocation table

• The table uses a hyphen ("-") for New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Northern Territory in the amount column. The instrument does not define the hyphen. Practitioners should not assume different meanings (for example, "nil", "not applicable", "no payment scheduled", or "data omitted"). Operationally, the hyphen functions in this instrument as the only non-numeric entry used to indicate that no positive amount is specified for those jurisdictions for the payment date of 21 May 2018. Confirming the intended meaning with Treasury payments staff or in the consolidated register is prudent before taking action that relies on an interpretation of those hyphens.

Concentration of funds

• The table shows that virtually all the allocation is concentrated to Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. The distribution is numerically concentrated: $66,064,287.47 and $3,296,804.93 respectively making a total of $69,361,092.40. Practitioners should not assume this is a routine or permanent distribution; the determination applies to the specific payment date and the amounts may reflect a discrete adjustment or reconciliation for that date. Treating the table as a standing allocation formula could lead to incorrect budgeting.

Immediate commencement and short implementation window

• The determination commences on the day it is made (paragraph 2) and the table identifies a payment date four days after signature (signed 17 May 2018; payment date 21 May 2018). That is a short implementation window for finance teams. Commonwealth payment authorities must process transactions promptly; any delay could create breach or reconciliation issues. Agencies responsible for payment should be alerted to ensure account details and internal approvals are in place.

No appropriation language in the instrument

• The determination does not say how the payment is to be funded (no mention of appropriation or vote). Practitioners should not treat the instrument alone as authority to draw funds from Commonwealth consolidated revenue without checking appropriations law and the relevant appropriation acts. Confirming that funding is available and appropriation authority exists is necessary before instructing payments.

No conditions, reporting or clawback provisions included

• The instrument provides no operational conditions. If a State receives funds and there are later disputes about the proper use of the payment, the instrument itself provides no terms for recovery. Practitioners should avoid assuming conditions simply because the amounts are labelled "general purpose financial assistance." The label provides purpose context only; any enforceable conditions would need to be found elsewhere.

Duplicated and repeated text blocks

• The supplied document contains repeated blocks (the "Name of determination", "Commencement", and "Determination" headings are duplicated). This is likely a formatting artefact in the copy supplied. Practitioners relying on automated parsing tools must be cautious: duplication can confuse text-processing scripts or lead to double-counting if not inspected manually.

Precision of amounts and rounding

• The amounts are specified to two decimal places. The total reported ($69,361,092.40) equals the sum of the two positive entries. When performing reconciliations, practitioners must ensure there is no rounding mismatch. Automated systems that truncate or reformat numbers may introduce reconciliation discrepancies.

Who is the decision-maker

• The signatory is recorded as "MICHAEL SVEN SUKKAR, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer." Confirming the legitimacy of delegated authority is good practice where questions of standing or delegation arise. The instrument states the enabling subsection only; practitioners should reconcile the signature against delegations in force on the date of signing.

No specification of bank account or transfer mechanism

• The determination does not identify any bank details or transfer mechanism. Commonwealth and State financial officers must rely on usual payment protocols and account details agreed between Treasury and State Treasuries. Do not attempt to set up transfers solely on the basis of this instrument without reference to standard payment arrangements.

In short, this determination is short and specific but presents several traps for operations, reconciliation and legal interpretation if treated in isolation from broader administrative processes and statutory frameworks.

For Commonwealth payment authorities, State treasuries and other affected officers, compliance with this determination involves a small number of concrete steps grounded in the instrument’s operative text. The following checklist is practical and source-grounded: it derives from the instrument’s content (paragraphs 1-3, the table and the dates/signature block).

1. Confirm legal instrument identity and authority

   • Verify the instrument title and making date: "Federal Financial Relations (General Purpose Financial Assistance) Determination No.110 (May 2018)", signed 17 May 2018. Confirm the enabling provision cited: subsection 9(1) of the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009. Retain the signed original or the official electronic copy for audit and provenance.

2. Treat the instrument as effective from its commencement date

   • Paragraph 2 states it "commences on the day on which it is made." For this instrument, that is 17 May 2018. Use that date as the start-of-effect in financial records and for any timing calculations.

3. Prepare for the payment date

   • The table is titled "General purpose financial assistance for payment on 21 May 2018" and sets out the amounts. For Commonwealth payment officers, schedule the transfers for 21 May 2018. Ensure internal payment approvals and departments (Treasury, Finance, Payments) are notified and have the instrument on file to support the transfer.

4. Reconcile recipient list and amounts

   • The table specifies Western Australia $66,064,287.47 and Australian Capital Territory $3,296,804.93. Confirm recipient account details with the relevant State/Territory treasuries. For jurisdictions shown with a hyphen, record that no payment is scheduled under this determination for the 21 May 2018 payment. Reconcile the total: the instrument lists a Total of $69,361,092.40 which should equal the sum of the positive line items.

5. Confirm appropriation and accounting treatment

   • Although the determination authorises payment amounts, confirm that an appropriate appropriation exists and that the payments are recorded against the correct appropriation sub-programs or ledger codes in Commonwealth accounts. The instrument does not address appropriation; compliance requires alignment with public finance legislation and appropriation authority.

6. Document payment decisions and controls

   • Retain documentation proving that the payment was processed in accordance with the determination: payment authorisations, transaction confirmations, internal approvals, and correspondence with State treasuries. This documentation supports audit, parliamentary questions and internal controls.

7. Notify recipient State financial officers

   • Advise the Western Australian and ACT Treasuries of the upcoming transfer, the amount and expected value date. Record and confirm receipt after the funds clear into State accounts. For States listed with a hyphen, inform them that no payment is scheduled under this determination for 21 May 2018.

8. Audit trail and reconciliation

   • After payment, verify that the amounts debited from Commonwealth accounts equal the authorised amounts in the table and that the total equals $69,361,092.40. Reconcile any bank transaction fees, ordering differences or timing mismatches. Preserve reconciliations for audit.

9. Record the purpose and allow for State discretion

   • The instrument’s stated purpose is "for the purpose of making a grant of general purpose financial assistance to those States." Record in internal notes that the funds are designated for general purpose financial assistance, which by the instrument’s language is the identified purpose, but do not assume additional conditions attach unless they are specified in other instruments.

10. Seek advice where the table is ambiguous

• If there are questions about the hyphens in the table, the short timing window or the lack of appropriation language, consult legal counsel within Treasury or the Commonwealth Solicitor's Office. Also consult central finance agencies to ensure the transfers comply with the Government’s finance rules.

11. Preserve the instrument for parliamentary and audit queries

• Keep the signed determination with payment files. The instrument is the authoritative authorisation and will be the document referenced in any audit or parliamentary inquiries about the payment on 21 May 2018.

12. For State recipients: record receipts and use in financial statements

• State treasuries should record receipts in the appropriate budget and accounting lines as general purpose financial assistance. Ensure internal processes capture the incoming transfer and that state budget managers account for the funds in period statements.

These steps are directly responsive to the instrument’s text. The determination provides the order to pay specific amounts on a specific date and no more. Compliance therefore consists of effecting those payments, documenting the basis, reconciling accounts, and ensuring appropriation and financial management rules are observed in parallel. If any ambiguity or operational problem arises, raise it immediately with Commonwealth legal and financial controllers.