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Commonwealth act
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
This is a short amending Act — meaning it doesn't stand alone, but instead makes targeted changes to an earlier law, the Handicapped Children (Assistance) Act 1970 (the "Principal Act"). That original 1970 law set up a system of Commonwealth grants (government funding) to organisations that provided services for children with disabilities.
1. Clarifying the rules around matching grants (Sections 3 & 4) The 1970 Act required organisations to provide their own money ("matching funds") to qualify for government grants. This amendment refines the rules about what counts as a valid matching contribution, specifically for three types of organisations:
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Direct links to the current provisions in Handicapped Children (Assistance) Act 1973.
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View on official registerSourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
In plain terms: you can't "double dip" — organisations can't use government money as their supposed "own contribution" to unlock more government grants. The new third category closes a loophole where funds could be funnelled through a local council to disguise their government origin.
2. A cosmetic name change (Section 5) Every reference to "the Commonwealth" throughout the Principal Act is replaced with simply "Australia". This is a purely formal, stylistic update with no legal effect on rights or obligations.
The amendment tightens the integrity of the grant program by ensuring government money can't be recycled back as fake "matching" contributions — protecting the public interest in how taxpayer funds are spent on services for children with disabilities.