23Amounts to be debited from the Account

23 Amounts to be debited from the Account

(1) Such amounts as are ascertained in accordance with a determination made by the Minister in writing for the purposes of this subsection are to be: (a) debited from the Account; and (b) credited to the COAG Reform Fund for the purposes of making grants of financial assistance to a State for expenditure by the State on the maintenance and upkeep of roads in the State that are used by registered motor vehicles or trailers. (2) The Treasurer must ensure that, as soon as practicable after an amount is credited to the COAG Reform Fund under subsection (1) for the purposes of making a grant of financial assistance to a State, the COAG Reform Fund is debited for the purposes of making the grant. (3) The Minister, in exercising the power to make determinations under subsection (1), must, as far as practicable, ensure that the allocation of payments under this section among the States reflects the distribution of damage done to roads by registered motor vehicles and trailers operating as mentioned in subsection 8(1). (4) Payments under this Act, and payments of amounts credited to the COAG Reform Fund under subsection (1), must be made at such times, and in such amounts, as the Minister approves. (5) The payment to a State of an amount credited to the COAG Reform Fund under subsection (1) is subject to the following conditions: (a) that the State shall not impose a fee, charge or tax in respect of, or relating to the use of, a registered motor vehicle or trailer, being a fee, charge or tax of a kind specified in the regulations; (b) that the State will give to the Minister: (i) as soon as practicable after 30 June in each year a statement, in accordance with a form approved by the Minister, as to: (A) the expenditure by the State during that year out of that amount; (B) in a case where that amount was paid to the State and that amount or part of that amount has been paid by the State to a government authority—the expenditure by the government authority during that year out of that amount or that part of that amount; and (C) any sum set aside during that year out of that amount for expenditure by the State but not expended during that year; and (ii) a certificate by the Auditor‑General of the State certifying that, in the opinion of the Auditor‑General, the contents of a statement referred to in subparagraph (i) are correct; (c) that the State will expend the amount as required by a determination made under that subsection. (6) The payment to a State of an amount credited to the COAG Reform Fund under subsection (1) may be made subject to such other conditions as are specified in a determination made under that subsection, including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, conditions for the purposes of this Act requiring the State to: (a) comply with a request to give information to the Minister; and (b) in a case where the Minister informs the Treasurer of the State that the Minister is satisfied that the State has not complied with a condition of payment—re‑pay to the Commonwealth that amount or such part of that amount as the Minister specifies. (7) The Minister shall cause a copy of a determination made under subsection (1) to be given to the appropriate Minister of each State. (8) For the purposes of this section, a notification or request shall be taken to have been given to a State if it is given to the appropriate Minister of the State. (9) An amount paid by a State to a government authority for a particular purpose and expended by that authority for that purpose shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to have been expended by the State for that purpose. (10) For the purposes of this section, where an amount is expended by a State or a government authority by way of the payment of wages and an amount of tax is paid by the State or the authority (whether by way of a payment of moneys, the crediting of an account or otherwise) on those wages, being a tax imposed by a law of the State upon employers on wages paid by them, the amount of tax shall be deemed to be a part of those wages. (11) Subject to subsection (10), for the purposes of this section, money paid or credited by a State to a trust account or other account in the Treasury of the State shall not be taken, by reason only of it having been so paid or credited, to have been expended by the State. (12) In this section: