PGPA Act (Aboriginal Water Entitlements Special Account) Determination 2025

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Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia

 

PGPA Act (Aboriginal Water Entitlements Special Account) Determination 2025

I, KATY GALLAGHER, Minister for Finance, make the following determination.

Dated              27 October 2025   

KATY GALLAGHER

Minister for Finance

 

 

 

Contents

1  Name

2  Commencement

3  Authority

4  Definitions

5  Establishment of the special account

6  Accountable authority of the special account

7  Amounts that may be credited to the special account

8  Purposes of the special account

 

 

1  Name

  This instrument is the PGPA Act (Aboriginal Water Entitlements Special Account) Determination 2025.

2  Commencement

 (1)  Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.

 

• Commencement information
• Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
• Provisions Commencement Date/Details
• The whole of this instrument The day mentioned in paragraph 79(5)(a) of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.

 (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.

3  Authority

  This instrument is made under subsection 78(1) of the Act.

4  Definitions

  In this instrument:

Act means the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

the special account means the Aboriginal Water Entitlements Special Account 2025 established by this instrument.

water entitlements means water access rights, water delivery rights, irrigation rights or other similar rights relating to water, and interests in, or in relation to, such rights.

5  Establishment of the special account

  For paragraph 78(1)(a) of the Act, the Aboriginal Water Entitlements Special Account 2025 is established as a special account.

 

6  Accountable authority of the special account

  For paragraph 78(1)(d) of the Act, the accountable authority responsible for the special account is the Secretary of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

 

7  Amounts that may be credited to the special account

 (1) For paragraph 78(1)(b) of the Act, the following amounts may be credited to the special account:

 (a) amounts equal to amounts of any gifts given or bequests made for the purposes of the special account;

 (b) amounts received in the course of the performance of functions that relate to the purposes of the special account; and

 (c) an amount received from any person for one or more purposes of the special account.

 

8  Purposes of the special account

 (1) For paragraph 78(1)(c) of the Act, the purposes of the special account, in relation to which amounts may be debited from the special account, are:

 (a) to purchase, use, manage, trade, transfer, lease, gift, dispose of and otherwise deal in water entitlements for the benefit of First Nations communities in the Murray-Darling Basin;

 (b) to pay or discharge the costs, expenses and other obligations incurred by the Commonwealth in performing, or engaging others to perform, the activities referred to in subsection 8(1)(a), excluding departmental staff costs;

 (c) to repay an amount where a court order, Act or other law requires or permits the repayment of an amount received; and

 (d) to reduce the balance of the special account (and, therefore, the available appropriation for the special account) without making a real or notional payment.