Victorian Future Fund Act 2023

The central concept is the Victorian Future Fund, an account established in the Public Account as part of the Trust Fund. It is not a separate legal entity; it is a ledger within the State's existing financial architecture. The purpose is statutorily confined to debt reduction: section 5(2) says the purpose is to provide funding for reducing the State's debt. Any payment from the fund must be for that purpose or for approved administrative costs under section 9(b). The fund is administered by the Treasurer (section 6), who also determines what money is credited to it from the specified sources. The term fund manager has a dual meaning defined in section 3: primarily the Victorian Funds Management Corporation if an appointment under section 9A(3) of the Victorian Funds Management Corporation Act 1994 is in effect; if not, then a person appointed by the Treasurer under section 10. The fund manager has investment powers: section 10(4) allows investment in any manner the State is authorised to invest that money. The term public entity is defined broadly, encompassing entities under the Public Administration Act 2004 and the Financial Management Act 1994, plus any entity prescribed by regulations. This is relevant because proceeds from land sales by such entities can be directed into the fund at the Treasurer's discretion. VicRoads Modernisation is defined by reference to the transfer of shares in two named companies (R&L Services Victoria Pty Ltd and CP Services Victoria Pty Ltd) and units in two trusts, plus related arrangements. Proceeds from that transaction form a primary source of fund contributions. The concept of payments from the fund is tightly restricted: only amounts determined by the Treasurer to reduce the State's debt, and costs approved by the Treasurer for administration, monitoring, auditing and reporting. There is no provision for legislative oversight of individual payments; the Treasurer has sole discretion. The Act also creates a reporting framework through the Department of Treasury and Finance's annual report under Part 7 of the Financial Management Act 1994. The fund manager must supply information reasonably required by the Minister or Secretary to meet reporting obligations. The audit power under section 12 is permissive: the Treasurer may carry out or appoint an audit. It does not require an annual audit, and it expressly does not limit the Auditor-General's powers under the Audit Act 1994. The self-repeal of Part 5 is a notable concept: sections 14 and 15, which amended the Duties Act 2000 and then repealed Part 5 itself, are now spent. The stamp duty amendments have been removed, meaning any transitional exemption for VicRoads or land sale transactions has ceased.

The Act primarily affects the State of Victoria as a legal and fiscal entity. It binds the Crown in right of Victoria, and so far as legislative power permits, the Crown in all other capacities. The Treasurer bears the administrative responsibility for the fund, including determining contributions, approving payments, appointing fund managers, and conducting audits. The Department of Treasury and Finance is affected through its reporting obligations under Part 7 of the Financial Management Act 1994: it must include fund balances, contributions, and payments in its annual report. The Victorian Funds Management Corporation is the default fund manager if appointed under section 9A(3) of its own Act. If not appointed, the Treasurer may appoint another fund manager (a person or entity) who must have the necessary skills and experience to manage the fund. That fund manager has investment discretion but must comply with the terms of appointment determined by the Treasurer. Public entities defined in section 3 are indirectly affected because land sale proceeds from such entities can be directed into the fund by Treasurer determination. This includes any public body within the meaning of the Financial Management Act 1994 and any public entity within the meaning of the Public Administration Act 2004, plus any entity prescribed by regulations. Entities involved in the VicRoads Modernisation are specifically referenced: proceeds from that transaction form a mandated source of contributions. The Consolidated Fund is affected because the Treasurer may appropriate money from it to credit to the Victorian Future Fund under section 8(2), effectively moving revenue from general government funds into a ring-fenced account. Taxpayers and creditors are indirectly affected: the fund is intended to reduce state debt, which could affect future borrowing costs and fiscal sustainability, but the Act gives no direct rights or claims to any individual or private entity. Private sector entities that might have claimed stamp duty exemptions under the now-repealed Part 5 amendments to the Duties Act 2000 are affected because those amendments no longer have effect. The Act does not impose duties or obligations on private individuals, businesses, or non-government organisations. It is entirely a machinery-of-government Act concerning the management of public money. However, compliance professionals and auditors who work with public sector financial reporting must be aware of the fund's existence and the special disclosure requirements in the Department's annual report. Journalists and researchers analysing state debt and fiscal policy will need to track the fund's contributions and payments as they become public through reporting.

The Act imposes specific duties on the fund manager and the Treasurer, and confers rights of determination and approval. The fund manager must give the Minister or the Secretary any information reasonably required to comply with reporting obligations in respect of the fund (section 11(2)). The fund manager must also give the Treasurer or any person carrying out an audit any information reasonably required for the audit (section 12(2)). These duties are information-forcing obligations; failure to comply is not directly penalised in the Act but could be enforced through general law or contractual terms of appointment. The Treasurer has the right to appoint a fund manager under section 10, but only if the Treasurer considers the person has the necessary skills and experience. The Treasurer also determines the terms of appointment. The Treasurer may also carry out or appoint an audit of the fund (section 12(1)). The Treasurer's most significant right is the power to determine what money is credited to the fund from the specified sources in section 8(1). This includes money from VicRoads Modernisation, land sale proceeds, and "any other amount of money" under subsection 8(1)(b). The Treasurer can also determine the amount to be paid out of the fund to reduce the State's debt under section 9(a). These determinations are not subject to legislative approval or public consultation. The Treasurer also has the right to approve costs and expenses for administration, monitoring, auditing and reporting under section 9(b). The fund manager has the right to invest money in the fund in any manner the State is authorised to invest that money, subject to the terms of appointment (section 10(4)). However, this right is qualified by section 9A(3) of the Victorian Funds Management Corporation Act 1994, overriding provision in section 10(5) preserving that section's operation. The State has a right to have the fund credited with money from the specified sources, but that right is not enforceable by private parties. The Department of Treasury and Finance has a duty to include fund information in its annual report under section 11(1). The Auditor-General retains all powers under the Audit Act 1994 unaffected by this Act, so has a statutory right to audit the fund independently of any Treasurer-appointed audit. No private individual or entity has a right to challenge the Treasurer's determinations or to demand payments from the fund. The Act does not create any cause of action for failure to reduce debt or for mismanagement of the fund; accountability is through political processes and public reporting, not through legal rights.

The Victorian Future Fund Act 2023 contains no penalty provisions. There are no fines, imprisonment terms, infringement notices, or civil pecuniary penalties for non-compliance. The Act does not create any offence. This is consistent with its character as a machinery-of-government Act that establishes a fund and sets out administrative arrangements. The duties it imposes on the fund manager to provide information for reporting and audit purposes are not backed by statutory penalties. Enforcement of those duties would rely on other mechanisms: the terms of the fund manager's appointment contract, general public sector accountability frameworks such as the Public Administration Act 2004, or the powers of the Auditor-General under the Audit Act 1994. If the fund manager fails to provide information reasonably required, the Treasurer could potentially terminate the appointment or seek directions from a court, but no specific enforcement tool is provided. The Act does not give the Treasurer power to issue infringement notices or seek court orders for non-compliance. The only potential enforcement lever is indirect: the fund manager's performance could be scrutinised in the Department of Treasury and Finance's annual report, and the Auditor-General could draw attention to failures in audit reports. The binding of the Crown under section 4 means that the Crown is subject to the Act's provisions, but enforcement against the Crown would require traditional Crown remedies such as injunction or declaration, and the Act does not expressly abrogate Crown immunity from prosecution (not that any offence exists). The repealed Part 5 amendments to the Duties Act 2000 would have had their own enforcement mechanisms under that Act, but those provisions are no longer in force. In practice, the Act relies on political accountability and the usual public sector governance and oversight mechanisms rather than legal sanctions. For accountants and compliance professionals, the key point is that while there are no penalties in this Act, the information the fund manager must provide feeds into reports that may be subject to the general offence provisions of the Financial Management Act 1994 (e.g., false or misleading statements) and the Public Administration Act 2004 (code of conduct for public officials). Non-compliance with reporting duties could therefore have consequences under other legislation, not under this Act itself.

The Act expressly interacts with several Victorian statutes. Section 7(1) disapplies section 19(4) and (5) of the Financial Management Act 1994 in relation to the Victorian Future Fund. Those subsections normally govern certain trust fund arrangements; their disapplication means the fund is not subject to those particular constraints on investment or management. Section 7(2) declares that the Victorian Future Fund is a fund administered by the State for the purposes of section 9A(3) of the Victorian Funds Management Corporation Act 1994. That provision allows the Corporation to manage funds on behalf of the State, so the fund is eligible for management by the VFMC without separate legislative authorisation. Section 8(2) provides an appropriation out of the Consolidated Fund for money the Treasurer determines to credit to the Victorian Future Fund under section 8(1)(a) or (b). This bypasses the usual annual appropriation process for those amounts, effectively creating a standing appropriation for this purpose. Section 10(5) states that nothing in section 10 affects or takes away from section 9A(3) of the Victorian Funds Management Corporation Act 1994, preserving the Corporation's ability to be appointed as fund manager under its own Act. Section 12(3) provides that nothing in the audit provisions affects or takes away from the requirements of, or the powers of the Auditor-General under, the Audit Act 1994. This preserves independent audit oversight. Section 3 incorporates definitions from other Acts: public entity draws from the Public Administration Act 2004 and the Financial Management Act 1994, and the definition of fund manager references the Victorian Funds Management Corporation Act 1994. Section 11 requires the Department of Treasury and Finance to include fund information in its report of operations and financial statements under Part 7 of the Financial Management Act 1994, integrating the fund into the whole-of-government financial reporting framework. Section 4 binds the Crown and, so far as legislative power permits, the Crown in all other capacities, which may interact with Commonwealth-state financial arrangements. The Duties Act 2000 was amended by Part 5 of this Act (now repealed). Those amendments were self-repealing on 23 May 2025, so the Duties Act no longer contains the special provisions for VicRoads or land sale transactions that may have been inserted. The Sale of Land Act 1962 and the Land Act 1958 are mentioned in section 8(1)(a)(ii) as enabling statutes for land sales whose proceeds may be credited to the fund, but those Acts are not otherwise amended. The Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 governs the Act's construction, as noted in the endnotes. The Act cannot be taken to have amended any other Act unless expressly stated.

The Victorian Future Fund Act 2023 (No. 19 of 2023) received assent on 27 June 2023 and came into operation on 22 August 2023 by proclamation in Special Gazette No. 447. There is only one version of the Act as at publication: Version No. 002, incorporating amendments as at 23 May 2025. The sole amendment is the repeal of Part 5 (heading and sections 14 and 15) by section 15 of the Act itself. Section 15 was a self-repeal provision that operated on 23 May 2025, exactly two years after the default commencement date of 23 May 2024 (see section 2(2)). This means Part 5 was always intended to have a limited lifespan. Part 5 contained two sections: section 14, which amended the Duties Act 2000, and section 15, which repealed Part 5. The effect is that the Duties Act amendments were operative from 22 August 2023 until 23 May 2025, and then ceased to have effect. The Table of Amendments in the endnotes confirms that section 15 repealed Part 5 on 23 May 2025. No other amendments have been made to the Act. No regulations have been made under section 13 as at the date of publication. The endnotes state "No entries at date of publication" under explanatory details, confirming no subordinate instruments have been made to prescribe entities under the definition of "public entity" or otherwise. The Act has not been amended by any other Act or subordinate instrument. The version history shows that Version No. 002 is the current version, incorporating the self-repeal of Part 5. The original Version No. 001 would have included the now-repealed Part 5. Practitioners relying on the Act should ensure they have the current version. The Act is relatively new and has only one substantive change, which is its own internal sunset provision for the Duties Act amendments. This is unusual: it is rare for an Act to contain a provision that repeals part of itself after a set period. The policy rationale appears to have been that the stamp duty exemptions were transitional measures to facilitate the VicRoads modernisation and land sale program, and once those transactions were completed, the exemptions were no longer needed. The repeal occurred automatically by operation of the Act, without further legislative action.

The source material records no litigation history for the Victorian Future Fund Act 2023. The endnotes contain no references to court cases, tribunal decisions, or judicial consideration of the Act. The explanatory details section states "No entries at date of publication." This is unsurprising given the Act's recent enactment (assented June 2023, commenced August 2023) and its nature as a machinery-of-government statute that does not create private rights or impose penalties. The Act has been in force for less than two years as at the latest version date. The only litigation risk would be a challenge to the Treasurer's determinations under section 8 or 9, but such determinations are framed in discretionary terms and judicial review would be difficult given the wide ambit of the power. A plaintiff would need to establish that the Treasurer exceeded the statutory purpose (debt reduction) or acted irrationally. No such challenges have been reported. The binding of the Crown under section 4 could theoretically give rise to proceedings against the Crown for breach of the Act, but as noted there are no duties that would support a private cause of action. The repeal of Part 5 might have generated disputes if any taxpayer claimed a stamp duty exemption that was time-limited, but the Act's own transitional provisions appear to have avoided litigation. The Auditor-General's powers under the Audit Act 1994 are preserved and unaffected, so any dispute about auditing would more likely arise under that Act. The Financial Management Act 1994 and the Victorian Funds Management Corporation Act 1994 have separate litigation histories, but those do not directly involve the Victorian Future Fund Act. There are no known proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria or the High Court of Australia interpreting any provision of this Act. Journalists and researchers should note that the absence of litigation does not imply the Act is uncontroversial; it may simply reflect that the Act provides no mechanism for stakeholders to seek judicial review of fund management decisions. Political and fiscal accountability, rather than legal accountability, is the primary check. Any future litigation would likely turn on the meaning of "reducing the State's debt" in section 5(2) or the scope of "any other amount of money" in section 8(1)(b), but no case law exists yet.

Several provisions contain traps for the unwary. Section 8(1)(b) allows the Treasurer to credit "any other amount of money" to the fund, without limiting the source. Combined with the standing appropriation in section 8(2), this gives the Treasurer nearly unfettered power to move money from the Consolidated Fund into the Victorian Future Fund. There is no statutory cap, no requirement for parliamentary approval, and no transparency mechanism beyond the annual report disclosure. This could be used to quarantine general revenue from future parliaments' spending choices, because once money is in the fund it can only be used for debt reduction or administrative costs. The Treasurer effectively decides both the inflows and the outflows. Section 9(a) allows payments "determined by the Treasurer to reduce the State's debt." The Treasurer determines the amount and the timing. There is no requirement that the debt reduction occur within any particular period, that the fund reach a minimum balance, or that the state's debt actually be reduced at any specific rate. The fund could sit idle accumulating investment earnings for years before any debt repayment is made. Section 10(1) says the Treasurer "may" appoint a fund manager. It is not mandatory. If no fund manager is appointed and the Victorian Funds Management Corporation has not been appointed under its own Act, then the fund has no manager. Who then manages the cash and investments? The Act is silent. The Treasurer would presumably manage the fund directly, but the Act does not confer investment powers on the Treasurer. This creates a potential lacuna. Section 10(4) allows the fund manager to invest money "in any manner in which the State is authorised to invest that money." That incorporates whatever investment powers the State has generally, which may be quite broad. But if the fund manager misinvests, the Act provides no remedy or limitation on liability. Section 7(1) disapplies specific subsections of the Financial Management Act 1994, but does not disapply the rest of that Act. The fund is part of the Trust Fund and subject to the general rules for trust accounts, except for those two subsections. Practitioners need to check which other Financial Management Act provisions still apply. The repeal of Part 5 means that any stamp duty exemption that existed from August 2023 to May 2025 is now gone. Taxpayers who relied on the exemption for transactions that straddled the 23 May 2025 date may find that later transactions no longer qualify. The Act does not contain transitional provisions for the repeal; the exemption simply ceased. The definition of public entity is open-ended: the regulations may prescribe additional entities. As no regulations have been made, only entities within the definitions in the Public Administration Act and Financial Management Act are captured. But this could change without further primary legislation. There is no provision for public access to fund information beyond the annual report. No quarterly reports, no disclosure of individual investments, no reporting of fees paid to fund managers. The Treasurer's audit power under section 12 is permissive, not mandatory. There may never be an audit other than the Auditor-General's general audit of the State's accounts.

Compliance with the Victorian Future Fund Act 2023 is the responsibility of the Treasurer, the fund manager, and the Department of Treasury and Finance. No private entity or individual has direct compliance obligations under this Act. For the Treasurer, compliance requires ensuring that money is credited to the fund only in accordance with section 8, that payments from the fund are made only for the purposes in section 9, and that any fund manager appointment meets the skills and experience requirement of section 10(2). The Treasurer should maintain a written record of each determination under sections 8 and 9, specifying the amount, source, and purpose, to demonstrate compliance with the statutory limits. For the fund manager (whether the Victorian Funds Management Corporation or an appointed person), the key obligations are: (a) to invest money in the fund only in manners the State is authorised to invest that money, and only in accordance with the terms of appointment (section 10(4)); (b) to give the Minister or Secretary any information reasonably required for reporting obligations under section 11(2); and (c) to give the Treasurer or any auditor any information reasonably required for an audit under section 12(2). The fund manager should establish internal processes to respond promptly to information requests, and should ensure that investment activities are documented and within the scope of authorised investments. For the Department of Treasury and Finance, compliance means including in its annual report under Part 7 of the Financial Management Act 1994: the opening and closing balances of the fund for the financial year, details of contributions made, and details of payments made (section 11(1)). This requires the Department to maintain accurate accounting records for the fund and to coordinate with the fund manager to obtain necessary data. The Department should also ensure that any regulations that may be made under section 13 are complied with; no regulations currently exist. For the Victorian Funds Management Corporation, if appointed, it must comply with its own Act and any specific directions from the Treasurer. The Corporation's existing compliance framework under the Victorian Funds Management Corporation Act 1994 will apply, but the fund manager duties under this Act are additional. All entities should be aware that while this Act contains no penalties, failures to provide information could lead to adverse findings in audit reports or ministerial direction. There is no requirement to publish a separate fund report; the annual report of the Department of Treasury and Finance is the sole reporting vehicle. Professional advisors and journalists monitoring the fund should review that annual report once published. No other filing, registration, or notification is required.