Page 5599 - Week 17 - Thursday, 5 December 1991
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I turn to the matter of guarantees by the Territory. The Commonwealth Parliament is currently considering a number of amendments to the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988, including the repeal of provisions which restrict the ability of the Territory to guarantee the obligations of a third party. The repeal of these provisions is in keeping with the ACT's transition to State-type administration. The Bill before the Assembly will empower the Treasurer to approve Territory guarantees and thus continue the operation of the guarantee mechanism once the Commonwealth provision is repealed.
Dealing with the transfer of funds, budget flexibility is an important factor in government administration. Under the existing provisions of the Audit Act, the capacity to move appropriated funds within the budget is limited. The Bill proposes a number of amendments that will allow the Executive to reorder priorities without compromising the overall integrity of the budget.
The amendments will allow the transfer of appropriated funds between divisions and subdivisions of a division. This means that surplus funds of one program can be transferred to another program, where this is required. Funds will also be able to be transferred to and from the recurrent and capital items of each program. All such transfers will be limited to 5 per cent of the amounts appropriated to the divisions by the annual Appropriation Act.
A substantial proportion of ACT finances are received from the Commonwealth by way of specific purpose payments. The amounts of these payments are often adjusted by the Commonwealth subsequent to the inclusion of estimates in the ACT budget. The Bill will allow the Executive to increase appropriated funds where payments from the Commonwealth are increased above the amounts estimated at the time of preparation of the Appropriation Bill. The important thing is that, where the levels of appropriated funds are adjusted by the mechanisms of this Bill, the Minister will be required to report such adjustments to the Assembly within six sitting days of the transfer.
In conclusion, the amendments will improve the financial management and administration of the borrowing and investment activities of the ACT and provide flexibility for the management of the budget.
I present the explanatory memorandum for the Bill.
Debate (on motion by Mr Kaine) adjourned.
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