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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 9 Hansard (23 November) . . Page.. 2592 ..

"Proposal of money votes

65. (1) An enactment, vote or resolution ("proposal") for the appropriation of the public money of the Territory must not be proposed in the Assembly except by a Minister.

(2) Subsection (l) does not prevent a member other than a Minister from moving an amendment to a proposal made by a Minister unless the amendment is to increase the amount of public money of the Territory to be appropriated."

10. It is clear that section 65(2) of the Self-Government Act permits a member to move an amendment to a proposal that would not increase the amount of money to be appropriated.

11. The issue here is what is a member able to amend. Section 65(1) of the Self-Government Act talks in terms of "An enactment, vote or resolution("proposal") for the appropriation of the public money of the Territory". What 'vote' means is not immediately obvious. I attach a copy of an earlier opinion on this issue and please note that I have reproduced parts of that opinion below. Apart from the references to the original version of section 65(1) and to editions of texts that have now been superseded (the new editions have been checked and are not inconsistent with the old references), the earlier opinion still generally represents the view of this Branch.

Meaning of 'vote' in section 65 of the Self-Government Act

12. It is most likely that the interpretation to be given to 'vote' as used in section 65(2) of the Self-Government Act is the monetary sense of the word. Section 65(1) defines a 'vote' as a 'proposal' for the purposes of the section. Clearly the context in which 'vote' is used must mean a proposal for the appropriation of the public money of the Territory. To give 'vote' a meaning related simply to a vote in the Assembly (which could be another interpretation) would make no sense in this context; such a vote does not appropriate public moneys, nor can it be amended.

13. This interpretation is also supported by the heading of the section which reads 'Proposal of money votes'. Although a heading to a section of an Act cannot be taken to be a part of the Act ( see section 13(3) of theActs Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth)), regard can be had to such headings for interpretation purposes under section 15AB(2)(a) of that Act if it is capable of assisting in ascertaining the meaning of the provision.

14. It could also be argued that Commonwealth Parliamentary practice and usage in existence at the time of the enactment of the Self-Government Act gives the greatest assistance in determining the meaning of section 65. The practice in the Senate is that 'vote' means a sum of moneys being appropriated to a particular Government Department (the Commonwealth practice in Appropriation Bills is to set out in Schedules amounts allocated to specific `Departments and Services', which are further dissected into 'Divisions', 'Sub divisions' and Items').

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