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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 9 Hansard (23 November) . . Page.. 2593 ..

15. The House of Representatives does not use the term 'vote'. Instead, the practice is to refer to 'proposed expenditure'. However, as set out in the attached earlier advice at the bottom of page 3, it is likely that the House of Representatives would rely on the English usage of the term 'vote' which is a unit of appropriation drawn up on a Departmental basis.

16. However, while the Appropriation Bill 1995 does not fully follow the Commonwealth model of appropriation bills by appropriating money to Government Departments, this does not affect reliance on Commonwealth and indeed Westminster Parliamentary practice to determine the meaning of 'vote' in section 65 of the Self-Government Act.

Which categories of expenditure are 'votes'?

17. The question arises as to which categories of proposed expenditure contained in the Appropriation Bill 1995 may be described as a 'vote'. It may be useful here to consider what the Legislative Assembly is being asked to approve: the Legislative Assembly is being asked to approve not only the enactment being the Appropriation Bill 1995, but also the 'votes' within the Bill.

18. Under the Appropriation Bill 1995, money is appropriated by reference to services provided by 'appropriation units' (which are not identical to Administrative Units or Departments).

19. Part I of the Schedule sets out lines of appropriation by reference to 'appropriation units' and, in my view, it is those lines that are the appropriations, so that each such appropriation is a 'vote' for the purposes of section 65 of the Self-Government Act. Part II of the Schedule seems to be a setting out of sub items of a vote as between recurrent and capital expenditure.

20. In the case of education, for example, the appropriation is not to the Department of Education and Training but to four separate categories of expenditure notwithstanding that Part II of the Schedule appears to re-group the appropriations largely by reference to administrative units.

Transfer of funds between votes

21. Section 65(2) of the Self-Government is different to the relevant section of the Commonwealth Constitution, section 53, which deals with the amendment of 'proposed laws'. (However, while technically the Constitution allows amendment to a 'proposed law' we note that in the earlier opinion, at the bottom of page 1, the Senate rarely acts in reliance upon section 53). Section 65 of the Self-Government Act on the other hand, is cast in much wider terms and talks about amendment of "enactments, votes or resolutions".

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