Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Supply Bill (No. 4) 2022-2023, along with the Supply Bill (No. 3) of the same year and the Supply (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) of the same year, seeks appropriations to facilitate the continuation of ongoing government business. The Supply Bill (No. 4) 2022-2023 provides for annual appropriations that are not for the ordinary annual services of government, such as capital works and services, payments to the states and territories and local governments, and equity injections for broadly the last seven months of 2022-23. Annual appropriations that are not for the ordinary annual services of government for broadly the first five months of 2022-23 were provided by the Supply Act (No. 2) 2022-2023. This bill seeks approval for appropriations from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of just under $10 billion. Again, the bill must be passed in this sitting week to provide certainty of supply for the ongoing business of government for the remainder of 2022-23, thereby ensuring the continuity of program and service delivery.

The appropriations proposed in this bill provide an estimated seven-twelfths of the 2022-23 annual appropriations, which are broadly based on the March 2022 budget estimates and adjusted for a small number of programs and entities that received more than five-twelfths of their annual appropriations in the 2022-23 supply acts. This was to provide flexibility for the selected entities to manage uneven expenditure early in this financial year. The bill reflects the structure of government in line with the new Administrative Arrangements Order which commenced on 1 July this year.

As with the Supply Bill (No. 3), this bill seeks only to provide funding for the ongoing business of government for the remainder of this financial year. Therefore, no new decisions taken in the October 2022 budget are included in this bill. This arrangement enables conventional parliamentary processes alluded to before, including Senate estimates hearings, to be followed prior to the enactment of the October 2022 budget appropriations bills by the parliament.

The Supply Act (No. 2) 2022-2023 established debit limits for general purpose financial assistance and national partnership payments under the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 for the full 2022-23 financial year. Therefore, no further debit limits have been included in this bill.

The bill does not contain a provision for an advance to the finance minister—the AFM. The AFM provisions in the Supply Act (No. 2) 2022-2023—being $3 billion, as I mentioned earlier, for COVID-19 related expenditure and $600 million for other urgent and unforeseen expenditure—will continue, pending the passage of the Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2022-2023. Details of the proposed expenditure are set out in the schedules of the bill, the explanatory memorandum and the updated 2022-23 portfolio budget statements tabled in relation to the October 2022 budget. I commend the bill to the chamber.

Debate adjourned.