Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

Notes:

1. 
   Appropriations reduced under Appropriation Acts (Nos. 1, 3 & 5) 2012-13: sections 10, 11, 12 and 15 and under Appropriation Acts (Nos. 2, 4 & 6) 2012-13: sections 12, 13, 14 and 17. Departmental appropriations do not lapse at financial year-end. However, the responsible Minister may decide that part or all of a departmental appropriation is not required and request the Finance Minister to reduce that appropriation. The reduction in the appropriation is effected by the Finance Minister's determination and is disallowable by Parliament. On 22 November 2012, the Finance Minister determined a reduction in departmental appropriations following a request by the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. The amount of the reduction determined under Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2012-13 was $1,286,000.
   

As with departmental appropriations, the responsible Minister may decide that part or all of an administered appropriation is not required and request that the Finance Minister reduce that appropriation. For administered appropriations reduced under section 11 of Appropriation Acts (Nos 1, 3 & 5) 2012-13 and section 12 of Appropriation Acts (Nos 2,4 & 6) 2012-13, the appropriation is taken to be reduced to the required amount specified in Table E of this note once the annual report is tabled in Parliament. The appropriation reduced due to the tabling of the 2011-12 annual report was $487,092,846.82. All administered appropriations may be adjusted by a Finance Minister’s determination, which is disallowable by Parliament. No administered appropriations were adjusted by a Finance Minister’s determination in 2013.

2. 
   In 2013, an adjustment of $2,626,000 was recognised as a formal addition in revenue (in accordance with FMOs Division 101) but at law the appropriations had not been amended before the end of the reporting period.
   
3. 
   ‘Departmental Ordinary annual services’ – The purpose of Departmental appropriations is to provide money for the annual operating costs of agencies and Departmental appropriations do not lapse at financial year end. The appropriation applied in 2013 is the cash paid and appropriation is being carried forward to meet costs incurred in 2013, but not yet paid.
   
4. 
   ‘Equity’ – This variance represents funding that will be applied to complete software development projects.
   
5. 
   ‘Administered items’ – This variance represents the current year retention funding of $19,974,128 less the prior year retention funding expended in the current year of $29,508,773 (refer Table F).
   
6. 
   ‘States, ACT, NT and Local government’ – The variance represents the current year retention funding of $528,235 less the prior year retention funding of $1,883,493 expended in the current year.
   
7. 
   ‘Administered assets and liabilities’ - This appropriation primarily relates to the Restoring the Balance in the Murray-Darling Basin (Water Purchasing) program. Water entitlement purchases are only pursued when there is enough uncommitted appropriation in the year a water purchase tender is commenced. Due to the time between the opening of a tender and the settlement of trades (tender opening and assessment, conveyance, including obtaining state trade approval) the water purchasing program will often have unspent appropriations.
   

Table A (Cont'd). Annual Appropriations ('Recoverable GST exclusive')
	2012 Appropriations						Appropriation applied in 2012 (current and prior years)	Variance
	Appropriation Act		FMA Act			Total appropriation
	Annual Appropriation	Appropriations reduced^1	Section 30	Section 31	Section 32
	$'000	$'000	$'000	$'000	$'000	$'000	$'000	$'000
DEPARTMENTAL
Ordinary annual services	515,334	(15,000)	10,685	91,576	(3,453)	599,142	(599,146)	(4)
Other services
Equity^2	1,545	-	-		-	1,545	(708)	837
Total departmental	516,879	(15,000)	10,685	91,576	(3,453)	600,687	(599,854)	833
ADMINISTERED
Ordinary annual services
Administered items^3	1,387,038	(447,791)	2,131		(118,257)	823,121	(828,642)	(5,521)
Other services
States, ACT, NT and Local government^4	78,432	(39,302)	-		(30,000)	9,130	(7,247)	1,883
Administered assets and liabilities^5	410,889	-	-		-	410,889	(542,796)	(131,907)
Total administered	1,876,359	(487,093)	2,131		(148,257)	1,243,140	(1,378,685)	(135,545)

Notes:

1. 
   Appropriations reduced under Appropriation Acts (Nos. 1, 3 & 5) 2011-12: sections 10, 11, and 12 and under Appropriation Acts (Nos. 2, 4 & 6) 2011-12: sections 12, 13, and 14. Departmental appropriations do not lapse at financial year-end. However, the responsible Minister may decide that part or all of a departmental appropriation is not required and request the Finance Minister to reduce that appropriation. The reduction in the appropriation is effected by the Finance Minister's determination and is disallowable by Parliament. On 26 June 2012, the Finance Minister determined a reduction in departmental appropriations following a request by the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. The amount of the reduction determined under Appropriation Act (No. 3) 2011-12 was $15,000,000.
   

As with departmental appropriations, the responsible Minister may decide that part or all of an administered appropriation is not required and request that the Finance Minister reduce that appropriation. For administered appropriations reduced under section 11 of Appropriation Acts (Nos 1, 3 & 5) 2011-12 and section 12 of Appropriation Acts (Nos 2,4 & 6) 2011-12, the appropriation is taken to be reduced to the required amount specified in Table E of this note once the annual report is tabled in Parliament. All administered appropriations may be adjusted by a Finance Minister’s determination, which is disallowable by Parliament. The appropriation reduced due to the tabling of the 2010-11 annual report was $1,028,870,977.01, which included $50,206,372.77 for Outcome 6. On 21 May 2012, the Finance Minister issued a determination to reduce administered appropriations following a request by the Minister. The amount of the reduction under Appropriation Act (No 1) 2010-11 Outcome 6 was $51,852,562.41.

In 2012, there were no adjustments that met the recognition criteria of a formal addition or reduction in revenue (in accordance with FMOs Division 101) but at law the appropriations had not been amended before the end of the reporting period.

2. 
   ‘Equity’ – This variance represents funding that will be applied to complete several software development projects.
   
3. 
   ‘Administered items’ – This variance represents the current year retention funding of $29,509,000 less the prior year retention funding expended in the current year of $35,030,000 (refer Table F).
   
4. 
   ‘States, ACT, NT and Local government’ – The $1,883,000 represents current year retention funding.
   
5. 
   ‘Administered assets and liabilities’ - This appropriation primarily relates to the Restoring the Balance in the Murray-Darling Basin (Water Purchasing) program. Water entitlement purchases are only pursued when there is enough uncommitted appropriation in the year a water purchase tender is commenced. Due to the time between the opening of a tender to the settlement of trades (tender opening and assessment, conveyance, including obtaining state trade approval) the water purchasing program will necessarily have unspent appropriations each year.
   

Table B. Departmental and Administered Capital Budgets ('Recoverable GST exclusive')
	2013 Capital Budget Appropriations				Capital Budget Appropriations applied in 2013 (current and prior years)			Variance^4
	Appropriation Act		FMA Act	Total Capital Budget Appropriations	Payments for non-financial assets^3	Payments for other purposes	Total payments
	Annual Capital Budget	Appropriations reduced^2	Section 32
	$'000	$'000	$'000	$'000	$'000	$'000	$'000	$'000
DEPARTMENTAL
Ordinary annual services - Departmental
Capital Budget^1	23,479	-	-	23,479	(24,025)	-	(24,025)	(546)