Details of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Attorney-General's Portfolio Measures No. 3) Regulation 2016

 

Section 1 - Name

 

This section provides that the title of the Regulation is the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Attorney-General's Portfolio Measures No. 3) Regulation 2016.

 

Section 2 - Commencement

 

This section provides that the Regulation commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation. 

 

Section 3 - Authority

 

This section provides that the Regulation is made under the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997.

 

Section 4 - Schedules

 

This section provides that the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997 are amended as set out in the Schedules to the Regulation.

 

Schedule 1 - Amendments

 

Item 1 - In the appropriate position in Part 4 of Schedule 1AB (table)

 

This item adds two new table items to Part 4 of Schedule 1AB to establish legislative authority for government spending on Emergency Management Volunteer Scholarships and the Family Relationships Services Program.  These spending activities will be administered by the Attorney-General's Department.

 

New table item 184 establishes legislative authority for government spending on Emergency Management Volunteer Scholarships.

 

A one-off, non-competitive grant will be provided to the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR) to administer a scholarship program for emergency management volunteers on behalf of the Attorney-General's Department.  The grant to the AIDR will be made up of a scholarship fund that will provide eligible individuals with financial support to access accredited vocational and higher education qualifications in emergency management related disciplines.  The grant will include administration costs.

 

The AIDR delivers a range of education, professional development and information-sharing programs and services across Australia.  As part of its responsibilities, the AIDR has taken over services previously managed by the Attorney-General's Department through the Australian Emergency Management Institute.  The AIDR's administration of the scholarships will build on its reputation as a provider of innovative and quality support to the emergency management sector.  The AIDR represents value for money for the Commonwealth as third-party administration of the scholarships reduces the Commonwealth's oversight and financial burden to levels appropriate for these payment amounts and program type.

 

Support for emergency management practitioners, including volunteers, is a priority of the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience.  The scholarship program will be open to Australian citizens or permanent residents who:

*         are volunteers in an emergency management agency;

*         enrol in and successfully attain accredited vocational or higher education programs at an Australian-based education provider;

*         are supported by their agency to undertake education or training; and

*         demonstrate a genuine commitment to ongoing participation in an emergency management related field.

 

The Minister for Justice, the Hon Michael Keenan MP, announced the Emergency Management Volunteer Scholarships on 27 April 2016, with funding of $1 million over three years until 30 June 2019.

 

The grant agreement with AIDR will require the scholarships to be subject to a competitive, merit-based selection process and will specify the decision-maker and the decision-making process.  

 

Scholarships will be provided to individual students using a capped reimbursement model.  Applicants will be required to provide evidence of successful completion of their agreed course of study prior to scholarship payments being made.  The caps are:

*         vocational education and training courses will be capped at $12,000 per applicant; and

*         higher education courses will be capped at $25,000 per applicant. 

 

Where the delivery model of a course requires a student to attend intensive teaching blocks, applicants will also be able to apply for funding to cover reasonable domestic travel and short-term accommodation costs included within the capped amount.  Funding for relocation, textbooks, student union fees or other costs will not be covered by the scholarship.

 

As the grant to AIDR is a one-off grant, the grant guidelines are not required to be published under the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines (paragraph 5.2).  Information about the grant will be published on the AIDR website (https://www.aidr.org.au/education/scholarships-for-volunteers/) no later than fourteen working days after the grant agreement takes effect.

 

Merits review does not apply to the grant to AIDR due to the targeted non-competitive nature of the funding. 

 

Funding for this item will come from Program 1.2: Attorney-General's Department Operating Expenses - National Security and Criminal Justice, which is part of Outcome 1: A just and secure society through the maintenance and improvement of Australia's law and justice framework and its national security and emergency management system, as set out in the Portfolio Budget Statements 2016-17, Budget Related Paper No. 1.2, Attorney-General's Portfolio at page 24.

 

Noting that it is not a comprehensive statement of relevant constitutional considerations, the objective of the item references the social welfare power of the Constitution (section 51(xxiiiA)).

 

New table item 185 establishes legislative authority for government spending on the Family Relationships Services Program.

 

The objective of the Program is to improve the wellbeing of Australian families, particularly those with children, who are at risk of separating or who have separated.  This objective is met by allocating funding from the Program to community-based organisations to provide services that support separated and separating families.  The Program will also fund projects to enhance the family law system's ability to help families experiencing separation.

 

The Program consists of three sub-programs: Family Law Services, Family Law Pathways Networks, and Family Law System Projects.

 

Family Law Services provide an alternative means for families to resolve post-separation family disputes rather than going to a family law court.  The Attorney-General's Department provides funding to over 60 not-for-profit organisations to deliver the following eight different family law service types to assist separated and/or separating families:

*         Family Relationship Centres;

*         the Family Relationship Advice Line;

*         Family Dispute Resolution;

*         Regional Family Dispute Resolution;

*         Family Counselling;

*         Children's Contact Services;

*         the Parenting Orders Program and the Post Separation Cooperative Parenting Program; and

*         the Supporting Children After Separation Program.

 

Funding is also provided to 35 Family Law Pathways Networks across Australia.  The aim of the Networks is to improve collaboration and co-ordination between organisations and professionals operating in the family law system in order to help separating and separated families obtain appropriate services.

 

Family Law System Projects are also funded under the Program, with the aim of enhancing the family law system's capacity in responding to the needs of separating and/or separated families and responding to emerging priorities across the system.

 

Funding for the Program is ongoing and totals $661.8 million over four years.

 

A delegate of the Secretary of the Attorney-General's Department will oversee the policy and administrative arrangements to deliver the Program.  Decisions made under the Program involve grants and procurement.

 

Grant agreements for the Family Law Services sub-program are administered, on behalf of the Attorney-General's Department, by the Department of Social Services (DSS) under the Families and Communities Program, which is part of the Families and Children activity.  Spending for this sub-program will be consistent with the Program guidelines (available at https://www.ag.gov.au/FamiliesAndMarriage/Families/FamilyRelationshipServices/Pages/default.aspx) and the criteria published in the Families and Children program guidelines which are available at https://www.dss.gov.au/grants/grant-programmes/families-and-children.  Spending decisions will be made by the Attorney-General or an appropriate delegate within the Attorney-General's Department consistent with the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997 (the FF(SP) Act).

 

Spending decisions under the Family Law Pathways Networks sub-program will be made by the Attorney-General or an appropriate delegate within the Attorney-General's Department consistent with the FF(SP) Act.  Spending for this sub-program will be consistent with the criteria published in the Family Law Pathways Networks sub-program guidelines at https://www.ag.gov.au/FamiliesAndMarriage/Families/FamilyRelationshipServices/Pages/Forfamilyrelationshipserviceproviders.aspx.

 

Spending decisions under the Family Law System Projects sub-program will be made by the Attorney-General or an appropriate delegate within the Attorney-General's Department consistent with the FF(SP) Act.  Spending for this sub-program will be consistent with the Program guidelines which are available at: https://www.ag.gov.au/FamiliesAndMarriage/Families/FamilyRelationshipServices/Pages/default.aspx.

 

Some Family Law System Projects are funded under a contract rather than a grant agreement.  These contracts will be carried out consistent with the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013, the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, the Accountable Authority Instructions and departmental guidelines, with appropriate senior oversight and accountability.

 

Once applications have been assessed, funding agreements will be made between successful applicants and the Attorney-General's Department (DSS for the Family Law Services) before funds can be received and works can commence.  Grant payments will be linked to completion of project milestones.  Funding recipients will be required to provide appropriate activity and financial reporting throughout the duration of their projects.

 

Grant recipients will be published on the Attorney-General's Department's grants register at https://www.ag.gov.au/about/grants/Pages/default.aspx or the DSS's grants register at https://www.dss.gov.au/grants/grants-funding for the Family Law Services.  Contracts that exceed $80,000 in value will be reported on AusTender at https://www.tenders.gov.au/.

 

Decisions on awarding grants will be made by the Attorney-General or an appropriate delegate within the Attorney-General's Department.  The majority of these decisions involves allocating a finite resource between competing applicant organisations, and does not immediately affect any particular interests at an individual level.  Therefore, decisions in relation to expenditure under the Program are not suitable for merits review.

 

However, these decisions may be reviewed by the Commonwealth Ombudsman, who may make recommendations but cannot overturn decisions.  The Attorney-General's Department (or DSS in the case of competitive funding rounds for the Family Law Services) will provide feedback to unsuccessful grant applicants.

 

 

Funding for this item will come from Program 1.5: Family Relationships Services Program, which is part of Outcome 1: A just and secure society through the maintenance and improvement of Australia's law and justice framework and its national security and emergency management system.  Details are set out in the Portfolio Budget Statements 2016-17, Budget Related Paper No. 1.2, Attorney-General's Portfolio at page 19.

 

Noting that it is not a comprehensive statement of relevant constitutional considerations, the objective of the item references the following powers of the Constitution:

*         the communications power (section 51(v));

*         the marriage power (section 51(xxi));

*         the divorce and matrimonial causes power (section 51(xxii));

*         the external affairs power (section 51(xxix));

*         the territories power (section 122); and

*         the referred powers (section 51(xxxvii)).

 

 

 

 

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

 

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

 

Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Attorney-General's Portfolio Measures No. 3) Regulation 2016

 

This Regulation is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

 

Overview of the Legislative Instrument

 

Section 32B of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997 (the FF(SP) Act) authorises the Commonwealth to make, vary and administer arrangements and grants specified in the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997 (the FF(SP) Regulations) and to make, vary and administer arrangements and grants for the purposes of programs specified in the Regulations.  Schedule 1AA and Schedule 1AB to the FF(SP) Regulations specify the arrangements, grants and programs. 

 

The FF(SP) Act applies to Ministers and the accountable authorities of non-corporate Commonwealth entities, as defined under section 12 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. 

 

Schedule 1 to the Regulation amends Schedule 1AB to the FF(SP) Regulations to establish legislative authority for government spending on Emergency Management Volunteer Scholarships and the Family Relationships Services Program.  These spending activities will be administered by the Attorney-General's Department.

 

A one-off, non-competitive grant will be provided to the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience to administer a scholarship program for emergency management volunteers on behalf of the Attorney-General's Department.  Eligible individuals will be provided with financial support to access accredited vocational and higher education qualifications in emergency management related disciplines.

 

The Minister for Justice has responsibility for this program.

 

The Family Relationships Services Program aims to improve the wellbeing of Australian families, particularly those with children, who are at risk of separating or who have separated.  The Program funds community-based organisations to provide services that support these families, and projects that enhance the family law system's ability to help families experiencing separation. 

 

The Attorney-General has portfolio responsibility for this program.

 

Human rights implications

 

The Regulation does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.

 

 

Conclusion

 

This Regulation is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.

 

 

Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

Minister for Finance