Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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FINANCE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1994 NO. 213

STATUTORY RULES 1994 No. 213

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Finance

Audit Act 1901

Finance Regulations (Amendment)

The attached Statutory Rules amend Finance Regulation 6A which was made under subsection 71(1) of the Audit Act 1901 (the Act). Section 2 of the Act provides, in part, that "prescribed authority" means a body corporate, or an unicorporated body, established for or under an enactment, that is declared by the regulations to be a prescribed authority; and includes a branch of the Australian Public Service prescribed for the purposes of the definition

Regulation 6A of the Finance Regulations declares certain bodies and branches of the Australian Public Service to be prescribed authorities for the purposes of the Act. As prescribed authorities, they are covered by the definitions of "Department" in section 2 of the Act, subregulation 4(1) of the Finance Regulations and regulation 2 of the Finance (Overseas) Regulations.

Only those bodies in relation to which an officer within the body has the powers of a Departmental Secretary, have been prescribed. This ensures that the prescribed authority will be subject to the Act and its subsidiary legislation in its own right. That is, it will conduct its own financial administration independently of the Department of the responsible Minister.

Details of the amendments included in these regulations are as follows:

Australian Science and Technology Council

Subregulation 3.1 amended Finance Regulation 6A(1) by omitting paragraph 6A(1)(g). That paragraph included the Australian Science and Technology Council (the Council) as a prescribed authority.

The Australian Science and Technology Council Act 1978 (the Council's Act), which established the Council, was been amended by the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1994. This Act repealed section 19 of the Council's Act, which provided for a prescribed person within the Council to have the powers of a Departmental Secretary in relation to the Council's staff. Section 19 now provides for the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to make staff available to the Council. One of the purposes of these changes was to require the Council to operate as a branch of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It is, therefore, no longer appropriate for the Council to remain as a prescribed authority and it has been omitted from the list of prescribed authorities.

Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC)

Subregulation 3.2 includes the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) in the list of prescribed authorities in Finance Regulation 6A(1).

Part 6 of the Law and Justice Legislation Amendment Act 1994 amended section 40 of the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988 to give the Director of AUSTRAC the powers of a Departmental Secretary in relation to the staff of AUSTRAC. The purpose of the amendment was to enable AUSTRAC to become a prescribed authority and thus operate independently of the Attorney-General's Department in matters of financial administration.

The amendment became operative on 1 July 1994, the date on which Part 6 of the Law and Justice Legislation Amendment Act 1994 was Proclaimed.

Supervising Scientist for the Alligator Rivers Region

Finance Regulation 6A(2) provides that those branches of the Public Service in relation to which the offices listed in Finance Regulation 6A(3) have the powers of a Departmental Secretary, are prescribed authorities. Subregulation 3.4 omitted the previous reference to the Supervising Scientist for the Alligator Rivers Region (the Supervising Scientist) from Finance Regulation 6A(3). Subregulation 3.3 contains a minor drafting amendment consequent upon the amendment in subregulation 3.4.

Section 13 of the Environment Protection (Alligator Rivers Region) Amendment Act 1993. omitted subsections 26(2), (3) and (4) of the Environment Protection (Alligator Rivers Region) Act 1978. As a consequence, the Supervising Scientist no longer had the powers of a Departmental Secretary in relation to his or her staff. Thus, the reference to the Supervising Scientist in Finance Regulation 6A(3) became redundant and has been deleted.