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CLAUSE NOTES
National Health Funding Administration Bill 2012
Clause 1 Short Title
Clause 2 Commencement
Provides for the Act to commence on the day it receives Royal
Assent or 1 July 2012, whichever is the latter.
Clause 3 Interpretation
Provides the definitions of specific terms used in the Bill.
As all jurisdictions will be adopting common legislative provisions
to establish the office of the Administrator, it is important that
these provisions be interpreted in the same way in each
jurisdiction. Therefore, clause 3(5) provides that the Tasmanian
Acts Interpretation Act 1931 does not apply to the Bill, and
Schedule 7 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law is
applied instead, as this Schedule provides uniform interpretation
provisions of a kind which are standard for national scheme
legislation.
Clause 4 The office of Administrator
Establishes the office of Administrator of the National Health
Funding Pool. As per the intention of the National Health
Reform Agreement (NHRA), the Administrator will be
appointed under a law of the Commonwealth and each state and
territory. The intention is that a single person will be appointed
as Administrator in all jurisdictions and that the Administrator
may exercise the functions of Administrator in relation to one
jurisdiction or two or more or all jurisdictions collectively.
Clause 5 Appointment of Administrator
Provides for the Minister to appoint by instrument in writing a
person as Administrator after the Standing Council on Health
(the Council) has agreed on the person to be appointed. Before
the Council decides on the appointment, the Chair of the
Council must give each member an opportunity to nominate an
individual for appointment. The Administrator may be appointed
for up to five years, but is eligible for reappointment. He or she
is to be paid the remuneration determined in accordance with
the law of the Commonewealth, which means remuneration will
be determined by the Commonwealth Remuneration Tribunal.
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Clause 6 Suspension of the Administrator
Specifies the grounds under which the Chair of the Council is
required to suspend the Administrator from office.
Clause 7 Removal or resignation of the Administrator
Sets out the method by which the Administrator may be
removed from office or resign. If the majority of the Council
agree to remove the Administrator from office, the Minister
must remove the Administrator from office by instrument in
writing. The Administrator may resign by notice in writing to the
Chair of the Council.
Clause 8 Acting Administrator
Enables the Chair of the Council to appoint a person to act as
the Administrator if the office is vacant or the Administrator is
suspended or absent from duty.
Clause 9 Provision of staff and facilities for Administrator
Notes that a National Health Funding Body will be established
under Commonwealth law to assist the Administrator in
exercising or performing his or her functions. However, the
Administrator is not entitled to delegate his or her functions to
the Body. The NHRA requires the Commonwealth to fund all
costs associated with the establishment and ongoing operation
of the Body.
Clause 10 Functions of the Administrator
Sets out the functions of the Administrator. The functions are
consistent with the policy intent of clauses B26 and B27 of the
NHRA.
This clause specifically relates to the duties of the Administrator
when he or she is acting under Tasmanian legislation. The
corresponding legislation of the Commonwealth will specify the
functions of the Administrator when he or she is acting under
Commonwealth law, such as monitoring Commonwealth
payments into each State Pool Account.
To avoid doubt, it is stated that this Bill does not give the
Commonwealth ownership or control of money in a State Pool
Account.
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Clause 11 Establishment of State Pool Account with Reserve Bank
Provides for the Secretary of the Department of Health and
Human Services to open and maintain a bank account with the
Reserve Bank of Australia for the purpose of receiving funding
under the NHRA. This account is to be known as the State Pool
Account.
Clause 12 Payments into State Pool Account
Specifies which money is to be paid into the State Pool Account.
This includes money from the Commonwealth, the State and
another state. Interest earned on money in the State Pool
Account may be paid into that account or another account.
As the State Pool Account is a bank account in the name of the
State, any Commonwealth money paid into the State Pool
account will cease to be part of the Commonwealth
Consolidated Revenue Fund (and cease to be under
Commonwealth control) as soon as the payment is made into
the account.
Clause 13 Payments from the Pool
Specifies what can be paid with money from the State Pool
Account. This includes payments for services provided by the
THOs; teaching, training and research; and any other matter that
the NHRA states is to be funded through the Pool. Payments
may only be made in accordance with the directions of the State
Minister for Health. In practice, it is likely that the directions
would be given by a person delegated by the Minister under
clause 28 of this Bill.
Clause 14 State Managed Funds
Provides for a State Managed Fund to be established for the
purpose of receiving block funding. The account may be either a
separate bank account, separate fund or an existing bank
account or fund. In Tasmania it is proposed to be a fund within
the pubic account.
Clause 15 Distribution of Commonwealth Funding
Provides that the amount of Commonwealth funding distributed
to the State is to be consistent with the advice provided by the
Administrator to the Commonwealth Treasurer.
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Clause 16 Financial management obligations of Administrator
Requires the Administrator to develop and apply appropriate
financial management policies and procedures, keep proper
records and prepare financial statements.
Clause 17 Monthly reports by Administrator
Requires the Administrator to provide to Commonwealth and
the Minister for Health or their appointee monthly reports on
payments into and out of the State Pool Account and State
Managed Fund and on related public hospital activity levels
during the relevant month. The reports are to be made publicly
available.
Clause 18 Annual report by Administrator
Requires that within four months of the end of the financial year
the Administrator will provide and publish an annual report,
including information on payments into and out of the State Pool
Account and State Managed Fund and on related public hospital
activity levels during the relevant financial year. The annual
report is to be accompanied by an audited financial statement
for each State Pool Account and a financial statement that
combines the audited financial statements for each State Pool
Account. The annual report is then be tabled in Parliament by
the Minister for Health.
Clause 19 Administrator to prepare financial statements for State
Pool Accounts
Provides that after each financial year, the Administrator is to
prepare a financial statement for each State Pool Account and a
combined financial statement consisting of the financial
statements for each State Pool Account.
Clause 20 Audit of financial statements
Requires the financial statements for the State Pool Account to
be audited by the State's Auditor-General.
Clause 21 Performance audits
Allows the State's Auditor-General to carry out a performance
audit of the exercise or performance of the Administrator's
functions relating to Tasmania. If the Auditor-General plans an
audit, he must notify all other Auditors-General of this intention,
in order to allow other Auditors-General wishing to conduct an
audit at the same time to coordinate the conduct of the audits.
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Clause 22 States to provide Administrator with information about
State Managed Funds
As the Administrator is required to report on State Managed
Funds which they will not operate, this clause requires the
Minister to provide information to the Administrator about
payments into and out of the State Managed Fund and the
services and function they funded, that is required to allow the
Administrator to meet his or her reporting requirements.
Clause 23 Provision of information generally
The Administrator must provide to the Minister any information
requested by the Minister in the time set by the Minister, and
must also provide to the Minister a copy of advice provided to
the Commonwealth Treasurer under clause 10(1)(a) on amounts
required to be paid into State Pool Accounts by the
Commonwealth. The Administrator may at any time provide
information relating to a jurisdiction to the Minister for the
jurisdiction. Information relating to a jurisdiction that is made
available by the Administrator to another jurisdiction may only
be publicly released by the second jurisdiction in accordance
with arrangements approved by the Minister for the first
jurisdiction.
Clause 24 Exclusion of legislation of this jurisdiction
Provides that certain Tasmanian legislation does not apply to or
in respect of the Administrator or the Administrator's functions.
This reflects the requirement of clause 28(g) of the NHRA.
Instead, the Commonwealth legislation specified in clause 25 will
apply. This ensures a nationally consistent basis for the
Administrator to exercise his or her functions.
This clause also allows the Minister or their delegate to use and
disclose information about a person if it relates to a
performance or exercise of a function under this Bill by either
the Minister or the Administrator. This is to ensure that the
Minister can comply with clause A8 of the NHRA relating to the
provision of information to the National Bodies set up under the
Agreement.
This clause also provides that certain legislation does not apply
to or in respect of this Bill.
Clause 25 Application of Commonwealth Acts
Provides that the Commonwealth Archives Act 1983, Australian
Information Commissioner Act 2010, Freedom of Information Act
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1982, Ombudsman Act 1976 and Privacy Act 1998 will be applied
as laws of this jurisdiction to or in respect of the Administrator
and any function exercised or performed by the Administrator.
The clause provides these Acts apply subject to any
modifications made by regulations under the Commonwealth
National Health Reform Act 2011 by the Commonwealth with the
agreement of all the members of the Standing Council on Health.
This is required to enable Commonwealth oversight bodies to
operate in respect of the Administrator and any function
exercised or performed by the Administrator.
Clause 26 Extraterritorial operation of Act
Provides that the operation of this Bill is to include the
operation of things, acts, transactions and matters situated or
occurring inside or outside the territorial limits of Tasmania;
including things, acts, transactions and matters that would, apart
from this Act, be governed or otherwise affected by the law of
another jurisdiction. This reflects that the Administrator will
operate in each state and territory and for the Commonwealth.
Clause 27 Act binds Crown
Provides that the Tasmanian Government is bound by this
legislation.
Clause 28 Delegation of functions of responsible Minister
Enables the Minister to delegate his or her powers under this
Bill, with the exception of clauses 4 to 10 of this Bill, relating to
the office of the Administrator, including appointment,
suspension or removal of the Administrator.
Clause 29 Transitional and validation provisions
Provides that if, following the commencement of this Bill,
another jurisdiction has not enacted corresponding legislation,
that jurisdiction's Minister for Health will be that jurisdiction's
responsible Minister for the purposes of this Bill. Anything done
by a Minister for Health that would have been validly done had
the corresponding legislation of other jurisdiction been in place
is taken to have been validly done.
Clause 30 Administration of Act
Provides that administration of this Bill is assigned to the
Minister for Health with the Department of Health and Human
Services being the responsible department.
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