Revised Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Finance, Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann)NOTES ON SCHEDULE 1
Part 1-2 - Definitions
Division 2 - The Dictionary
Section 8: The Dictionary
37. Items 1 to 7 would insert new definitions for terms that appear in the Bill or have not been properly recognised in the PGPA Act. Key amendments to definitions are explained below.
38. Item 1 would include a reference to a definition for "bankable money" that would be incorporated into proposed amendments to subsection 55(2) of the PGPA Act ( Item 39 refers).
39. Item 1 would also include a reference to a definition of "controls" in subsection 89(2), which sets out the circumstances in which the Commonwealth controls a Commonwealth company.
40. Item 2 would amend the definition of "Department of State" to remove the reference to "ordinary meaning" and reflect the fact that it is intended to have the same meaning as the term that appears in section 64 of the Constitution. Amendments would also allow a body to be recognised as part of a Department through an Act or the PGPA rules, and for single persons, for example statutory officers, to form part of the Department of State.
41. Item 3 would amend the existing definition for "listed entity" to clarify which entities are covered by the definition. Listing an entity that would otherwise form part of a Department of State allows that entity to be formally recognised as a separate Commonwealth entity for PGPA purposes. For example, if the Defence Material Organisation was not a listed entity, it would form part of the Department of Defence for the purposes of the PGPA Act.
42. The definition of listed entity would be amended to ensure that an Act may prescribe an entity to be a listed entity. This would be in addition to the existing mechanism for the PGPA rules to prescribe entities as listed entities, which is consistent with current practice under the FMA Regulations.
43. Item 4 would involve a technical amendment to expand the meaning of official to cover additional subsections proposed for section 13 of the Act ( Item 14 refers).
44. Item 5 would amend the definition of "Parliamentary Department" to recognise that it includes any body, person, group of persons or organisation that is prescribed by an Act or the rules.
45. Item 6 would correct a printing error in the current version of the PGPA Act. The proposed amendment seeks to omit the wording "subsidiary of a Commonwealth entity" and substitute this with "subsidiary of a corporate Commonwealth entity".
46. Item 7 would amend the definition of special account to omit the words, "any other" and substitute them with the word "an", which is consistent with the words proposed for section 80 of the PGPA Act ( Item 60 refers).