Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Supply (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2022-2023 provides appropriations for broadly the last seven months of the financial year for the operations of the Department of the Senate, the Department of the House of Representatives, the Department of Parliamentary Services and the Parliamentary Budget Office. The bill seeks approval for appropriations from consolidated revenue of approximately $155 million. The appropriations proposed in this bill provide an estimated seven-twelfths of the 2022-23 annual appropriations, which are broadly based on the March 2022 budget estimates.

The bill must be passed in this sitting week to provide certainty of supply for the parliamentary departments for the remainder of the 2022-23 financial year, thereby ensuring the continuity of the parliament's operations. As with the other additional 2022-23 supply bills, I emphasise that this bill seeks only to provide funding for the ongoing business of government for the remainder of the financial year. Therefore, no new decisions taken in this October budget are included in this bill. This arrangement enables conventional parliamentary processes, which I have described in earlier debates, to occur prior to the enactment of the October 2022 budget appropriation bills by the parliament. The details of the proposed expenditure are set out in the schedule to the bill, the explanatory memorandum and the updated 2022-23 portfolio budget statements tabled in relation to the October 2022 budget. I commend the bill to the chamber.

Debate adjourned.

Leave granted for second reading debate to resume at a later hour this day.