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.

This bill is part of the supply bills package proposing appropriations to facilitate the ongoing business of government from 1 July 2025.

Similar to the previous supply bill, this bill would provide most government entities approximately five-twelfths of their 2025-26 appropriation estimates to ensure the continuity of government programs and Commonwealth's ability to meet its obligations during the first five months of financial year 2025-26.

The appropriations proposed in this bill are broadly based on five-twelfths of the 2024-25 estimates, adjusted for economic and program-specific parameters and other estimate variations.

Where necessary, appropriation allocations are higher for entities which have uneven expenditure early in the financial year or may need to be able to respond flexibly to service delivery requirements.

Supply Bill (No. 2) seeks appropriations of $10.9 billion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund to fund services that are not the ordinary services of government, such as capital works, equity injections and payments to states, territories and local governments. Supply bill funding is provided on an interim basis until the 2025-26 budget appropriation bills have passed.

This bill contains an advance to the finance minister (AFM) provision of $600 million to provide the government with capacity to allocate additional funding for urgent and unforeseen expenditure. This provision is equivalent to the last financial year.

The bill also contains debit limits for 2025-26 for general purpose financial assistance and national partnership payments that may be made under the Federal Financial Relations Act. These debit limits are included for the full year so that agreements with other governments can be established with certainty and are unchanged from 2024-25.

Details of the proposed expenditures are set out in the schedule to the bill, the explanatory memorandum and the tabled 2025-26 portfolio budget statements.

I commend the bill to the chamber.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with the resolution agreed to earlier, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate is made an order of the day for a later hour.