Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to advise that Labor—regrettably, Senator Leyonhjelm—will not be supporting the amendments as circulated in the chamber. This issue goes to the classification of appropriation items that constitute the ordinary annual services of government, which was worked through in 1965 in the form of a Senate executive compact. In 1999, it was agreed that new administered expenses that fell within an existing outcome would be included in Appropriation Bill No. 1 and therefore, by implication, be considered the ordinary annual services of government. Appropriation bills have been prepared according to this principle since 1999, and outcome structures are the basis and the point of appropriations. Therefore, new policies that sit within them can be funded from Appropriation Bill (No. 1) and Appropriation Bill (No. 3). For that principled reason and policy reason, Labor will not be supporting these amendments.