attachment e
Supplementary expense and capital tables and the contingency reserve
Expenses
Table 18 shows estimates of general government expenses for 2001-02 and the forward years.
Table 18:  Estimates of general government expenses

Table 19:  General government expenses by function

Table 19:  General government expenses by function (continued)

(a)	Incorporates an $850 million provision for estimated underspends in 2001–02.

Contingency Reserve
The Contingency Reserve is an allowance, included in aggregate expenses figuring, to reflect anticipated events that cannot be assigned to individual programmes in the preparation of the Commonwealth budget estimates. The reserve is an estimating device used to ensure that the budget estimates are based on the best information available at the time of the MYEFO. It is not a policy reserve.
While the reserve ensures that aggregate estimates are as close as possible to expected outcomes, it is not appropriated. Allowances that are included in the reserve can only be drawn upon once they have been appropriated by Parliament.
The Contingency Reserve makes allowance in 2001–02 and the forward years for anticipated events, including the following:
•	an allowance for the tendency for estimates of expenses for existing government policy to be revised upwards in the forward years;
•	an allowance for the tendency for the estimates of administered expenses for some specific agencies or functions to be overstated in the budget year;
•	commercial-in-confidence and national security-in-confidence items that cannot be disclosed separately;
•	decisions made too late for inclusion against individual agency estimates; and
•	the effect on the budget and forward estimates of economic parameter revisions received late in the process and hence not able to be allocated to individual agencies or functions.