Introduction

The purpose of Budget Paper No. 4 is to provide a whole‑of‑government view of appropriations required by entities in the Budget year and their estimated staffing, expenses and net capital investment.¹ The Paper contains three parts with tables of information as follows:

1. Agency resourcing — Appropriations required by Agencies
   1.1 Total resourcing by source of appropriation
   1.2 Estimated expenditure from special appropriations (other than special accounts)
   1.3 Estimated cash flows and balances for special accounts
2. Staffing of Agencies
3. Expenses and net capital investment
   3.1 Departmental expenses by Agency
   3.2 Net capital investment by Agency

Parts 2 and 3 are tables of information that were contained in Budget Paper No. 1 Statement 6 in prior year Budgets. They are now provided as part of Budget Paper No. 4 to bring together key entity level information.²

Information is contained in tables organised by portfolio and then by entity, providing estimates for the Budget year and previous year.

Machinery of government changes

The Administrative Arrangements Order (AAO) on 18 September 2013 resulted in various machinery of government (MoG) changes. The Departments of State abolished were the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations; the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport; and the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism. Departments of State established were the Department of Education and the Department of Employment. Departments of State in the first column below were renamed to those listed in the second column:

Before 18 September 2013	From 18 September 2013
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry	Department of Agriculture
Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy	Department of Communications
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities	Department of the Environment
Department of Infrastructure and Transport	Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development
Department of Finance and Deregulation	Department of Finance
Department of Health and Ageing	Department of Health
Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs	Department of Social Services
Department of Immigration and Citizenship	Department of Immigration and Border Protection
Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education	Department of Industry

These MoG changes resulted in the transfer of legislative responsibility and related functions from previous Departments to those newly established or renamed. The MoG changes also resulted in the transfer of legislative responsibility and related functions between various agencies. Full details of the MoG changes as expressed in the 18 September AAO (and the amending AAOs of 3 October 2013 and 12 December 2013) can be found at: http://www.dpmc.gov.au/parliamentary/index.cfm.

Footnotes and explanatory notes are used to reference and explain the effects of the various transfers of function and related resourcing.

Resource management reforms

On 1 July 2014, the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act) is expected to replace the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 and the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997 as the Commonwealth's primary resource management legislation.

Public resource management under the PGPA Act represents a cultural change from a compliance approach to a principles based framework. Commonwealth entities are encouraged to consider how they manage resources, based on the following principles:

• government should operate as a coherent whole;
• a uniform set of duties should apply to all resources handled by entities;
• performance of the public sector is more than financial; and
• engaging with risk is a necessary step in improving performance.

The Budget materials have been prepared by reference to existing legislation and frameworks. Transitional legislation, anticipated to be introduced in the Budget sittings, will address any changes required to implement the PGPA Act.

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1 References to 'entity' in Budget Paper No.4 are references to agencies under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, bodies under the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997, and the High Court of Australia.

2 The Portfolio Budget Statements (PB Statements) provide further details of the estimated payments under each of the annual Appropriation Bills and other legislation providing appropriations. Agencies report against the approved list of outcomes and programmes for which they are responsible. They also provide details of estimated receipts from other sources, including taxation, customs, excise and receipts from fees and charges collected by entities. Agencies also include their programmes' objectives; financial and non-financial performance, including deliverables; and key performance indicators for each programme.