Government Financial Responsibility Act 2000

The Treasurer is to release a Government Financial Projections Statement when the appropriation Bills and budget papers for a budget or supplementary budget are tabled in the Legislative Assembly.

A Government Financial Projections Statement is to include the following —

financial projections for the Government for the budget year and the 3 following financial years;

an account of the economic and other assumptions on which the financial projections are based;

an explanation of the implications of the financial projections for meeting the financial targets set out in the most recently released Government Financial Strategy Statement;

an analysis of the degree to which the financial projections are likely to be affected by changes in the circumstances on which the economic and other assumptions are based;

a statement of any risks, quantified as far as practicable, that could materially affect the financial projections, including particulars of any contingent liabilities and any government negotiations that have not been finalized;

a certificate by the Under Treasurer under subsection (8).

When preparing a Government Financial Projections Statement, the Under Treasurer is to take account of the following —

the implications of all relevant decisions that were taken by the Government before the budget planning cut‑off date and that were known to the Under Treasurer on or before that date;

any other information that could have a material effect on the financial projections and that was available to the Under Treasurer on or before the budget planning cut‑off date.

When the Treasurer is satisfied that the budget planning process has been completed for a budget year, the Treasurer is to notify the Under Treasurer to that effect.

On or before the budget planning cut‑off date, the Treasurer must give the Under Treasurer all available information about government decisions taken before that date —

that has or could have material financial or economic implications relevant to preparing the Government Financial Projections Statement; and

that the Under Treasurer could not reasonably be expected to have already.

The Government Financial Projections Statement does not have to include commercially confidential information.

If information that is otherwise required to be included in a Government Financial Projections Statement is excluded because of subsection (6), the statement must contain a general description of the excluded information.

The Under Treasurer is to certify to the effect that —

the financial projections, and the economic forecasts and assumptions, in the Government Financial Projections Statement were prepared by the Under Treasurer;

the statement takes account of all relevant information available to the Under Treasurer on the budget planning cut‑off date;

the statement sets out the implications of all relevant decisions that were known to the Under Treasurer on that date; and

the economic assumptions on which the financial projections in the statement are based were finalized on the date set out in the certificate.