Foreword
Budget Paper No. 3, Australia's Federal Relations 2009‑10, is one of a series of Budget Papers that provides information to supplement the Budget Speech. A full list of the series is printed on the inside cover of this paper.
This Budget Paper presents information on the Commonwealth's financial relations with State, Territory and local governments. This includes an overview of the new framework for federal financial relations and its role in assisting the Council of Australian Governments to respond to the global recession and drive longer-term reforms, as well as information on payments to the States and analysis of fiscal developments in the public sector.
Notes
This paper uses the following style conventions.
The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory of Australia are referred to as 'the Territories'. References to the 'States' or 'each State' include the State governments and Territory governments.
The State and local government sector is denoted as the 'State/local sector'. References to the 'State/local sector' include the Territory governments unless otherwise stated.
Local governments are instrumentalities of State governments. Consequently, payments made to the State government sector include payments made to the local government sector unless otherwise specified.
'Budget year' refers to 2009‑10, while the 'forward years' refer to 2010‑11, 2011‑12 and 2012‑13.
Figures in tables and the text have generally been rounded. Discrepancies in tables between totals and sums of components reflect rounding unless otherwise noted. Percentage changes in tables are based on the underlying unrounded amounts.
One billion is equal to one thousand million.
Estimates of $100,000 and over are generally rounded to the nearest tenth of a million.
Estimates midway between rounding points are rounded up.
Tables use the following notations:
- na
- not applicable
- 0
- zero
- -
- nil
- *
- unquantifiable
- ..
- not zero, but rounded to zero
- ~
- allocation not yet determined
- $m
- $ million
- $b
- $ billion
The following abbreviations are used, where appropriate:
- NSW
- New South Wales
- VIC
- Victoria
- QLD
- Queensland
- WA
- Western Australia
- SA
- South Australia
- TAS
- Tasmania
- ACT
- Australian Capital Territory
- NT
- Northern Territory
- BBA
- Budget balancing assistance
- GMA
- Guaranteed minimum amount
- GST
- Goods and services tax
The term 'Commonwealth' refers to the Commonwealth of Australia. The term is used when referring to the legal entity of the Commonwealth of Australia.
The term 'Australian Government' is used when referring to the Government of, and the decisions and activities made by the Government on behalf of, the Commonwealth of Australia.
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