Released by the Department of Finance
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
FOI 23-24/034 - Document 1
1
Released by the Department of Finance
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Official: Sensitive: Legal
FOI 23-24/034 - Document 1
Act of Grace Process
10. Section 65 of the PGPA Act provides that the Finance Minister, or their authorised delegate,
may authorise an act of grace payment where it is considered appropriate to do so due to special
circumstances. You are a delegate for this purpose (Accountable Authority Instructions refer).
11.
Resource Management Guide No. 401 – Requests for discretionary financial assistance under
the PGPA Act 2013 (
RMG 401) provides guidance on situations where an act of grace payment
may be appropriate for a delegate to approve.
12. Some of the relevant considerations, which have been addressed in detail in the reasons,
include whether:
a.
An act of a non-corporate Commonwealth entity (
NCE) has caused an unintended and
inequitable result.
b. Commonwealth legislation or policy has had an unacceptable impact.
c.
The Commonwealth intends to introduce legislation or policy to cover this matter, and
it would be desirable to apply the benefits of this prospectively.
CDDA Scheme
13. ASIC may not be able to consider claims of defective administration under the
Scheme for
Compensation for Detriment caused by Defective Administration (
CDDA Scheme) due to a
conflict in its enabling legislation.
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15. Notwithstanding this, whether the Minister, or an ASIC delegate, can, or cannot, consider a
CDDA Scheme request because of portfolio enabling legislation is ultimately considered a matter
for Treasury and ASIC as the responsible entities (and not Finance as policy owners of the CDDA
Scheme). Furthermore, as there is no legal impediment to Finance considering these requests
under the act of grace mechanism, Finance has proceeded on this basis.
Consultation:
16. Treasury, ASIC and the Australia Taxation Office (ATO) were consulted in relation to this
matter:
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Released by the Department of Finance
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FOI 23-24/034 - Document 1
s47E
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s22
Discretionary Payments Section
Significant Matters Taskforce
1 October 2021
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