2012-13 Government Mid-year Financial Projections Statement

APPENDIX 3Major Spending Changes SinceBudgetThis appendix provides details of material changes in general government expenses andtotal public sector infrastructure spending since the 2012-13 Budget. The portfoliodisclosures in this appendix are consistent with arrangements at the time of the mid-yearreview cut-off date.Spending changes detailed in this appendix include:all material decisions made between the cut-off date for the 2012-13 Budget(7 May 2012) and the cut-off date for this mid-year review (10 December 2012); andother changes of a material nature affecting agency spending over the forwardestimates period 1 . These include the impact of issues such as variations inCommonwealth-funded programs, higher cost and demand for government services,depreciation, and the settlement of Enterprise Bargaining Agreements.Changes related purely to timing are not included in this appendix as they are broadly netdebt neutral across the forward estimates period. Any material timing changes arediscussed in Chapter 1.In September 2012, the Government approved a further round of corrective measures inresponse to the deterioration in the revenue outlook since the 2012-13 Budget.A summary of the sector-wide corrective measures is included in Chapter 1.1For general government expenses, materiality is determined in dollar terms. For example, adjustments to forecast recurrent costsfor the State’s largest Department, Health, are only included if they exceed $10 million in any one year. For agencies with anexpense base of less than $100 million per annum, any change in excess of $1 million is included. For changes in infrastructurespending, a change in annual spending in excess of 1% or $1 million in a year (whichever is larger) is considered material for thepurposes of disclosure in this appendix.101