Now lawDemocracy & Government Introduced in the House of Representatives, 05 Feb 2026

Two Parliament departments got extra money for 2025-26

This mid-year law tops up the budgets of two of Parliament's own departments. It also refills a small emergency pot that the leaders of each house can use.

Official name: Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026

Who it affects

• The Department of the House of Representatives: It supports the House of Representatives, the larger house of Parliament. It gets extra money for the rest of the 2025-26 year.
• The Department of Parliamentary Services: It runs Parliament House. It gets extra money for the rest of the 2025-26 year.
• The Senate President and the Speaker: They run the two houses of Parliament. Their emergency top-up limits go back to full once this law starts.
• Everyday Australians: Nothing changes for you directly. But this is part of the money that keeps Parliament running.

Parliament's departments needed more money

The government cannot spend public money unless Parliament agrees. All tax and other income goes into one big pot. It is called the Consolidated Revenue Fund. A law must say how much comes out and what it is for.

Parliament has its own departments. These are the offices that run it. They got their 2025-26 money from two earlier laws.

One was a short stopgap called a Supply Act. The other was the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Act (No. 1) 2025-2026. An appropriation is money Parliament lets the government spend.

Plans change during the year. So around February, the government brings in a second round of spending bills. They pay for choices made since the Budget. This bill is the one for Parliament's departments.

Two other bills come with it. One covers the normal yearly running of government. The other covers other spending.

The Constitution is Australia's founding rule book. It says normal running costs must sit in a bill of their own.

Only two departments paid

Parliament has four departments. Only two get extra money from this bill.

The first is the Department of the House of Representatives. It helps the House and its members. The second is the Department of Parliamentary Services. It runs Parliament House.

The Department of the Senate gets nothing new from this bill. Nor does the Parliamentary Budget Office, which works out what policies would cost for MPs.

The amounts sit in a table at the back of the bill. The details are in the mid-year budget papers.

What the words mean

The first part explains the words in the bill. It says the budget papers can be used to work out what the law means.

It also covers money moving between two parts of the government. No cash leaves the pot when that happens. The bill still counts it as a real payment, so the spending can be seen.

Four kinds of spending

The first kind pays for a department's own costs. That means staff, suppliers and equipment worth $10 million or less. A department can move this money between its goals.

The second kind is spent for the government, such as grants. It is tied to one goal. A third kind pays for things the government owns and debts it owes.

The last kind pays for big items worth more than $10 million. That could be a new building or a large computer system. It can also pay off old debts.

Say Parliament House needs to replace a big system part way through the year. Money for that would come through this last kind of spending.

Emergency pot refilled

Each house of Parliament has a leader. The President runs the Senate. The Speaker runs the House.

The earlier law gave each of them an emergency pot. It lets them add money for urgent costs that were missed or not expected.

The limits are $300,000 each for three of the departments. These are the Department of the Senate, the Department of the House of Representatives and the Parliamentary Budget Office. The Department of Parliamentary Services can get up to $1 million.

The government's notes name the COVID-19 pandemic as the kind of strain this pot is for.

This bill puts those limits back to full once it starts, however much was used before. That leaves room for urgent needs until the end of June 2026.

It also stops the same cost being paid twice. Say this bill gives $1 million to a program. And say $200,000 was already handed out from the emergency pot for it. The bill's amount then drops to $800,000. It can never drop below zero.

Special accounts and end date

Some money is kept in separate funds, each set aside for one job. If a spending line has the same goal as one of these funds, the money can be moved into it.

The money is set aside in law from the day the law starts. Amounts can shift when work moves between departments. They can also shift when GST, the 10 per cent tax on most goods and services, is paid back.

The law switches itself off at the start of 1 July 2028.

Start date

The bill was put to the House of Representatives on 5 February 2026. MPs debated it through February and March. The House passed it on 24 March 2026.

The Senate, the second house of Parliament, got it on 25 March 2026. It passed the bill the next day.

The Governor-General is the King's stand-in in Australia. He or she signed it into law on 27 March 2026. It became Act No. 16 of 2026 and started that same day.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum

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