The Commonwealth Grants Commission is an Australian independent statutory body that advises the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

on financial assistance to the

states and territories of Australia The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereignty, sovereign, administrative divisions that are autonomous administrative division, self-governing polity, ...

under section 96 of the Australian Constitution. The commission was established in July 1933 by the

Lyons government The Lyons government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Joseph Lyons. It was made up of members of the United Australia Party in the Australian Parliament from January 1932 until the death of Joseph Lyons in ...

during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

to provide impartial advice on the distribution of federal government grants to the states. The commission operates under the ''Commonwealth Grants Commission Act 1973'', and is responsible for measuring the relative fiscal capacity of each state and territory. The Commission recommends how the revenues raised from the goods and services tax (GST) should be distributed to each state and territory to achieve horizontal fiscal equalisation, a central feature of the Australian federation.

References to Commission

The Commission responds to a reference from the Australian Treasurer, which are generally requests for calculating appropriate ratios of

per capita ''Per capita'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "by heads" or "for each head", and idiomatically used to mean "per person". Social statistics The term is used in a wide variety of social science, social sciences and statistical research conte ...

grants for distributing general revenue assistance from the Australian government to the states and territories. The details of these references are usually negotiated between the Commonwealth, state and territory treasury departments before being formally issued by the Treasurer. The Commission reports to the Australian government and then provides copies to the states and territories. The recommendations are then considered at the annual meetings of the Treasurers of the Commonwealth, states and territories. On 31 March 2016, the commission received a reference to inquire into and report by 7 April 2016 on the per capita relativities to be used to distribute GST revenue among the states and the territories in 2016–17. Every five years, the Commission undertakes a review of the methodology underlying the commission's advice to the government on the relative fiscal capacity of each state and territory. The last reference was given on 29 November 2016 and the review was completed in March 2020.2020 Review - Terms of Reference
/ref> The purpose of reviews is to determine the most appropriate methods and data for measuring the relative fiscal capacity of states and territories.

References

External links

Official site
Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia Government agencies established in 1933 Government finances in Australia 1933 establishments in Australia {{Australia-gov-stub

References to Commission

See also

References

External links