The Estimates contain requests from Vote Ministers for appropriations.  An appropriation provides a Vote Minister with authority to incur expenditure, expenses or liabilities.  It establishes the maximum expense, liability or expenditure that can be incurred.

The Public Finance Act 1989 requires that the Estimates be laid before the House of Representatives.  They accompany the Appropriation (1998/99 Estimates) Bill, which is the first Appropriation Bill relating to 1998/99 financial year.  The examination and debate of appropriations is an important way by which the House of Representatives scrutinises the Government’s operational and investing activities.

To facilitate examination of the appropriations sought, the Estimates provide Members of Parliament with details about the:

• objectives for each Vote
• trends in each Vote over the six years up to and including 1998/99
• expenditure, expenses and liabilities proposed by each Vote Minister
• specification of the outputs to be purchased by the Vote Minister
• net worth of departments, Crown entities and State-owned enterprises
• revenue and receipts to be received by the Crown associated with each Vote.