Chapter IV: Finance and Trade

81. All revenues or moneys raised or received by the Executive
Government of the Commonwealth shall form one Consolidated
Revenue Fund, to be appropriated for the purposes of the
Commonwealth in the manner and subject to the charges and
liabilities imposed by this Constitution.

82. The costs, charges, and expenses incident to the
collection, management, and receipt of the Consolidated
Revenue Fund shall form the first charge thereon; and the
revenue of the Commonwealth shall in the first instance be
applied to the payment of the expenditure of the Commonwealth.

83. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury of the
Commonwealth except under appropriation made by law. But until
the expiration of one month after the first meeting of the
Parliament the Governor-General in Council may draw from the
Treasury and expend such moneys as may be necessary for the
maintenance of any department transferred to the Commonwealth
and for the holding of the first elections for the Parliament.

84. When any department of the public service of a State
becomes transferred to the Commonwealth, all officers of the
department shall become subject to the control of the
Executive Government of the Commonwealth. Any such officer who
is not retained in the service of the Commonwealth shall,
unless he is appointed to some other' office of equal
emolument in the public service of the State, be entitled to
receive from the State any pension, gratuity, or other
compensation, payable under the law of the State on the
abolition of his office. Any such officer who is retained in
the service of the Commonwealth shall preserve all his
existing and accruing rights, and shall be entitled to retire
from office at the time, and on the pension or retiring
allowance, which would be permitted by the law of the State if
his service with the Commonwealth were a continuation of his
service with the State. Such pension or retiring allowance
shall be paid to him by the Commonwealth: but the State shall
pay to the Commonwealth a part thereof, to be calculated on
the proportion which his term of service with the State bears
to his whole term of service, and for the purpose of the
calculation his salary shall be taken to be that paid to him
by the State at the time of the transfer. Any officer who is,
at the establishment of the Commonwealth, in the public
service of a State, and who is, by consent of the Governor of
the State with the advice of the Executive Council thereof,
transferred to the public service of the Commonwealth, shall
have the same rights as if he had been an officer of a
department transferred to the Commonwealth and were retained
in the service of the Commonwealth.

85. When any department of the public service of a State is
transferred to the Commonwealth—

(i.) All property of the State of any kind, used exclusively
in connexion with the department, shall become vested in the
Commonwealth; but, in the case of the departments controlling
customs and excise and bounties, for such time only as the
Governor-General in Council may declare to be necessary:

(ii.) The Commonwealth may acquire any property of the State,
of any kind used, but not exclusively used in connexion with
the department: the value thereof shall, if no agreement can
be made, be ascertained in, as nearly as may be, the manner in
which the value of land, or of an interest in land, taken by
the State for public purposes is ascertained under the law of
the State in force at the establishment of the Commonwealth:

(iii.) The Commonwealth shall compensate the State for the
value of any property passing to the Commonwealth under this
section; if no agreement can be made as to the mode of
compensation, it shall be determined under laws to be made by
the Parliament:

(iv.) The Commonwealth shall, at the date of the transfer,
assume the current obligations of the State in respect of the
department transferred.

86. On the establishment of the Commonwealth, the collection
and control of duties of customs and of excise, and the
control of the payment of bounties, shall pass to the
Executive Government of the Commonwealth.

87. During a period of ten years after the establishment of
the Commonwealth and thereafter until the Parliament otherwise
provides, of the net revenue of the Commonwealth from duties
of customs and of excise not more than one-fourth shall be
applied annually by the Commonwealth towards its expenditure.
The balance shall, in accordance with this Constitution, be
paid to the several States, or applied towards the payment of
interest on debts of the several States taken over by the
Commonwealth.

88. Uniform duties of customs shall be imposed within two
years after the establishment of the Commonwealth.

89. Until the imposition of uniform duties of customs—

(i.) The Commonwealth shall credit to each State the revenues
collected therein by the Commonwealth.

(ii.) The Commonwealth shall debit to each State—

(_a_) The expenditure therein of the Commonwealth
incurred solely for the maintenance or continuance, as at
the time of transfer, of any department transferred from
the State to the Commonwealth;

(_b_) The proportion of the State, according to the
number of its people, in the other expenditure of the
Commonwealth.

(iii.) The Commonwealth shall pay to each State month by month
the balance (if any) in favour of the State.

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90. On the imposition of uniform duties of customs the power
of the Parliament to impose duties of customs and of excise,
and to grant bounties on the production or export of goods,
shall become exclusive. On the imposition of uniform duties of
customs all laws of the several States imposing duties of customs
or of excise, or offering bounties on the production or export
of goods, shall cease to have effect, but any grant of or
agreement for any such bounty lawfully made by or under the
authority of the Government of any State shall be taken to be
good if made before the thirtieth day of June, one thousand
eight hundred and ninety-eight, and not otherwise.

91. Nothing in this Constitution prohibits a State from
granting any aid to or bounty on mining for gold, silver, or
other metals, nor from granting, with the consent of both
Houses of the Parliament of the Commonwealth expressed by
resolution, any aid to or bounty on the production or export
of goods.

92. On the imposition of uniform duties of customs, trade,
commerce, and intercourse among the States, whether by means
of internal carriage or ocean navigation, shall be absolutely
free. But notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, goods
imported before the imposition of uniform duties of customs
into any State, or into any Colony which, whilst the goods
remain therein, becomes a State, shall, on thence passing into
another State within two years after the imposition of such
duties, be liable to any duty chargeable on the importation of
such goods into the Commonwealth, less any duty paid in
respect of the goods on their importation.

93. During the first five years after the imposition of
uniform duties of customs, and thereafter until the Parliament
otherwise provides—

(i.) The duties of customs chargeable on goods imported into a
State and afterwards passing into another State for
consumption, and the duties of excise paid on goods produced
or manufactured in a State and afterwards passing into another
State for consumption, shall be taken to have been collected
not in the former but in the latter State:

(ii.) Subject to the last subsection, the Commonwealth shall
credit revenue, debit expenditure, and pay balances to the
several States as prescribed for the period preceding the
imposition of uniform duties of customs.

94. After five years from the imposition of uniform duties of
customs, the Parliament may provide, on such basis as it deems
fair, for the monthly payment to the several States of all
surplus revenue of the Commonwealth.

95. Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, the
Parliament of the State of Western Australia, if that State be
an Original State, may, during the first five years after the
imposition of uniform duties of customs, impose duties of
customs on goods passing into that State and not originally
imported from beyond the limits of the Commonwealth; and such
duties shall be collected by the Commonwealth. But any duty so
imposed on any goods shall not exceed during the first of such
years the duty chargeable on the goods under the law of
Western Australia in force at the imposition of uniform
duties, and shall not exceed during the second, third, fourth,
and fifth of such years respectively, four-fifths, three-fifths,
two-fifths, and one-fifth of such latter duty, and all duties
imposed under this section shall cease at the expiration of
the fifth year after the imposition of uniform duties. If at
any time during the five years the duty on any goods under
this section is higher than the duty imposed by the
Commonwealth on the importation of the like goods, then such
higher duty shall be collected on the goods when imported into
Western Australia from beyond the limits of the Commonwealth.

96. During a period of ten years after the establishment of
the Commonwealth and thereafter until the Parliament otherwise
provides, the Parliament may grant financial assistance to any
State on such terms and conditions as the Parliament thinks
fit.

97. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the laws in force
in any Colony which has become or becomes a State with respect
to the receipt of revenue and the expenditure of money on
account of the Government of the Colony, and the review and
audit of such receipt and expenditure, shall apply to the
receipt of revenue and the expenditure of money on account of
the Commonwealth in the State in the same manner as if the
Commonwealth, or the Government or an officer of the
Commonwealth, were mentioned whenever the Colony, or the
Government or an officer of the Colony, is mentioned.

98. The power of the Parliament to make laws with respect to
trade and commerce extends to navigation and shipping, and to
railways the property of any State.

99. The Commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of
trade, commerce, or revenue, give preference to one State or
any part thereof over another State or any part thereof.

100. The Commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of
trade or commerce, abridge the right of a State or of the
residents therein to the reasonable use of the waters of
rivers for conservation or irrigation.

101. There shall be an Inter-State Commission, with such
powers of adjudication and administration as the Parliament
deems necessary for the execution and maintenance, within the
Commonwealth, of the provisions of this Constitution relating
to trade and commerce, and of all laws made thereunder.

102. The Parliament may by any law with respect to trade or
commerce forbid, as to railways, any preference or
discrimination by any State, or by any authority constituted
under a State, if such preference or discrimination is undue
and unreasonable, or unjust to any State; due regard being had
to the financial responsibilities incurred by any State in
connexion with the construction and maintenance of its
railways. But no preference or discrimination shall, within
the meaning of this section, be taken to be undue and
unreasonable, or unjust to any State, unless so adjudged by
the Inter-State Commission.

103. The members of the Inter-State Commission—

(i.) Shall be appointed by the Governor-General in Council:

(ii.) Shall hold office for seven years, but may be removed
within that time by the Governor-General in Council, on an
address from both Houses of the Parliament in the same session
praying for such removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour
or incapacity:

(iii.) Shall receive such remuneration as the Parliament may
fix; but such remuneration shall not be diminished during
their continuance in office.

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104. Nothing in this Constitution shall render unlawful any
rate for the carriage of goods upon a railway, the property of
a State, if the rate is deemed by the Inter-State Commission
to be necessary for the development of the territory of the
State, and if the rate applies equally to goods within the
State and to goods passing into the State from other States.

105. The Parliament may take over from the States their public
debts as existing at the establishment of the Commonwealth, or
a proportion thereof according to the respective numbers of
their people as shown by the latest statistics of the
Commonwealth, and may convert, renew, or consolidate such
debts, or any part thereof; and the States shall indemnify the
Commonwealth in respect of the debts taken over, and
thereafter the interest payable in respect of the debts shall
be deducted and retained from the portions of the surplus
revenue of the Commonwealth payable to the several States, or
if such surplus is insufficient, or if there is no surplus,
then the deficiency or the whole amount shall be paid by the
several States.