Government Finance Statistics, Australia

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Statistics about finances of the general government and public non-financial corporations sectors for the various levels of government in Australia

Reference period

June 2023

Released

5/09/2023

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Key statistics

In June quarter 2023:

general government net operating balance rose $25.8b to $32.5b
taxation revenue rose 23.7% to $224.0b
general government lending was $9.7b
total public demand is expected to contribute 0.5 ppt to the quarterly change in GDP

Unless indicated, all Government Finance Statistics figures presented in this publication are current prices, original series.

Included in this publication is an Insights into Government Finance Statistics, June 2023, which examines the key stories and economic narratives of the June quarter 2023 Government Finance Statistics data.

Government finance statistics measures

Government finance statistics measures
		Sep Qtr 2022	Dec Qtr 2022	Mar Qtr 2023	Jun Qtr 2023	Mar Qtr 2023 to Jun Qtr 2023
		$m	$m	$m	$m	% change
Taxation revenue
	General government	160,803	189,366	181,039	223,963	23.7%
Total revenue
	General government	200,683	229,223	223,708	266,436	19.1%
	Public non-financial corporations	26,663	25,184	27,362	28,343	3.6%
Total expenses
	General government	215,371	217,399	217,060	233,983	7.8%
	Public non-financial corporations	27,481	25,554	26,151	28,569	9.2%
GFS Net Operating Balance
	General government	-14,687	11,824	6,647	32,453	np
	Public non-financial corporations	-818	-370	1,211	-226	np
GFS Net Lending (+)/Borrowing (-)
	General government	-25,532	-1,455	-5,470	9,663	np
	Public non-financial corporations	-2,620	-4,839	-2,222	-5,707	np

np indicates this value not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated

Net operating balance of all levels of general government
	Revenue ($b)	Expenses ($b)	Net Operating Balance ($b)
Jun-22	234.2	-220.2	14.0
Sep-22	200.7	-215.4	-14.7
Dec-22	229.2	-217.4	11.8
Mar-23	223.7	-217.1	6.6
Jun-23	266.4	-234.0	32.5

Net operating balance of all levels of general government

["","Revenue","Expenses","Net Operating Balance"]

[["Jun-22","Sep-22","Dec-22","Mar-23","Jun-23"],[[234.19999999999999],[200.69999999999999],[229.19999999999999],[223.69999999999999],[266.39999999999998]],[[-220.19999999999999],[-215.40000000000001],[-217.40000000000001],[-217.09999999999999],[-234]],[[14],[-14.699999999999999],[11.800000000000001],[6.5999999999999996],[32.5]]]

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National accounts public sector measures

The table below includes the key public sector aggregates for June quarter 2023 which will be included in the Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product. The key figures shown include Total Public Demand, Government Final Consumption Expenditure for total general government and Gross Fixed Capital Formation for total general government and total public corporations, seasonally adjusted in current prices and chain volume terms.

The following are the seasonally adjusted chain volume measures based on the previous quarter (a):

public sector demand is expected to contribute 0.5 percentage points to the change in GDP in June quarter 2023
general government final consumption expenditure rose $442m (up 0.4%) and is expected to contribute 0.1 percentage points to the change in GDP in June quarter 2023
general government gross fixed capital formation rose $1,805m (up 8.3%)
public corporations gross fixed capital formation rose $575m (up 8.0%)
total public gross fixed capital formation rose $2,378m (up 8.2%) and is expected to contribute 0.4 percentage points to the change in GDP in June quarter 2023

Contributions may not be additive due to rounding

Quarterly national accounts public sector measures, seasonally adjusted
			Sep Qtr 2022	Dec Qtr 2022	Mar Qtr 2023	Jun Qtr 2023	Mar Qtr 2023 to Jun Qtr 2023
			$m	$m	$m	$m	% change
CURRENT PRICES
General government final consumption expenditure (b)
	National-defence		11,547	11,536	11,605	11,698	0.8
	National-non-defence		49,447	51,060	52,487	53,506	1.9
	Total national		60,994	62,596	64,093	65,204	1.7
	State and local		70,660	70,468	71,048	71,678	0.9
	Total general government final consumption expenditure		131,654	133,065	135,140	136,881	1.3
Public gross fixed capital formation
	General government
		National-defence	2,916	2,768	2,753	3,282	19.2
		National-non-defence	2,576	2,577	2,591	2,636	1.7
		Total national	5,492	5,345	5,344	5,918	10.7
		State and local	18,044	18,200	19,219	21,132	10.0
		Total general government	23,536	23,546	24,563	27,050	10.1
	Public corporations
		Commonwealth	1,908	2,126	2,051	2,318	13.0
		State and local	5,291	5,590	5,996	6,458	7.7
		Total public corporations	7,199	7,716	8,047	8,776	9.1
	Total public gross fixed capital formation		30,735	31,262	32,610	35,826	9.9
Total public demand			162,389	164,326	167,751	172,707	3.0
Memorandum item
	Net purchases of second hand assets by public sector		550	494	536	1,471	np
	Public authorities changes in inventories (c)		-476	1,610	817	183	np

CHAIN VOLUME (d)
General government final consumption expenditure
	National-defence		10,754	10,645	10,608	10,641	0.3
	National-non-defence		47,967	49,128	49,592	50,163	1.2
	Total national		58,721	59,773	60,200	60,804	1.0
	State and local		66,426	66,220	65,971	65,810	-0.2
	Total general government final consumption expenditure		125,147	125,992	126,171	126,613	0.4
Public gross fixed capital formation
	General government
		National-defence	2,654	2,425	2,427	2,820	16.2
		National-non-defence	2,383	2,333	2,370	2,354	-0.7
		Total national	5,037	4,758	4,797	5,174	7.9
		State and local	16,526	16,261	16,994	18,421	8.4
		Total general government	21,562	21,019	21,791	23,596	8.3
	Public corporations
		Commonwealth	1,735	1,912	1,843	2,058	11.7
		State and local	4,791	4,988	5,310	5,669	6.8
		Total public corporations	6,526	6,900	7,153	7,728	8.0
	Total public gross fixed capital formation		28,088	27,919	28,945	31,323	8.2
Total public demand			153,235	153,911	155,116	157,937	1.8
Memorandum item
	Net purchases of second hand assets by public sector		487	429	458	1,251	np
	Public authorities changes in inventories (c)		-161	1,134	253	672	np

— nil or rounded to zero
np indicates this value not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated

See Explanatory Notes for the relationship between general government final consumption expenditure and GFS aggregates
Includes general government, public non-financial corporations, and public financial corporations
Reference year for chain volume measures in 2020-21 = 100.0

Public demand contribution to GDP growth

Public demand, contribution to GDP growth (e) (f)
	Gov final consumption expenditure (ppt)	Gov gross fixed capital formation (ppt)
Jun-20	0.6	-0.2
Sep-20	0.5	0.1
Dec-20	0.2	0.2
Mar-21	0.0	0.0
Jun-21	0.2	0.3
Sep-21	0.8	-0.1
Dec-21	0.3	-0.1
Mar-22	0.6	0.1
Jun-22	-0.2	0.2
Sep-22	0.0	-0.1
Dec-22	0.2	0.0
Mar-23	0.0	0.2
Jun-23	0.1	0.4

Public demand, contribution to GDP growth (e) (f)

["","Gov final consumption expenditure","Gov gross fixed capital formation"]

[["Jun-20","Sep-20","Dec-20","Mar-21","Jun-21","Sep-21","Dec-21","Mar-22","Jun-22","Sep-22","Dec-22","Mar-23","Jun-23"],[[0.59999999999999998],[0.5],[0.20000000000000001],[0],[0.20000000000000001],[0.80000000000000004],[0.29999999999999999],[0.59999999999999998],[-0.20000000000000001],[0],[0.20000000000000001],[0],[0.10000000000000001]],[[-0.20000000000000001],[0.10000000000000001],[0.20000000000000001],[0],[0.29999999999999999],[-0.10000000000000001],[-0.10000000000000001],[0.10000000000000001],[0.20000000000000001],[-0.10000000000000001],[0],[0.20000000000000001],[0.40000000000000002]]]

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Chain volume measures seasonally adjusted
using the GDP series as published in the March 2023 release of Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product

Revisions and changes

Revisions

Statistical revisions are conducted regularly in Government Finance Statistics to reflect the most current information and data available.

Upcoming Victorian Capital Asset Charge historical revision

The ABS has reclassified payments and receipts related to the Victorian Capital Asset Charge (CAC) across impacted sectors in the 2021-22 annual GFS publication. This reclassification will be applied in quarterly GFS and the National Accounts from September quarter 2023.

The Victorian Department of Treasury & Finance and VicTrack have removed CAC transactions in all budgetary and fiscal reporting from 1 July 2021.

For more information refer to 2021-22 GFS annual revisions and changes.

Upcoming AUSTRAC Industry Contribution Levy historical revision

The ABS has reclassified revenue related to the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) Industry Contribution Levy (ICL) in the in the 2021-22 annual GFS publication. This reclassification will be applied in quarterly GFS and the National Accounts from September quarter 2023.

For more information refer to 2021-22 GFS annual revisions and changes.

Divergences with government fiscal reporting

Divergences between state and commonwealth government financial reporting and GFS may occur because of conceptual determinations and timing recognition differences, to ensure alignment with economic activity as measured across ABS macroeconomic statistics.

These differences primarily impact:

measures of government subsidies and other support payments to businesses and households
non-employee expenses
change in inventories.

Following the introduction of several Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) standard changes from 1 July 2019, divergences between economic statistics publications and government financial reporting due to accounting standard changes relate to:

Leases (AASB 16)
Revenue recognition (AASB 15 & 1058)
Service Concession Arrangements (AASB 1059).

GFS outputs are consistent with the historical treatments, which has resulted in increased divergences between economic statistics publications and government financial reporting.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 5519.0.55.001.

Data downloads