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CHANGES TO THIS RELEASE

The Australian system of Government Finance Statistics (GFS) is based on international standards set out in the System of National Accounts 1993 (SNA93) and the International Monetary Fund's Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 (GFSM2001). The System of National Accounts has recently been updated and the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA08) was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission in February 2009. SNA08 will be implemented in Australia's System of National Accounts from the September Quarter 2009. The only current change to the ABS' compilation of GFS is the treatment of Defence Weapons Platforms (DWP), which has been capitalised to align with the SNA08 from September Quarter 2009. This change will affect the Commonwealth General Government Operating Statement, Cash Flow Statement and Balance Sheet.

Defence Weapons Platforms (DWPs) are the structural systems from which destructive weapons such as missiles, bombs and torpedoes are launched or fired. They include submarines, warships, fighter planes and tanks.The current SNA93 treatment classifies expenditures on DWPs as Government Final Consumption Expenditure (GFCE). This means that purchases of military equipment such as fighter planes and submarines were not seen as providing any ongoing services beyond the period in which they were purchased. The SNA08 has expanded the asset boundary used in national income accounting to include DWPs as capital expenditure. This brings the treatment of defence expenditure into line with capital formation in other industries. All expenditure on military weapon systems that have an anticipated ongoing use (longer than a year) will be recorded as gross fixed capital formation. Expenditure on 'disposable' military equipment such as bullets will continue to be recorded as inventories.

The GFSM2001 is expected to be revised in the future to reflect the SNA08, the timing of which is unknown at this stage.

MAIN FEATURES

The table below presents the 2009-10 GFS net operating balance and net lending(+)/borrowing(-) estimates for the general government sector for each level of government. The GFS net operating balance for all levels of government in 2009-10 is estimated to be $-47,730 million. The all levels of government net acquisition of non-financial assets is estimated to be $30,390 million, resulting in an estimated net lending/borrowing position for 2009-10 of $-78,121 million.

ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT, OPERATING STATEMENT - 2009-10 General Government
	Commonwealth	Multi- jurisdictional (a)	State	Local	All levels of government (b)
	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m
GFS Revenue	290 094	19 387	183 146	31 512	414 085
GFS Expenses	337 411	18 860	185 749	28 034	461 815
GFS Net Operating Balance	-47 317	527	-2 603	3 478	-47 730
Net acquisition of non-financial assets	5 521	999	19 176	4 695	30 390
GFS Net Lending(+)/Borrowing(-)	-52 838	-472	-21 779	-1 217	-78 121

ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT, CASH FLOW STATEMENT - 2009-10 General Government
	Commonwealth	Multi- jurisdictional (a)	State	Local	All levels of government (b)
	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m
Surplus(+)/Deficit(-)	-54 771	185	-19 222	-720	-76 725

STATE GOVERNMENTS, KEY ANALYTICAL BALANCES 2009-10 General Government
	Operating Statement		Cash Flow Statement
	GFS Net Operating Balance	GFS Net Lending (+)/ Borrowing(-)	Surplus(+)/ Deficit(-)
	$m	$m	$m
New South Wales	-877	-4 856	-4 921
Victoria	163	-3 297	-2 741
Queensland	-1 953	-8 307	-6 838
South Australia	-304	-1 541	-1 535
Western Australia	492	-2 335	-2 305
Tasmania	-114	-571	-429
Northern Territory	217	-248	-172
Australian Capital Territory	-224	-622	-296