Explanatory note

This Supplementary Order Paper amends the Appropriation (2011/12 Supplementary Estimates) Bill to reflect the individual appropriations and changes contained in the Addition to the Supplementary Estimates of Appropriations for the Government of New Zealand and Supporting Information for the year ending 30 June 2012 (B.7 Vol.2) (Addition to the Supplementary Estimates).

There is an established practice under which Cabinet makes no decisions with financial or appropriation implications between the day on which it approves the Budget package and Budget day (the Budget moratorium). This is to ensure that the Budget documents presented to the House on Budget day and the Appropriation Bills introduced that day reflect and incorporate all decisions Cabinet has made.

This year, the Budget moratorium applied between 23 April 2012 and 24 May 2012. However, Cabinet made an exception to the Budget moratorium for decisions taken in that period that related to the February 2011 Canterbury earthquake. The new appropriations required as a result of those decisions are described in the Addition to the Supplementary Estimates and incorporated into the Appropriation (2011/12 Supplementary Estimates) Bill by this Supplementary Order Paper.