The Department of Justice was established as an administrative unit pursuant to the Public Sector Management Act 1995.
The Chief Executive is the only appointee to the Department of Justice. The Department was up to 30 June 1999 assigned no functions and this still remains the same at 30 June 2002 with the exception of the following.
In the 1999-2000 Budget, appropriation arrangements for a number of agencies within the Justice Portfolio were changed. In prior years appropriations were paid directly to the Attorney-General’s Department, Courts Administration Authority, Department for Correctional Services, Police Department and State Electoral Office. From 1 July 1999, appropriations for these agencies were provided to the Department of Justice.
The Treasurer approved in June 1999 the establishment of a Special Deposit Account for the Department of Justice to:
… record all activities of the Department and various activities within the Justice Portfolio including the transfer of funds to other agencies within the Portfolio, operating and investing expenditures, revenue from various activities and injections of funds provided from the Consolidated Account including from borrowings.
The Department does not control revenue and expenses in relation to this arrangement but is simply responsible for coordinating the funding process for the abovementioned agencies.
Given that the Department does not have a staffing structure, the activities of this Special Deposit Account are administered by the Attorney-General’s Department. For further details, refer to Attorney-General’s Department Financial Statements - Schedule of Administered Expenses and Revenues for the year ended 30 June 2002.
Since the creation of the Justice Portfolio, each of the agencies in the portfolio have continued to operate as separate agencies. Consequently, the agencies have prepared separate financial statements for financial reporting purposes.
The following agencies comprise the Justice Portfolio:
Attorney-General’s Department · Department of Justice
SA Ambulance Service · Legal Services Commission
Department for Correctional Services · SA Metropolitan Fire Service
Country Fire Service · SA Police Department
Courts Administration Authority · Public Trustee
Emergency Services Administrative Unit · State Electoral Office
As mentioned above the:
Chief Executive is the only appointee to the Department of Justice. The Chief Executive is also the Chief Executive of the Attorney-General’s Department. That Department discloses related remuneration payments;
activities of the Department’s Special Deposit Account are disclosed in the Attorney-General’s Department Financial Statements under administered transactions.