Education and Training Reform Amendment (Miscellaneous) Act 2016 (Vic)

Education and Training Reform Amendment (Miscellaneous) Act 2016

No. 42 of 2016

TABLE OF PROVISIONS

Section  Page

Part 1—Preliminary

1Purposes

2Commencement

3Principal Act

Part 2—Amendment of Education and Training Reform Act 2006

4Definitions

5New section 2.4.61A inserted

6Setting aside etc. of conviction or finding of guilt

7Establishment of Disciplinary Appeals Boards

8Section 2.6.64 substituted

9Fees

10New Part 2.8 inserted

11Delegation of Secretary's powers

12New section 6.1.42 inserted

13Schedule 2—Acting appointments

Part 3—Further amendment of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006

14Statute law revision amendments

Part 4—Repeal of amending Act

15Repeal of amending Act

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Endnotes

1      General information

Education and Training Reform Amendment (Miscellaneous) Act 2016

No. 42 of 2016

[Assented to 23 August 2016]

The Parliament of Victoria enacts:

Part 1—Preliminary

1Purposes

The purposes of this Act are to amend the Education and Training Reform Act 2006—

(a)to enable the Secretary to terminate the employment of an employee if the Secretary reasonably believes the employee has engaged in serious misconduct; and

(b)to enable the State to recover or assign to the Commonwealth a debt owed by the State to the Commonwealth in relation to financial assistance given to a school by the Commonwealth; and

(c)to expand the definition of sexual offence to include further offences under the Criminal Code of the Commonwealth; and

(d)to make other miscellaneous amendments.

2Commencement

(1)This Part and Part 3 come into operation on the day after the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent.

(2)Subject to subsection (3), the remaining provisions of this Act come into operation on a day or days to be proclaimed.

(3)If a provision referred to in subsection (2) does not come into operation before 31 December 2016, it comes into operation on that day.

3Principal Act

In this Act, the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 is called the Principal Act.

Part 2—Amendment of Education and Training Reform Act 2006

4Definitions

In section 1.1.3(1) of the Principal Act, in paragraph (da) of the definition of sexual offence—

(a)before subparagraph (i) insert—

"(iaa)section 270.7B (forced marriage), involving a person under 18 years of age;";

(b)after subparagraph (v) insert—

"(va)section 474.25A (using a carriage service for sexual activity with a person under 16 years of age);";

(c)in subparagraph (vii) omit "or";

(d)after subparagraph (vii) insert—

"(viii)section 474.27A (using a carriage service to transmit indecent communication to a person under 16 years of age); or".

5New section 2.4.61A inserted

After section 2.4.61 of the Principal Act insert—

"2.4.61A   Secretary may terminate employee for serious misconduct

(1)The Secretary may terminate the employment of an employee if the Secretary reasonably believes that the employee has engaged in serious misconduct.

(2)Sections 2.4.60, 2.4.61 and 2.4.66 do not apply in relation to a termination under subsection (1).

(3)If the Secretary terminates the employment of an employee under this section, the Secretary, by notice in writing, must advise the employee of—

(a)the determination of the Secretary to terminate the employment of the employee; and

(b)the right to appeal to a Disciplinary Appeals Board against that determination.

Note

If the Secretary terminates the employment of an employee after holding an inquiry under section 2.4.61(1) the notice provision in section 2.4.61(2) will apply.".

6Setting aside etc. of conviction or finding of guilt

In section 2.4.63 of the Principal Act, before "on the ground" insert "under section 2.4.61 or 2.4.61A".

7Establishment of Disciplinary Appeals Boards

In section 2.4.72(2) of the Principal Act, for "section 2.4.59F or 2.4.61" substitute "section 2.4.59F, 2.4.61 or 2.4.61A".

8Section 2.6.64 substituted

For section 2.6.64 of the Principal Act substitute—

"2.6.64   Acting members

(1)Subject to subsection (2), the Minister may appoint a person to act in the place of a member, including the Chairperson—

(a)if the member is absent or is, for any other reason, unable to perform the duties of the office, during that absence or inability; or

(b)if there is a vacancy in the office of the member, until the vacancy is filled.

(2)The Minister must consult with the relevant nominating organisation before appointing a person to act in the place of a member nominated under section 2.6.6AB.

(3)A person appointed under subsection (1)—

(a)has all the powers and may perform all the duties of the member for whom the person is acting; and

(b)is entitled to the remuneration and allowances (if any) to which the member for whom the person is acting would have been entitled for performing those duties; and

(c)subject to this section, is subject to the same terms and conditions of appointment as the member for whom the person is acting.".

9Fees

After section 2.6.77(1) of the Principal Act insert—

"(1A)Despite subsection (1), the Minister

is not required to call for and consider recommendations from the Institute in fixing a fee for an application under section 2.6.60B.".

10New Part 2.8 inserted

After Part 2.7 of the Principal Act insert—

"Part 2.8—Debt recovery arrangements relating to Commonwealth funding for schools

2.8.1Definitions

In this Part—

approved authority has the same meaning as in section 6 of the Commonwealth Act;

block grant authority has the same meaning as in section 6 of the Commonwealth Act;

Commonwealth Act means the Australian Education Act 2013 of the Commonwealth;

Commonwealth Minister means the Minister administering the Commonwealth Act;

non-government representative body has the same meaning as in section 6 of the Commonwealth Act.

2.8.2Debt recovery arrangements relating to Commonwealth funding for schools

(1)If, in accordance with the Commonwealth Act, the State has paid, or pays, financial assistance to any approved authority, block grant authority or non-government representative body for a school, the payment of that financial assistance is taken to be an arrangement between the authority or body (as the case requires) and the State in relation to that payment by virtue of this section.

(2)It is a term of an arrangement referred to in subsection (1) that—

(a)if the Commonwealth Minister makes a determination under section 110(1)(a) of the Commonwealth Act that the State must pay a specified amount; and

(b)the Commonwealth Minister makes that determination as a result of—

(i)non-compliance or a breach by the authority or body mentioned in section 108 of the Commonwealth Act; or

(ii)a payment mentioned in section 109(1), (2), (3)(a) or (4) of the Commonwealth Act that was paid to the State for the authority or body—

the amount specified by the Commonwealth Minister in the determination is taken to be a debt due by the authority or body (as the case requires) to the State and may be recovered by the State in a court of competent jurisdiction. 

(3)A debt due by an authority or body to the State under subsection (2) is payable within 7 days after the date of the determination referred to in that subsection.

(4)If a debt is due by an authority or body to the State under subsection (2) in relation to financial assistance for a school and the approval of the authority or body under Division 2 of Part 6 of the Commonwealth Act is no longer in force in relation to that school, the State may recover the debt from the person who held the approval immediately before it ceased to exist.

(5)If a debt is due by an authority or body to the State under subsection (2), the State may assign to the Commonwealth the right to recover the debt.

2.8.3Debt enforceable despite certain circumstances

A debt due by an authority or body to the State under section 2.8.2(2) is enforceable whether or not—

(a)any school operated by the authority or body remains open; or

(b)the authority or body has been, or is being, compulsorily wound up; or

(c)the determination referred to in section 2.8.2(2) was made before the commencement of this Part; or

(d)the financial assistance referred to in section 2.8.2(1) was spent by the authority or body before—

(i)the determination referred to in section 2.8.2(2) was made; or

(ii)the commencement of this Part.".

11Delegation of Secretary's powers

In section 5.3.3(1) of the Principal Act, for "section 2.4.3(1)(c) and (d)" substitute "sections 2.4.3(1)(c) and (d) and 2.4.61A(1)".

12New section 6.1.42 inserted

At the end of Chapter 6 of the Principal Act insert—

"6.1.42   Transitional provision—Education and Training Reform Amendment (Miscellaneous) Act 2016

Section 2.4.61A, as inserted by section 5 of the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2016, applies in relation to conduct occurring before or after the commencement of section 5 but does not apply in relation to conduct that is the subject of an inquiry under Division 10 of Part 2.4 that is commenced before the commencement of section 5.".

13Schedule 2—Acting appointments

Insert the following note at the foot of clause 4 of Schedule 2 to the Principal Act—

"Note

The Minister may appoint a person under section 2.6.64 to act in the place of a member of the Council of the Victorian Institute of Teaching.".

Part 3—Further amendment of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006

14Statute law revision amendments

(1)In sections 2.4.60(1) and 2.4.61(1) of the Principal Act, for "this Part" substitute "this Division".

(2)In section 2.6.4(2) of the Principal Act, after "subsection (1)" insert ", the Institute may".

(3)In section 2.6.4(2)(a) of the Principal Act omit "the Institute may".

(4)In section 4.6.2(1) of the Principal Act, for "persons bodies" substitute "persons, bodies".

Part 4—Repeal of amending Act

15Repeal of amending Act

This Act is repealed on 31 December 2017.

Note

The repeal of this Act does not affect the continuing operation of the amendments made by it (see section 15(1) of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984).

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Endnotes

1   General information

See for Victorian Bills, Acts and current authorised versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.

Minister's second reading speech—

Legislative Assembly: 23 March 2016

Legislative Council: 14 April 2016

The long title for the Bill for this Act was "A Bill for an Act to amend the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 and for other purposes."