EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1989 NO. 7
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR DEFENCE SCIENCE AND PERSONNEL
DEFENCE (PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES) REGULATIONS
Part II of the Defence (Parliamentary Candidates) Act 1969 (the Act) (comprising sections 7, 8 and 9) provides for members of the Defence Force to be released from full time service where a chief of staff is satisfied that the member is to be a candidate for election a member of a House of the Parliament of Australia or of a State or of the Legislative Assembly for the Northern Territory or a prescribed legislative or advisory body for another Territory. (Part III provides for unsuccessful candidates to be reinstated in the Defence Force and for preservation of their rights.)
Paragraph 67(4) (a) of the Australian Capital Territory (Self Government) Act 1988 provides that a person is not qualified to take a seat as a member of the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (the Assembly) if the person is remunerated for holding an appointment under a law of the Commonwealth. Members of the Defence Force rendering full time service would not therefore be eligible as candidates for the Assembly.
To enable members of the Defence Force to be released from full time service in order to contest the forthcoming election, it was necessary to prescribe the Assembly for the purposes of Part II of the Act.
This Statutory Rule makes new Defence (Parliamentary Candidates) Regulations.
Regulations 1 and 2 are formal.
Regulation 3 prescribes the Assembly for the purposes of paragraphs 7(1)(b), 8(b) and 9(b) of the Act.
The Statutory Rule comes into operation on the date of gazettal.