EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1989 No. 288
Industrial Relations Regulations (Amendment)
(Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Industrial Relations)
Employment with the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority is “public sector employment” as defined by subsection 4(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1988 (the Act). This means that employment with that Authority is subject to the operation of subsection 141(2) of the Act.
Subsection 141(2) of the Act provides that where the Australian Industrial Relations Commission deals with an industrial dispute involving public sector employment, it may, for the purpose of settling the dispute or preventing further disputes, declare any term of an award to be a common rule for the whole or a specified class of public sector employment.
Subsection 141(3) of the Act provides that:
The declaration of a common rule under subsection (2) does not have effect in relation to a class of public sector employment prescribed for the purposes of this section.
Under subsection 359(1) of the Act the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Paragraph (a) of Regulation 20 of the Industrial Relations Regulations provides that employment by, or service in the service of, a Commonwealth authority referred to in Part I of Schedule 4 of those regulations is prescribed for the purposes of subsection 141(3) of the Act.
The terms and conditions of employment of employees of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority are historically related to the electricity industry rather than the public sector. A common rule imposed on Authority employees could have the effect of preventing continuance of parity of general terms and conditions of employment between those employees and other workers in the electricity industry. This could result in major industrial relations difficulties. To avoid this it is desirable to exempt the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority from the provisions of the Act relating to common rules. To this end the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority has been prescribed in Part I of Schedule 4 (Paragraph (a) of Regulation 20) of the Industrial Relations Regulations. These amendments take effect from the date of gazettal.