EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1989 No 147
Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees)
Regulations (Amendment)
(Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Industrial Relations)
Section 26 of the Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976 (the LSL Act) provides that “The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to this Act”.
Subsection 4(6) of the LSL Act provides that “A reference in this Act to a person who is employed by, remunerated by, in the service of, on loan to or appointed or engaged by the Commonwealth shall be read as including a reference to a person who is employed by, remunerated by, in the service of, on loan to or appointed or engaged by -
(a) a public authority of the Commonwealth;
(b) a body (not being a public authority of the Commonwealth) established by or under a law of the Commonwealth or of an internal Territory that is declared by the regulations to be a body to which this subsection applies; or
(c) a company that:
(i) is incorporated (whether before or after the commencement of this paragraph) under a law of the Commonwealth or a law in force in a State or Territory;
(ii) is a trading corporation, or a financial corporation, within the meaning of paragraph 51(20) of the Constitution; and
(iii) is declared by the regulations to be a body corporate to which this paragraph applies”.
Section 9 of the ANL (Conversion into Public Company) Act 1988 amends the enabling legislation of ANL by converting the Australian Shipping Commission (the Commission), which trades as ANL, into a public company registered under the Companies Act 1981 by the name ANL Limited. Section 9 of the ANL (Conversion into Public Company) Act 1988 commenced on 1 July 1989.
Section 12 of the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (Conversion into Public Company) Act 1989 amends the enabling legislation of the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (the
Corporation) (the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation Act 1970) by deeming the Corporation to be a company registered under the Companies Act 1981 by the name of SMEC Limited. Section 12 of the Snowy Mountains Engineering (Conversion into Public Company) Act 1989 commenced on 1 July 1989.
The Australian Industry Development Corporation Amendment Act 1988 amends the Australian Industry Development Corporation Act 1970 (the Principal Act) reorganising the business of the Australian Industry Development Corporation (the Corporation) by providing for the transfer of business (other than nominated assets and liabilities) and some staff to AIDC Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Corporation registered under the Companies Act 1981. The Minister for Industry Technology and Commerce will fix the day on which the business of the Corporation is to be transferred to AIDC Limited under section 29D of the Principal Act. The Chief Executive of the Corporation will determine those staff who are to be transferred and the date of their transfer to AIDC Limited under section 29S of the Principal Act.
Employees of the Australian Shipping Commission, the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation and the Australian Industry Development Corporation (the organisations), were previously covered by the provisions of the LSL Act by means of being “public authorities of the Commonwealth” for the purposes of paragraph 4(6)(a) of that Act.
On conversion into, or transfer to public companies, the organisations ceased to be “public authorities of the Commonwealth”. To continue the coverage of employees under the LSL Act it was necessary that regulations be made to declare the organisations to be bodies corporate under paragraph 4(6)(c) of the Act.
The necessary amendments to Regulation 3 of the Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Regulations, to declare the organisations to be bodies corporate to which paragraph 4(6)(c) of the LSL Act applies, by replacing Schedule 1A to the Regulations with an updated Schedule 1A have now been made. The amendments come into effect on the day on which ANL Limited and SMEC Limited become public companies and staff of the Australian Industry Development Corporation are transferred to AIDC Limited.