EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1990 No. 383
Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Regulations (Amendment)
(Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Industrial Relations)
Section 15 of the Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.
Section 5 of the Act provides that employees of a prescribed authority may be brought by regulation within the maternity leave arrangements provided under the Act. Sub-section 3(1) of the Act defines “prescribed authority” as:
(a) a body corporate (other than an incorporated company, society or association) that is incorporated for a public purpose by a law of the Commonwealth or of a territory (other than the Northern Territory) and is declared by the regulations to be a body corporate in relation to which this Act applies;
(b) an unincorporated body that is established for a public purpose by a law of the Commonwealth or of a territory (other than the Northern Territory) and is declared by the regulations to be an unincorporated body in relation to which this Act applies; or
(c) a company that:
(i) is incorporated 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 in relation to which this Act applies.
Australian Defence Industries Ltd (ADI) was incorporated on 21 July 1988 under the Companies Act 1981. and assumed the activities of the former Office of Defence Production (0DP). Former employees of 0DP were not transfered to ADI Ltd until 3 May 1989, and therefore retained their coverage under the provisions of the Act. On 8 May 1989 the Australian Industrial Relations Commission made an award providing maternity leave cover only for existing employees. New employees of ADI, employed after the commencement of operations on 3 May 1989, were not covered by the award and had no entitlement to maternity leave.
The Government has given a commitment to ensuring that employees of Government Business Enterprises (GBEs) will be covered by the Act, and this policy was reinforced by Cabinet decision (No. 13072) of 1 August 1989.
Under the Act employees of GBEs are not automatically covered and it is necessary for a regulation to be made to bring employees of ADI Ltd within coverage.
Since incorporation, negotiations have occurred between ADI Ltd and the relevant unions over the entitlement of employees of ADI Ltd to maternity leave, with a consequential delay in gaining ministerial approval for the making of a regulation to implement Government policy.
The proposed Regulations amend the Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Regulations to include ADI Ltd in the schedule of Prescribed Authorities - Companies, as from 3 May 1989. As required by the Acts Interpretation Act, the retrospectivity does not disadvantage any person other than the Commonwealth.