EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Human Services
Medicare Australia Act 1973
Medicare Australia (Functions of Chief Executive Officer — Call Centre Services) Direction 2009
Authority
- Section 4 of the Medicare Australia Act 1973 (the Act) establishes Medicare Australia. Section 8AG of the Act provides for the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Medicare Australia.
- The functions of the CEO under section 5 of the Act include any functions that the Minister, by writing, directs the CEO to perform.
Background
3. Subsection 5 (2) of the Act provides that a direction under paragraph 5 (1) (d) of the Act is a legislative instrument, but neither section 42 nor Part 6 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 applies to the Medicare Australia (Functions of Chief Executive Officer — Call Centre Services) Direction 2009 (the Direction). This means that the Direction is not subject to disallowance by Parliament and is not subject to automatic sunsetting after 10 years in force.
4. Following a meeting of the Council of Australian Governments in April 2009, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet requested that the Department of Human Services take the lead role in establishing a National Emergency Call Centre Surge Capability (NECCSC) that may be called upon by the States and Territories should their local capacity be overloaded in an emergency situation.
5. It is expected that Centrelink will be the lead agency to coordinate the NECCSC service and that Centrelink would liaise with Medicare Australia and other Commonwealth agencies with call centre capability.
6. The Medicare Australia (Functions of Chief Executive Officer) Direction 2005 already confers on Medicare Australia’s CEO some functions in relation to providing call centre services in certain circumstances.
7. Medicare Australia’s CEO also has incidental functions under paragraph 5 (1) (f) of the Act which extend to providing call centre services to the extent that such services are incidental to the performance of other functions of the CEO.
8. There may be some overlap of the operation of this Direction, with the 2005 Direction and with paragraph 5 (1) (f) of the Act.
9. The purpose of this Direction is to provide a simple clear conferral of function on the CEO so that the CEO has a basis to provide call centre services on behalf of a Commonwealth authority or a State authority. Unlike the 2005 Direction, this Direction does not require there to be a special assistance circumstance (within the meaning of the 2005 Direction).
Details of Direction
Section 1 – Name of Direction
10. Section 1 provides that the name of the Direction is the Medicare Australia (Functions of Chief Executive Officer — Call Centre Services) Direction 2009.
Section 2 – Commencement
11. Under this section the Direction commences on the day after it is registered.
Section 3 – Definitions
12. This section defines terms used in the Direction.
13. The definition of the term Act refers to the Medicare Australia Act 1973 which empowers the Direction to be made.
14. The term call centre services is defined by reference to its meaning in subsections 3 (2) and 3 (3) of the Direction.
15. The term emergency is defined to mean an emergency or disaster that has affected or is affecting one or more Australian citizens or permanent residents whether within Australia or overseas. The definition also includes an emergency or disaster that has been declared under section 80J or 80K of the Privacy Act 1988 by the Prime Minister or a Minister.
16. The Direction defines the term State authority broadly to encompass:
- a State or Territory;
- a body established for a public purpose by or under a State or Territory law; or
- the holder of a statutory office appointed by or under a law of a State or Territory.
17. State authority is defined broadly to address the possibility of a State or Territory having a particular statutory framework for emergency response situations which confers powers or functions on statutory office holders.
18. Subsection 3 (2) of the Direction defines call centre services as a means of communicating with members of the public to provide and gather information by a number of methods listed in paragraphs (a) to (f), and different methods that may be used for communicating information. The definition is intended to be expansive and encompass both current and future methods and means of communication.
19. Subsection 3 (3) confirms that call centre services include responding to incoming calls, making calls and forwarding calls.
Section 4 — Direction to perform call services centre function
20. Under section 4, the CEO is directed to perform the function of providing call centre services on behalf of a Commonwealth or State authority, and to liaise with those authorities to coordinate call centre services.
21. The function is intended to provide flexibility for the CEO of Medicare Australia in the provision of call centre services. It is proposed not to limit the function to emergency situations. It could also be relevant, for example, to support the implementation of a new government program initiative through the provision of call centre services by the CEO of Medicare Australia.