EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1985 NO 380
MERIT PROTECTION (AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES) REGULATIONS
Issued with the authority of the Public Service Board
Sub-section 85(1) of the Merit Protection (Australian Government Employees) Act 1984 (the Act) provides, inter alia, that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing all matters which are required or permitted to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Subdivisions C, E and F of Division 2 of Part II of the Act provide for the establishment of Disciplinary Appeal Committees (DACs), Re-appointment Review Committees (RRCs) and Reintegration Assessment Committees (RACs) respectively. (Details of these are given in the explanatory memorandum annexed to accompanying Minute No. 19.)
Paragraphs 17(1)(c), 28(1)(c) and 33(c) provide for regulations to be made prescribing the procedure for the nomination of one of the members of three-member DACs, RRCs and RACs respectively.
Paragraphs 85(2)(d) to (g) prescribe further procedures and other matters in relation to DACs.
The responsibility for DACs, RRCs and RACs has hitherto been vested in the Public Service Board by the Public Service Act 1922 (PS Act) in the case of the first and second types of Committees and by the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 (MOPS Act) in the case of the third. With the proclamation of Subdivisions C, E and F of Division 2 of Part II of the Act and the simultaneous repeal of relevant provisions of the PS Act and MOPS Act (see Executive Council Minutes Nos. 19 and PSB 1985/41), the Merit Protection and Review Agency (the Agency) will become responsible for administration of the Committees.
Details of the regulations are set out below.
Regulation 1 provides for the commencement of the regulations on 1 January 1986.
Regulation 2 inserts the heading ‘Part I - Preliminary’ into the Regulations.
Regulations 3 makes a formal amendment to regulation 3 of the Regulations.
Regulation 4 inserts the heading ‘Part II - Promotion Appeal Committees’ into the Regulations.
Regulation 5 inserts new Parts III and IV into the Merit Protection (Australian Government Employees) Regulations.
Part III comprises proposed regulations 8 and 9 which deal with the prescription of the appropriate staff organisation to nominate a person to be a member of a RRC and RAC respectively.
Part IV comprises proposed regulations 10 to 24, which deal with:
• the meaning of terms used in the Part (r.10);
• the selection of the officers’ representative on DACs (r.11);
• procedures in relation to disciplinary appeals or requests for review (rr. 12 and 13);
• powers of a Chairman of a DAC (r.14);
• evidence, hearings and witnesses (rr.15-19);
• representation of parties (r.20);
• protection of members of DACs, witnesses, etc. (r.21);
• notification of findings of a DAC (r.22); and
• costs (rr.23-24).
These regulations read in similar terms to the Public Service Regulations that are being simultanteously repealed, with appropriate changes being made to certain terms (e.g. ‘Public Service Board’ being changed to ‘Agency’ or ‘Director’ (of the Agency) where appropriate).
The proposed regulations are to come into operation on 1 January 1986. They are therefore made in reliance on s.4 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, which provides that, where an Act has
not yet come into operation (see Minute No. 19), regulations may be made as if the Act had commenced, but the regulations shall not take effect until the Act commences.