EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1987 No.91
MERIT PROTECTION (AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Issued with the authority of the Public Service Board
Subsection 85(1) of the Merit Protection (Australian Government Employees) Act 1984 (‘the Merit Protection 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.
A number of the provisions of the Public Service Legislation (Streamlining) Act 1986 (‘the Streamlining Act’), which, inter alia, amend the Merit Protection Act, come into operation on 14 June 1987, the date proclaimed by the Governor-General for the purposes of subsections 2(2) and 2(4) of the Streamlining Act (Executive Council Minute No. PSB 1987/8 refers).
Section 110 of the Streamlining Act inter alia substitutes a new paragraph 17(1)(c) of the Merit Protection Act. That provides that the third member of a Disciplinary Appeal Committee shall be:
‘a person nominated by the organisation that is, as provided by the regulations, the appropriate organisation….
The statutory rules make miscellaneous amendments to the Merit Protection (Australian Government Employees) Regulations (‘the Merit Protection Regulations’). Some of the amendments give effect to provisions inserted in the Merit Protection Act by the Streamlining Act: in particular in the area of Disciplinary Appeal Committees. Others are consequential on the amendments made to the Public Service Act 1922, or relate to the amendments made to the Public Service Regulations (Executive Council Minute No. PSB 1987/9 refers), particularly in the area of higher duties appeals. Details of the statutory rules are as follows.
Regulation 1 provides for the Regulations to come into operation on 14 June 1987.
Regulation 2 is a citation provision.
Regulation 3 omits the definition of ‘relevant Secretary’ from the Merit Protection Regulations and inserts a definition of ‘the Secretary’, consistent with amendments made by subsequent regulations to the Merit Protection Regulations.
Regulation 4 makes formal amendments to the Merit Protection Regulations, and corrects a minor error.
Regulation 5 inserts new regulations 4A and 4B in the Merit Protection Regulations. These regulations relate to appeals against directions to perform higher duties, and are consequential on the amendments to the Public Service Regulations noted above.
New regulation 4A requires the Merit Protection and Review Agency to notify the Secretary of the Department, or each Department, affected by a higher duties appeal, of that appeal. This will enable a Secretary to consider whether the Agency should be advised that release of the appellant officer to perform the duties in question would cause substantial difficulties in the functioning of the Department.
New regulation 4B provides for the determination of higher duties appeals brought under the new provisions of the Public Service Regulations.
Regulation 6 omits a definition of ‘Chief Officer’ for the purposes of Part IV (Disciplinary Appeal Committees) of the Merit Protection Regulations and inserts a definition of ‘Secretary’ for the purposes of that Part. (See the comments in relation to regulation 10 of these Regulations below).
Regulation 7 substitutes a new regulation 11, which defines the ‘appropriate organisation’ for the purposes of new s.17(1)(c) of the Merit Protection Act (see above). That organisation is the union which has the greatest number of members doing comparable work to the work done by the person who is appealing to the Disciplinary Appeal Committee.
Regulation 8 makes amendments to regulation 12 which are consequential to the new version of regulation 11.
Regulation 9 substitutes ‘Convenor’ for ‘Chairman’ in regulation 17 (see comments in relation to regulation 10 below).
Regulation 10 and its Schedule substitute ‘Secretary’ for ‘Chief Officer’ and ‘Convenor’ for ‘Chairman’ (i.e. Chairman of the various Review Committees) throughout the Merit Protection Regulations, consequential to amendments made by the Streamlining Act to the Merit Protection Act; and omitting reference to S.66B of the Public Service Act 1922, consequential to other amendments made by the Streamlining Act.
The regulations are to come into operation on 14 June 1987. They are therefore made in reliance on section 4 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, which provides that where an Act has received the Royal Assent but has not yet come into operation, regulations may be made as if the Act had commenced, but the regulations shall not take effect until the Act commences.
SR 93/87