EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULE 1985 NO. 193 ISSUED BY THE
AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS
In July 1984 it was agreed that the Board of Commissioners of the Overseas Telecommunications Commission (the Commission) should be restructured to achieve consistency with Telecom and Australia Post. Amongst other things, the proposal involved the appointment to an expanded Board of the chief executive officer of the Commission. The chief executive officer, formerly the General Manager, was to become a statutory appointment and redesignated as the Managing Director.
The proposal was implemented by the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (No. 2) 1984 and the revelant provisions came into effect on 25 October 1984. As a result of the creation of the position of Managing Director, the chief executive officer is no longer an officer of the Commission. Consequently, sub-section 9(5) of the Act, as amended, provides that the regulations may provide for the preservation of such rights as are set out in the regulations by an officer of the Commission who is appointed to be the Managing Director. Further, regulations may provide for and in relation to the appointment of such an officer to the Commission upon the termination of his or her appointment to the Board, unless the termination was on the grounds of misconduct or of having reached the age of retirement from the Commission.
It is now proposed to make regulations for the purpose of sub-section 9(5) of the Act.
Details of the proposed regulations are as follows.
The Regulation inserts a new Part dealing with the preservation of the rights of the Managing Director after the existing Part III of the Overseas Telecommunications Commission Regulations. The new Part contains the following regulations.
Regulation 11A provides that an officer of the Commission who is appointed as Managing Director retains such rights with respect to sick leave, long service leave or payment in lieu thereof, recreation leave and superannuation as that person would have been entitled to had he or she remained an officer of the Commission. Such an appointee is deemed to be an unattached officer of the Commission on leave without pay for the period of the appointment, which will be counted for all purposes as part of the appointee’s period of service with the Commission.
Regulation 11B provides that such an appointee is entitled on the termination of his or her appointment, except on the grounds of misconduct or if he or she has reached the age of retirement, to be appointed to a position in the service of the Commission. When deciding the status and salary of the position, the Commission must consider the appointee’s former position in the service of the Commission and the period of his or her appointment as Managing Director.