EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the Authority of the Special Minister of State
Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017
Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Determination 2017
Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Amendment (No. 1) Determination 2026
The Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017 (the Act) and the Parliamentary Business Resources Regulations 2017 (the Regulations) provide a framework prescribing resources to parliamentarians in respect of their parliamentary business. Certain provisions of the Act and Regulations apply to members who are office holders.
Section 7 of the Act provides that the Minister may, by legislative instrument, determine:
- that a member who holds a specified position in, or in relation to the Parliament or either House of the Parliament; or
- who performs functions of a kind specified in the determination in, or in relation to the Parliament or either House of the Parliament,
is an office holder. The Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Determination 2017 (Principal Determination) determines, for the purposes of the Act, and consequently the Regulations, the members that are office holders, by specifying the relevant positions and functions for the purposes of section 7 of the Act.
The Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Amendment (No. 1) Determination 2026 (Amending Determination) amends Schedule 1 of the Principal Determination to determine that the following positions are office holders for the purposes of the Act and Regulations:
- Leader of the third largest party in the House of Representatives; and
- Manager of minority party Business in the Senate, where the party has at least 10 members in the Senate.
A Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights is included in Attachment A. Details of the Amending Determination are included in Attachment B.
The Act does not impose any conditions that need to be satisfied before the power to make the Amending Determination may be exercised. This Amending Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003.
Commencement
Schedule 1 of the Amending Determination is expressed to commence on 21 May 2022. Schedule 2 of the Amending Determination commences on the day after the instrument is registered.
To the extent that any provision of the Amending Determination is taken to apply retrospectively, its operation is intended to be consistent with subsection 12(2) of the Legislation Act 2003, as it does not affect the rights of a person (other than the Commonwealth or an authority of the Commonwealth) to that person’s disadvantage, nor does it impose any liability on such a person.
The operation of subsection 12(1A) of the Legislation Act 2003, and whether the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017 discloses a contrary intention for the purposes of subsection 12(4), has been considered in settling this Amending Determination.
Consultation
Consultation with the Remuneration Tribunal Secretariat, Department of the House of Representatives, Department of the Senate, Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Authority: Section 7 of the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Amendment (No. 1) Determination 2026
The Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Amendment (No. 1) Determination 2026 (the Amending Determination) is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the legislative instrument
This Amending Determination amends the Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Determination 2017 which determines, for the purposes of the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017 and consequently the Parliamentary Business Resources Regulations 2017, the members of parliament who are also office holders.
Where a member is an office holder they may be eligible to access public resources to conduct their parliamentary business in a broader range of circumstances, and may also be eligible to receive additional remuneration. Access to additional resources and remuneration is intended to be commensurate with the additional duties and functions that certain office holders perform.
Human rights implications
This Amending Determination does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
The Amending Determination is compatible with human rights as they do not raise any human rights issues.
Senator the Hon Don Farrell
Special Minister of State
Details of the Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Amendment (No. 1) Determination 2026
Section 1 – Name
This section provides that the title of the instrument is the Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Amendment (No. 1) Determination 2026 (the Amending Determination).
Section 2 – Commencement
This section provides for the commencement of each Schedule in the Amending Determination, as set out in the table.
- Item 1 of the table provides that sections 1 to 4, concerning the formal aspects of the Amending Determination, as well as anything in the instrument not elsewhere covered by the table, would commence on the day after the instrument is registered.
- Item 2 provides that Schedule 1 commences on 21 May 2022.
- Item 3 provides that Schedule 2 commences on the day after the instrument is registered.
Section 3 – Authority
This section states that the Amending Determination is made under section 7 of the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017.
Section 4 – Schedules
This section provides that each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.
Schedule 1 – Amendments
Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Determination 2017
Item 1 – Schedule 1 (table)
Item 1 repeals the table at Schedule 1 of the Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Determination 2017 and substitutes it with the table set out in Schedule 1 of the Amending Determination.
A new office holder is the ‘Leader of the third largest party in the House of Representatives’, which identifies the position of Leader of the third largest party in the House of Representatives as an office holder for the purposes of the Act. Provided the party is the third largest party in the House of Representatives at all relevant times, the leader of the party may sit in either the House of Representatives or the Senate.
At the time of commencement of the Amending Determination, the leader of the third largest party in the House of Representatives is the Leader of the Nationals.
Schedule 2 – Amendments
Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Determination 2017
Item 1 – Schedule 1 (table)
Item 1 repeals the table at Schedule 1 of the Parliamentary Business Resources (Office Holder) Determination 2017 and substitutes it with the table set out in Schedule 1 of the Amending Determination. A new office holder is the ‘Manager of minority party Business in the Senate, where the party has at least 10 members in the Senate’.
Human rights implications
The Amending Determination does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
The Amending Determination is compatible with human rights as they do not raise any human rights issues.
Senator the Hon Don Farrell
Special Minister of State