EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1988 No. 245
Public Service Regulations (Amendment)
Issued with the authority of the Public Service Commissioner
Subsection 97(1) of the Public Service Act 1922 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Part IV of the Act provides a means by which officers of the Australian Public Service may engage in other public employment whilst retaining certain entitlements and rights to return to the Service. Part IV applies to an officer who is the holder of a “Commonwealth office” as defined in subsection 87(1) of the Act. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of that definition provide that “Commonwealth office” means:
“(a) an office or appointment the holder of which is appointed by the Governor-General or by a Minister under a law of the Commonwealth (including this Act) or a law of a Territory other than the Northern Territory; or
(b) any other office or appointment the holder of which is appointed by the Governor-General, or by a Minister, being an office or appointment declared by the regulations to be a Commonwealth office, or included in a class of offices or appointments declared by the regulations to be a class of Commonwealth offices, for the purposes of this Part,”.
Regulation 170 of the Public Service Regulations (the Regulations) declares, for the purposes of paragraph (b) of the definition of “Commonwealth office” in subsection 87(1) of the Act, each office specified in Schedule 2 to the Regulations to be a Commonwealth office for the purposes of Part IV of the Act.
The Minute recommended the making of the Public Service Regulations (Amendment) so that an officer of the Australian Public Service appointed full-time as the Special Adviser to the Minister of State for Industry, Technology and Commerce on the project for the development in Australia of an international scientific, technological and cultural complex, presently known as the Multifunction Polis Project is covered by the mobility provisions of Part IV of the Act. These provisions give protection as to conditions of service and right of return to the Service, and preserve the status of the appointee as an officer of the Service.
The Australian and Japanese Governments, in association with the private sectors in each country, have agreed to undertake a joint study into the feasibility of establishing a new, ‘21st century’ complex in Australia as a focus for international scientific, technological and cultural activities, to be known as the Multifunction Polis. The Special Adviser, appointed by the Governor-General pursuant to section 67 of the Constitution, will oversight the project’s development and coordinate Australia’s involvement in the project generally.
The regulation amends Schedule 2 to the Regulations by inserting, as Item 5, Full-time appointment as the Special Adviser to the Minister of State for Industry, Technology and Commerce on the project for the development in Australia of an international scientific, technological and cultural complex, presently known as the Multifunction Polis Project.