EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1988 No. 366
PUBLIC SERVICE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Issued by the authority of the Minister of State for Industrial Relations for and on behalf of the Prime Minister
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 officers employed by a “public authority” which is defined in subsection 87(1) as including:
“(b) a body corporate, other than a Commonwealth authority, in which the Commonwealth or a Commonwealth authority has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest, being a body corporate prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph;”
Regulation 171AA of the Public Service Regulations (the Regulations) prescribes bodies specified in Schedule 3A as public authorities for the purposes of paragraph (b) of the definition of ‘public authority’ in subsection 87(1) of the Act.
Australian Sports Aid Foundation (ASAF) is a company incorporated in the ACT under the Companies Act 1981 for the purpose of raising money for the development of sport. ASAF is a body in which the Commonwealth has an indirect pecuniary interest and it therefore falls directly within paragraph (b) of the definition of ‘public authority’ in subsection 87(1) and may be prescribed by the regulations.
The regulation amends Schedule 3A to the Regulations by inserting the company in the Schedule.
The effect of the prescription is that officers of the Australian Public Service employed by ASAF are covered by the mobility provisions of Part IV the Act, which give protection as to conditions of service and right of return to the Service.
Section 87B of the Act provides, that regulations shall not be made for the purposes of the definition of ‘public authority’ unless the Public Service Commissioner is satisfied as to the terms and conditions of employment that will be applicable to persons employed by the proposed public authority, and the Minister for Finance or an authorised officer is satisfied about the arrangements that have been made for benefits under the Superannuation Act 1976 in relation to those persons. The Commissioner and the officer authorised by the Minister are satisfied that the terms and conditions of employment and the superannuation arrangements applicable to officers employed by ASAF are adequate.