EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Special Minister of State
for the Public Service and Integrity
Remuneration and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2011
Proclamation
Subsection 2(1) of the Remuneration and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2011 (the Act) provides that Schedules 1 and 2 of the Act commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation. However, if any of the provisions of Schedules 1 and 2 do not commence within six months of the date the Act receives the royal assent, then those provisions commence on the first day after the end of that six month period. The Act recently received the Royal Assent.
The purpose of the proposed Proclamation is to fix 5 August 2011 as the day on which Schedules 1 and 2 commence.
The Act expands the jurisdiction of the Remuneration Tribunal (the Tribunal) to determine the base salary of parliamentarians and the remuneration of Departmental Secretaries and other offices established under the Public Service Act 1999. All the provisions of the Act, other than Schedules 1 and 2, commenced the day the Act received the Royal Assent.
Schedule 1 of the Act provides the framework for the Tribunal determining a classification structure for Departmental Secretaries and related matters. Additionally, it provides the Tribunal with responsibility for determining the remuneration and recreation leave entitlements of the Public Service Commissioner, the Merit Protection Commissioner and the heads of Executive Agencies created under the Public Service Act 1999.
Schedule 2 of the Act restores the ability of the Tribunal to determine parliamentary base salary and removes the Parliaments’ ability to disallow parliamentary remuneration determinations made by the Tribunal.
The proposed Proclamation would be a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.