EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1986 NO. 190
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE TREASURER
These regulations, which are made under the Taxation Boards of Review (Transfer of Jurisdiction) Act 1986 (Act No. 48 of 1986) (the Act), which received Royal Assent on 24 June 1986, provide for the payment of salary, expenses of office allowance and travelling allowance to a person who at 30 June 1986 held office as a Chairman of a Taxation Board of Review and who, by virtue of sub-section 214(1) of the Act, holds office from 1 July 1986 as a full-time senior member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
The remuneration and allowances paid to persons who were Chairmen of the Taxation Boards of Review were higher in amount than those payable to senior members of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. These regulations ensure that former Chairmen of the Taxation Boards of Review who were transferred to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal as senior members do not suffer any diminution in salary and allowances as a result of their transfer.
Regulation 1 permits the regulations to be cited as the Taxation Boards of Review (Transfer of Jurisdiction) Regulations.
Regulation 2 contains definitions of two terms used in the regulations. First, it provides that where the term “award” is used in the regulations it is to be taken to mean an award by the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission (paragraph (a)) or a memorandum that is deemed to be an award of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission under section 28 of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 (paragraph (b)). That section enables the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission to give its consent by way of award or order to the terms of settlement of a dispute or to certify a memorandum of agreement of the settlement terms.
Secondly, regulation 2 provides that, where the term “the Act” is used in the regulations, it is to be taken to mean the Taxation Boards of Review (Transfer of Jurisdiction) Act 1986.
Sub-regulation 3(1) ensures that, where an expression is used in regulation 3 and in section 215 of the Act, the expression will have the same meaning in the regulation as it has in section 215 of the Act.
Sub-regulation 3(2) contains the rate of remuneration payable to a senior member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal who, immediately prior to 1 July 1986, was a Chairman of a Taxation Board of Review. It also contains the mechanism
for determining future increases in remuneration as a result of adjustments by the Remuneration Tribunal to salaries payable to public office holders.
Paragraphs 3(2)(a) and (b) identify those persons that the regulation is to apply to. These are persons who, immediately prior to 1 July 1986, were Chairmen of Taxation Boards of Review who were transferred to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal as senior members by force of sub-section 214(1) of the Act.
Sub-paragraph 3(2)(c)(i) authorises such a person to be paid at the rate of $72,300 per annum from 1 July 1986 until 9 July 1986. That rate of salary was that paid to Chairmen of the Taxation Boards of Review at 30 June 1986. However, that rate was increased as a result of a National Wage Case decision awarded by the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission. The increase is to operate from 10 July 1986.
Sub-paragraph 3(2)(c)(ii) enables a senior member who was previously a Taxation Board of Review Chairman to be paid at a rate of $73,963 per annum (that is $72,300 per annum increased by 2.3 per cent) from 10 July 1986 until such time as the remuneration payable at 10 July 1986 to a Senior Executive Level 6 officer of the Australian Public Service is subsequently increased by an award variation.
Sub-paragraph 3(2)(c)(iii) provides that the rate of salary ($73,963 per annum) specified in sub-regulation 3(2)(c)(ii) as payable to a senior member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal who was a Chairman of a Taxation Board of Review is to be automatically increased as a result of any award that increases the salary of a Senior Executive Level 6 officer in the Australian Public Service. That mechanism to increase the rate of salary payable is comparable to that provided for by the Remuneration Tribunal in its Determination No. 12 of 1985 in relation to remuneration payable to statutory office holders in the class that included Taxation Board of Review Chairmen. The practical effect of this is that it will not be necessary for amendments of these regulations to be made to reflect subsequent wage adjustments.
Paragraph 3(2)(d) authorises an expenses of office allowance at the rate of $3403 per annum to be paid to a senior member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal who was formerly a Chairman of a Taxation Board of Review. That amount is the amount that would have been payable to a Chairman from 1 July 1986 had that office not been abolished as from that date.
This paragraph further provides that the specified rate of expenses of office allowance is to be increased in accordance with determinations by the Remuneration Tribunal that apply to the class of holders of public offices who receive expenses of office allowance at the rate of $3403 per annum at 1 July 1986.
Sub-section 215(3) of the Act provides that the rate of travelling allowance payable to a senior member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal who was formerly a Chairman of a Taxation Board of Review is to be the rate prescribed by regulations. Prior to 1 July 1986 Chairmen of the Taxation Boards of Review received travelling allowance equal to that payable to a Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Accordingly, regulation 4 authorises the payment of travelling allowance to such senior members on and after 1 July 1986 at the same rate as that paid to a Deputy President of the Tribunal.