Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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DEFENCE FORCE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1995 NO. 69

STATUTORY RULES 1995 No. 69

ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE SCIENCE AND PERSONNEL

DEFENCE ACT 1903

DEFENCE FORCE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)

The Defence Force Regulations (the Principal Regulations) made under the Defence Act 1903, prescribe various matters relating to the organisation and administration of the Defence Force.

Part XV of the Principal Regulations deals with. procedures under which members of the Defence Force may seek redress of grievances about matters relating to their service. Under regulation 75 in Part XV, a member who considers that he or she has a grievance may make a complaint to his or her commanding officer. Other regulations in Part XV deal with aspects of the redress of grievances made by individual members of the Defence Force.

Prior to amendment, regulation 76 in Part XV set out a multi-level chain of referral within each Service to deal successively with a member's complaint. The final referral level under regulation 76 was the relevant chief of staff. Also in Part XV, regulations 77 and 78 set out aspects of the investigation and redress of grievances within these chains of referral, including the circumstances in which a grievance was referred to a higher authority. In addition, regulation 79 provided for the further referral of complaints by officers from the relevant chief of' staff to the Chief of the Defence Force.

Operation in accordance with these provisions proved cumbersome and led to delays in the consideration and resolution of redress claims. The referral chain has therefore been simplified. This has been achieved by replacing regulation 76 with a new provision which provides that, where a member is not satisfied with the commanding officer's decision, the member is entitled to refer the complaint from his or her commanding officer directly to the relevant chief of staff. The administrative arrangements within each of the Services for processing complaints will be covered in Defence Instructions made under section 9A of the Defence Act 1903.

In addition, this new provision provides for the referral of complaints from members of the Defence Force to the Vice Chief of the Defence Force where those members are in a unit or organisation that is drawn from more than one of the Services and that body is directly responsible to Headquarters Australian Defence Force. This avenue of referral will not be available if the complaint is connected only with the member's parent Service.

The Regulations make the necessary changes to regulation 76.

As a consequence of the simplification in regulation 76, the Regulations omit regulations 77 and 78. Those regulations reflected the multi-level referral chain which is no longer specified in regulation 76. A new regulation 77 requires that the officer to whom a complaint has been made or referred investigate the complaint, or cause it to be investigated, without delay. The officer must also notify the member of the results of the investigation without delay.

Another consequence of the simplification of the referral chain in regulation 76 is that regulation 79 is amended. Previously, regulation 79 entitled a member who is an officer (which is defined for this purpose to include a warrant officer) to have his or her complaint referred by a chief of staff to the Chief of the Defence Force under certain specified circumstances. The amended regulation 79 enables an officer (including a warrant officer) who is not satisfied with the result of a referral under regulation 76 to the chief of staff or the Vice Chief of the Defence Force to refer the complaint to the Chief of the Defence Force.

Regulation 81 enables a chief of staff to delegate his or her powers under Part XV of the Regulations to an officer not below the rank of Commodore in the Navy (or its equivalent in the other services). The Regulations insert a new subregulation 81(1A) which enables the Chief of the Defence Force and the Vice Chief of the Defence Force to delegate their powers under the amended Part XV to officers not below the rank of Commodore in the Navy (or its equivalent in the other Services).

The Regulations come into operation on the date of gazettal.