Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1996 NO. 168

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Statutory Rules 1996 No. 168

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Industrial Relations

Industrial Relations Act 1988

Industrial Relations Regulations (Amendment)

Section 359 of the Industrial Relations Act 1988 (the Act) provides tat the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.

Regulation 30BB of the Industrial Relations Regulations currently excludes persons employed under the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 from bringing an unlawful termination application under the Act. The existing exclusion was made in recognition of the special problems which arose for the Australian Federal Police (AFP) where a termination was associated with allegations of serious misconduct or corruption.

Regulation 30BB is subject to a sunset clause and would therefore expire on 1 January 1997. The exclusion was expressed to operate for a limited time to allow for an agreement to be reached between the AFP and AFP employees on the appropriate method for dealing with terminations associated with serious misconduct It was agreed that access to the unlawful termination jurisdiction should generally he allowed, unless the AFP Commissioner makes a declaration dud a particular termination relates to serious misconduct

That agreement is given legislative effect by the Australian Federal Police Amendment Act 1996 (AFP Amendment Act). The AFP Amendment Act will allow the AFP Commissioner to make a declaration that an appointment was terminated for serious misconduct which is likely to have a damaging effect on the professional self-respect or morale of AFP employees, or on the public reputation of the AFP. Where such a declaration is in force, a person will not be able to bring an unlawful termination application. If a declaration is not in force, a person whose appointment is terminated will be able to challenge a termination, provided Regulation 30BB is repealed.

It is desirable for the regulation to be repealed on the commencement of the Australian Federal Police Amendment Act 1996 as the continued operation of the exclusion is inconsistent with policy intent of the new legislative scheme.

Details of the regulation are as follows:

Regulation 1 provides that the regulations commence on 5 August 1996. This is the date of the commencement of the Australian Federal Police Amendment Act 1996.

Regulation 2 is a formal provision stating that it is the Industrial Relations Regulations that: are amended.

Regulation 3 repeals Regulation 30BB of the Industrial Relations Regulations.