Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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MATERNITY LEAVE (COMMONWEALTH EMPLOYEES) AMENDMENT REGULATION 2013 (NO. 1) (SLI NO 34 OF 2013)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Select Legislative Instrument 2013 No. 34

Issued by the authority of the Minister for the Public Service and Integrity

Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973

Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Amendment Regulation 2013 (No. 1)

The Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973 (the Act) makes provision for maternity leave for employees of the Commonwealth and certain other persons. Subsection 5(1) of the Act provides that the Act applies to such persons employed by the Commonwealth as are prescribed.

Section 15 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act. The Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Regulations 1982 (the Regulations) prescribe persons to whom the Act applies including persons referred to in Schedule 3 to the Regulations.

The Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Amendment Regulation 2013 (No. 1) (the Regulation) amends Schedule 3 to the Regulations to prescribe employees of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) and employees of the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General (OOSGG). This amendment makes the provisions of the Act applicable to employees in these agencies and those employees would then be able to access maternity leave under the Act.

The purpose of this amendment is to address the anomaly that employees of the Australian Secret Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General were not prescribed employees for the purposes of the Act despite being Commonwealth employees. Both agencies raised this issue. This Regulation resolves this issue by extending coverage of the Act to employees in these agencies.

Schedule 1 to the Regulation inserts two new items in Schedule 3 to the Regulations with the effect that employees of ASIS and OOSGG become covered by the provisions of the Act.

An assessment as to regulatory impact was made by the Office of Best Practice Regulation, which indicated that a Regulation Impact Statement was not required for this Regulation because the proposal has no regulatory impact on business or the not-for-profit sector.

Consultation was considered unnecessary because the instrument is of a minor or machinery nature, does not substantially alter existing arrangements and relates to an employment matter (section 18, Legislative Instruments Act 2003).

The Act specifies no conditions that need to be satisfied before the power to make the Regulation may be exercised.

The Regulation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

The Regulation commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

This Legislative Instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Human Rights Implications

This Legislative Instrument does engage the human right to maternity leave contained in article 10(2) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and article 11(2)(b) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

This Legislative Instrument advances human rights by extending the provisions of the Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973 to the employees in two Commonwealth agencies who previously were not covered by the provisions of that Act.

This Legislative Instrument is compatible with human rights because it advances the protection of human rights.

Authority: Section 15 of the Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973   

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