Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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PUBLIC SERVICE (PARLIAMENTARY OFFICERS) AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 1999 (NO. 1) 1999 NO. 112

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the authority of the Prime Minister

Public Service Act 1922

Public Service (Parliamentary Officers) Amendment Regulations 1999 (No. 1)

Subsection 9(6) of the Public Service Act 1922 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may, on the recommendation of the President or the Speaker or the President and the Speaker (as the case may be), make, in relation to officers and employees of the Parliament, regulations about the same matters for which regulations may be made under subsection 97(1).

Background

In February 1998 the Governor-General made amendments to the Public Service Regulations under subsection 97(1). The amendments were known as the Public Service Regulations (Amendment -Interim Reforms). The amendments introduced a number of reforms in the Australian Public Service (APS), including a statement of APS Values, an APS Code of Conduct and APS Whistleblowing Procedures. These amendments were not applied to the parliamentary departments as the APS Values and Code of Conduct did not reflect the specific role of the parliamentary departments to serve the Parliament, rather than the Government of the day.

Purpose and Scope of the Regulations

The regulations provide for a statement of Values, Code of Conduct and Whistleblowing Procedures for the Parliamentary Service and make some recruitment related changes, consistent with the reforms introduced in the APS. Some minor technical corrections have also been made.

Amendments were also made to apply the Public Service Regulations (Amendment - Interim Reforms) to the parliamentary departments, except in relation to the APS Values, APS Code of Conduct, APS Whistleblowing Procedures and State of the Service reporting.

Details of the regulations are set out in the Attachment.

The regulations commence on the date of gazettal.

ATTACHMENT

Regulation 1 of the Regulations identifies them as the Public Service (Parliamentary Officers) Amendment Regulations 1999 (No. 1).

Regulation 2 of the Regulations provides that the Regulations commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 of the Regulations provides that the Public Service (Parliamentary Officers) Regulations are amended as set out in the Schedule.

Schedule 1

Item [1] of the Schedule amends regulation 1 of the Public Service (Parliamentary Officers) Regulations. The amendment provides that the Regulations are renamed to include the year of making in the name of the Regulations, in accordance with the Office of Legislative Drafting's new design for principal instruments.

Item [2] of the Schedule amends regulation 2 to insert definitions of "Australian law" and "Code of Conduct".

Item [3] of the Schedule amends regulation 2 to insert definitions of "Parliamentary Service employee", "Parliamentary Service employment" and "Parliamentary Service Values".

Item [4] of the Schedule omits subregulation 3(2) (requiring the Act, regulations and determinations to be available to officers) consistent with amendments already made to the Public Service Regulations by Item 5. 1 to the Schedule of the Public Service Regulations (Amendment - Interim Reforms) (Statutory Rules 1998 No. 23).

Item [5] of the Schedule omits regulation (5) (Report to the Secretary) consistent with amendments already made to the Public Service Regulations by Item 13.1 of the Schedule to the Public Service Regulations (Amendment - Interim Reforms).

Item [6] of the Schedule inserts a new Part 3 in the Regulations, dealing with the Parliamentary Service Values and Parliamentary Service Code of Conduct, public interest whistleblowing, and the powers of Secretaries under Part 3.

Item [7] of the Schedule omits subregulation 17(2) (requiring the terms of vacancies, which are open to applicants who are not in the Australian Public Service, to be approved by the Presiding Officer). This change is consistent with the APS reforms to the recruitment process, where APS vacancies are no longer restricted to APS applicants (except in exceptional circumstances).

Item [8] of the Schedule corrects an original drafting error in subregulation 18(2). The subregulation made reference to regulation 17 when it should have made reference to regulation 19.

Item [9] of the Schedule amends the heading of regulation 19 to reflect the amendments made by Item [10] of this schedule.

Item [10] of the Schedule amends paragraph 19(1)(a) (Direction to act in certain offices for more than 12 months or to the occurrence of an event). This amendment requires that such directions must be notified. The previous requirement to notify was for periods of more than 3 months. The change in period is consistent with amendments already made to the Public Service Regulations by Item 48.1 to the Schedule of the Public Service Regulations (Amendment - Interim Reforms).