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2000
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL AMENDMENT BILL
2000
EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of the
Minister for
Finance and Administration,
the Honourable John Fahey,
MP)
ISBN: 00642 45213
REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL AMENDMENT BILL
2000
OUTLINE
This Bill amends the Remuneration
Tribunal’s role relating to principal executive offices by:
• allowing the Remuneration Tribunal to make recommendations to the Minister on the classification and commencing remuneration to apply to each principal executive office;
• specifying that the employing body of a principal executive office may determine terms and conditions for the office only in a manner that is consistent with the Remuneration Tribunal’s classification structure for principal executive offices or in accordance with specific written advice received from the Remuneration Tribunal; and
• allowing for transitional arrangements for
offices that were declared by regulation to be a principal executive office,
before drafting of this Bill commenced.
Financial impact statement
There will be no financial impact.
REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL AMENDMENT
BILL 2000
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1: Short Title
1. Clause 1 cites the Bill as the
Remuneration Tribunal Amendment Act 2000.
Clause 2: Commencement
2. Clause 2 specifies the commencement dates
for each section of the Bill:
• sections 1 to
4 of the Bill will commence on the day the Bill receives royal assent;
and
• the remaining provisions of the Bill will
commence on a day to be fixed by Proclamation but no later than 6 months from
the date of Royal Assent.
Clause 3: Schedules
3. Clause 3 provides for the Remuneration
Tribunal Act 1973 to be amended as set out in Schedule 1.
Clause 4: Exercise of certain powers before commencement of provision
conferring the powers
4. Clause 4 allows the Minister to declare before
the Bill’s commencement date:
• an
office to be a principal executive office;
• the
classification within the classification structure determined by the
Remuneration Tribunal for principal executive offices to which a principal
executive office is assigned; and
• the employing
body for the office.
5. This provision will ensure that any public office
declared as a principal executive office before the commencement date of this
Bill and not specifically listed in the new definition of principal executive
office under item 2 of Schedule 1 of this Bill, will continue to exist as a
principal executive office after the commencement date.
Schedule 1
Amendment of the Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973
6. Item 1
amends the definition of employing body to allow the Minister to declare a
person(s), authority or body as the employing body for a principal executive
office.
7. Item 2 amends the definition of principal executive office.
It lists all offices that were regulated by the Governor-General as principal
executive offices when this Bill was presented and includes any other office or
appointment declared by the Minister to be a principal executive office under
item 6 of Schedule 1.
8. Items 4 and 5 are consequential amendments
flowing from the amendment proposed by item 2 of Schedule 1.
9. Item 6
spells out the Minister’s authority to make declarations for principal
executive offices. The Minister will have the power to declare an office to be
a principal executive office, to declare the person(s) or body who will be
defined as the employing body, to declare the classification of an office and to
notify the employing body of the commencing remuneration for the
office.
10. The power to create a principal executive office and to
nominate an employing body is currently vested in the Governor-General, who must
issue a regulation. No provision exists for the Governor-General to identify
the remuneration applying to that office when it is created as a principal
executive office. This item gives the Minister the authority to declare an
office to be a principal executive office, to identify the employing body, to
declare the classification for each office and to advise the employing body of
the commencing remuneration of the office, rather than taking these matters
through regulation. These measures are designed to improve
accountability.
11. There may be instances where it is appropriate to
temporarily assign an office into a particular classification and/or assign
temporarily a particular commencing remuneration to an office. These instances
include when a person with specific or highly valued skills or experience
occupies an office for a particular period and there is an intention to review
the level of remuneration when the office falls vacant. To allow for this, item
6 provides that the classification and commencing remuneration for each office
may be either a temporary or permanent assignment and that any temporary
assignment will expire at the end of the office holder’s term of
appointment.
12. Before the Minister can create a principal executive
office, assign an office to a particular classification or assign the office a
commencing remuneration, the Minister must first seek the advice of the
Remuneration Tribunal. This is a new requirement in relation to principal
executive offices and is designed to ensure that a consistent approach and
independent scrutiny is applied to the creation of principal executive
offices.
13. All declarations made by the Minister under this item must
be published in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.
14. Items 7
to 10 provide for the Remuneration Tribunal to determine and/or make
recommendations on the classification structure for principal executive offices
and on the terms and conditions applying to principal executive offices in
general or in relation to a particular office(s) or classification(s).
15. Item 9 requires the Remuneration Tribunal to take into account the
superannuation entitlements of principal executive offices when determining the
classification structure.
16. Items 11 and 12 strengthens the role of the Remuneration Tribunal in relation to the principal executive office structure. These items ensure that an employing body can not determine terms and conditions for a principal executive office that are inconsistent with terms and conditions determined by the Remuneration Tribunal for the classification into which the principal executive office is assigned, unless it has gained the written consent of the Remuneration Tribunal.
17. Item 13 provides for transitional arrangements where an office has
been regulated as a principal executive office before this Bill was presented.
It allows for the employment arrangements that are in place before the
commencement date of Schedule 1 of this Bill to continue, even where those
arrangements are inconsistent with a determination made by the Remuneration
Tribunal. The transitional provisions will cease to exist at the end of the
person’s current period of appointment to the principal executive office
in question, or when the person is re-appointed to the same office.