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Queensland
Public Service Bill 2008
Queensland
Public Service Bill 2008
Contents
Page
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 1 Preliminary
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2 Commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3 Main purposes of Act and their achievement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4 Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Part 2 The Queensland Public Service
Division 1 Basic concepts
5 The public service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
6 Employment of public service employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
7 What are departments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8 Who is a public service officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
9 Public service employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
10 Who is a chief executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
11 Relationship between chief executives and their public service
employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
12 Application of Act to various types of employees etc. . . . . . . . . . 18
13 Act does not apply to particular offices and employment . . . . . . . 18
Division 2 Departments of government
14 Declaration of departments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
15 Establishment of departments etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
16 Declaration of functions of departments etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
17 Giving functions to departments etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
18 Other powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
19 Provision for public service employees and amalgamations . . . . 21
20 Existence of separate government entities not affected. . . . . . . . 21
Public Service Bill 2008
Contents
Division 3 Public service offices
21 Public service offices and their heads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
22 General provision for application of Acts to public service offices 22
23 Application of Act to public service offices declared under a
regulation .............................. 22
Division 4 Government entities
24 What is a government entity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Part 3 General public service principles
25 The management and employment principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
26 Work performance and personal conduct principles . . . . . . . . . . 26
Part 4 The merit principle
27 The merit principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
28 Merit criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
29 Directives about applying the merit principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chapter 2 Equality of employment opportunity
30 General EEO obligation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
31 Annual EEO reporting requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
32 Exemption from reporting requirement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
33 Commission chief executive may take action if dissatisfied with
report .......................................... 30
34 Compliance with recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Chapter 3 Administration
Part 1 The Minister's role
Division 1 General provisions
35 Meaning of public service office for pt 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
36 Minister's role for the public service and public service offices . . 31
Division 2 Obtaining reports
Subdivision 1 Commission reports
37 Report on effectiveness and efficiency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
38 Matters that may be included in referral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Subdivision 2 Other reports
39 Chief executive report on management and employment
principles .................................. 33
40 Obtaining report on functions or activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
41 Conduct of management reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
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Contents
Division 3 Miscellaneous provision
42 Minister may direct action about surplus public service
employees .................................... 36
Part 2 The Public Service Commission and its role
43 Establishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
44 Commission represents the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
45 Commissioners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
46 Main functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Part 3 Rulings by the commission chief executive and industrial
relations Minister
Division 1 General provisions about rulings
47 Types of ruling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
48 Making of and access to rulings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
49 General references to a ruling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
50 Criteria for making a ruling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
51 Relationship with legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
52 Relationship between directives and industrial instruments . . . . . 40
Division 2 General ruling-making powers
53 Rulings by commission chief executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
54 Rulings by industrial relations Minister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
55 Directives to apply Act to general and temporary employees . . . 42
Part 4 Particular provisions about the commission and
commission reviews
Division 1 Commissioners
Subdivision 1 Commission chief executive
56 Appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
57 Basis of employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
58 Main functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
59 Duty in performing functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
60 Acting as commission chief executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
61 Preservation of commission chief executive's accrued rights. . . . 45
62 Delegation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
63 Resignation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Subdivision 2 Appointed commissioners
64 Appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
65 Disclosure of interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
66 Resignation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
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Subdivision 3 Miscellaneous provisions
67 Criminal history checks to confirm suitability for appointment . . . 47
68 Additional appointment as deputy chairperson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Division 2 Meetings and other business
69 Conduct of business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
70 Times and places of meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
71 Quorum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
72 Meeting deputies for particular commissioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
73 Presiding at meetings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
74 Conduct of meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
75 Decisions outside meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
76 Minutes and record of decisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Division 3 Staff and agents
77 Staff members of the commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
78 Staff subject to direction by commission chief executive . . . . . . . 50
79 Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Division 4 Commission reviews and reports
Subdivision 1 Conduct and scope
80 Minister to be kept informed of conduct of review . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
81 Minister may obtain information from commission . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
82 Disclosures to commission for review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Subdivision 2 Reports
83 Affected agencies to be given a draft report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
84 Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
85 Procedure for reporting sensitive information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Division 5 Miscellaneous provisions
86 How commission's functions may be performed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
87 Confidentiality relating to commission reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
88 Protection of commission officials from liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 1 Chief executives
Division 1 The chief executive service
89 Establishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
90 Purpose and its achievement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
91 Chief executive service standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
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Division 2 Appointments
92 Appointment of chief executives generally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
93 Appointment to particular departments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
94 Acting as chief executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
95 Statutory officer as chief executive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
96 Contractual basis of employment for chief executives . . . . . . . . . 57
97 Term of appointment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Division 3 Functions
98 Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
99 How responsibilities must be discharged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
100 Extent of chief executive's autonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Division 4 Miscellaneous provisions
101 Declaration of interests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
102 Conflicts of interest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
103 Delegation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
104 References in Act to chief executive of a chief executive are to
the Minister ................................ 62
Part 2 Senior executives
Division 1 The senior executive service
105 Senior executive service continued . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
106 Purposes of service and their achievement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
107 Role of commission chief executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
108 Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
109 Senior executive numbers and classification levels . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Division 2 Appointment matters
110 Appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
111 Secondments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
112 Acting senior executives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
113 Contractual basis of employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
114 Term of appointment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Division 3 Transfers and redeployment
115 Transfer of senior executives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Part 3 Purpose of position of senior officers
116 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
117 Role of commission chief executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
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Chapter 5 Staffing generally
Part 1 Preliminary
118 Chapter does not generally apply to chief executives or senior
executives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Part 2 Appointment matters
Division 1 General provisions
119 Appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
120 Secondment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
121 Basis of employment--tenure or contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
122 Basis of employment for contract employment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
123 Tenure on ending of particular employment contracts . . . . . . . . . 70
124 Contract terminated on acceptance of tenure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
125 Basis of employment on tenure--full-time or part-time . . . . . . . . 71
126 Appointments on probation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
127 Requirement about citizenship etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
128 Notification of proposed appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Division 2 Reappointment of particular election candidates
129 Definitions for div 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
130 Request for reappointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
131 Dealing with request. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
132 Continuity of service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Part 3 Transfers and redeployment
133 Chief executive's power to transfer or redeploy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
134 Consequence if transfer refused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Part 4 Termination, suspension and related matters
Division 1 General provisions
135 Resignation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
136 Voluntary retirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
137 Suspension other than as disciplinary action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
138 Action because of surplus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Division 2 Removal of statutory office holders who are term
appointees
Subdivision 1 Preliminary
139 What is a statutory office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
140 Who is a term appointee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
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Subdivision 2 Removal of term appointees
141 Power to remove. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
142 Other removal powers not affected. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Subdivision 3 Re-employment and entitlements
143 Application of sdiv 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
144 Entitlement to public service employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
145 Commission chief executive's role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
146 Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Part 5 General and temporary employees
147 Employment of general employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
148 Employment of temporary employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
149 Review of status of temporary employee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Part 6 Assessing suitability of persons to be engaged in particular
employment
Division 1 Preliminary
150 Definitions for pt 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Division 2 Relevant duties
151 Application of div 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
152 Chief executive may decide to obtain criminal history . . . . . . . . . 85
153 Failure to consent to obtaining criminal history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
154 Obtaining criminal history with consent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
155 Assessment of suitability using criminal history report . . . . . . . . 86
Division 3 Child-related duties
156 Application of div 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
157 Chief executive must obtain police information in particular
circumstances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
158 Failure to consent to obtaining police information . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
159 Obtaining police information with consent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
160 Information to be given by police commissioner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
161 Decision by police commissioner that information is investigative
information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
162 Using police information report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
163 Decision about suitability of person after considering police
information report ................................ 92
164 Decision-making in relation to discretionary matters . . . . . . . . . . 94
165 Chief executive may enter into arrangements about police
information .................................. 95
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Division 4 Provisions relating to reports under divisions 2 and 3
166 Duty of police commissioner relating to requests for criminal
history or police information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
167 Criminal history or police information no longer required to be
obtained .................................... 95
168 Police commissioner not to use information given as part of
request except for particular circumstances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
169 Destruction of reports and notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Division 5 Other matters including notifications, offences and rulings
170 Prosecuting authority to notify chief executive about committal,
conviction etc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
171 False or misleading statements in consent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
172 Confidentiality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
173 Commission chief executive may make rulings for this part . . . . . 101
Part 7 Mental or physical incapacity
174 Application of pt 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
175 Chief executive may require medical examination . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
176 Employee not to be given sick leave if requirement not complied
with ...................................... 102
177 Medical examination report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
178 Action following report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
179 Record of requirement and report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Part 8 Miscellaneous provisions
180 Requirement to give evidence of age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
181 Requirement to give notice of charge or conviction for indictable
offence ..................................... 104
182 Confidentiality of private information contained in notice . . . . . . . 105
183 Work performance arrangements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
184 Interchange arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
185 Declaration of interests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
186 Conflicts of interest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Chapter 6 Disciplinary action for public service officers
187 Grounds for discipline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
188 Disciplinary action that may be taken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
189 Suspension of public service officer liable to discipline . . . . . . . . 112
190 Procedure for disciplinary action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
191 Effect of suspension from duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
192 Additional procedures for suspension or termination . . . . . . . . . . 112
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Chapter 7 Appeals and reviews
Part 1 Appeals to the commission chief executive
Division 1 Right of appeal
193 Appeals to commission chief executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
194 Decisions against which appeals may be made. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
195 Decisions against which appeals can not be made . . . . . . . . . . . 114
196 Who may appeal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Division 2 Appeal procedures
197 Starting an appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
198 Notice by commission chief executive of appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
199 Stay of operation of decisions etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
200 Commission chief executive may decline to hear particular
appeals ................................... 118
201 Appeal is by way of review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
202 Commission chief executive's functions on appeal. . . . . . . . . . . . 119
203 Commission chief executive may decide procedures. . . . . . . . . . 119
204 Representation of parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
205 Commission chief executive's powers on appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
206 Withdrawing an appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
207 Lapse of appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Division 3 Deciding appeal
208 Decision on appeal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
209 Criteria for deciding process deficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
210 Reopening decided appeals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Division 4 Miscellaneous provisions
211 Attendance at an appeal is part of an employee's duties . . . . . . . 123
212 Public service employee's entitlements for attending appeal as
part of duties .............................. 123
213 Entitlement of non-public service employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
214 Relevant department's or public service office's financial
obligation for appeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Part 2 Alternate jurisdiction
215 Jurisdiction of IRC for industrial matters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Part 3 Exclusion of particular matters from jurisdiction under
other Acts
216 Application of pt 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
217 Exclusion for Industrial Relations Act 1999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
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Contents
218 Exclusion for Judicial Review Act 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Chapter 8 Miscellaneous provisions
219 Effect of Act on the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
220 Provision for acting appointments not by original appointor . . . . . 127
221 Offences against Act are summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
222 Regulation-making power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Chapter 9 Repeal and transitional provisions
Part 1 Repeal provisions
223 Acts repealed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Part 2 Transitional provisions
Division 1 Preliminary
224 Definitions for pt 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Division 2 Public service employees
225 Existing public service officers generally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
226 Existing chief executives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
227 General provision for existing senior executives other than chief
executives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
228 Existing tenured senior executives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
229 Exclusion from tenure on termination of contract for particular
public service officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
230 Existing contracts of employment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
231 Existing general employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
232 Existing temporary employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
233 Period for first status review of a temporary employee. . . . . . . . . 133
Division 3 Rulings
234 Existing rulings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
235 References to existing rulings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Division 4 Disciplinary action and suspension
236 Existing disciplinary action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
237 Application of disciplinary action provisions to prior acts and
omissions ................................. 135
238 Existing suspensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Division 5 Appeals
239 Application of div 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
240 Conversion to appeal under this Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
241 Provision for former protective appeals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
242 Appeal documents or information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
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Contents
Division 6 Former commissioner and commission
243 Dissolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
244 References to former commissioner or commission . . . . . . . . . . 136
245 Former staff become commission staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Division 7 Miscellaneous provisions
246 Specific provisions relating to criminal history of a person under
the repealed Public Service Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
247 Existing term appointees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
248 Existing delegations by chief executives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
249 References to repealed Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
250 Corresponding approvals, decisions and notices under the
repealed Public Service Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
251 Public Service Regulation 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Chapter 10 Amendment of Acts
252 Acts amended in sch 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Schedule 1 Public service offices and their heads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Schedule 2 Statutory office holders who are not term appointees . . . . . 144
Schedule 3 Minor and consequential amendments of other Acts . . . . . . 148
Acts Interpretation Act 1954 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Government Owned Corporations Act 1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Industrial Relations Act 1999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Legal Profession Act 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Ombudsman Act 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Parliament of Queensland Act 2001. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Queensland Competition Authority Act 1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Residential Tenancies Act 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Rural and Regional Adjustment Act 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Whistleblowers Protection Act 1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 . . . . . . . . . 154
Schedule 4 Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Page 11
2008
A Bill
for
An Act about the administration of the public service and the
management and employment of public service employees, to
provide for matters concerning particular agencies in the
public sector, and to amend the Acts mentioned in schedule 3
for particular purposes
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 1]
The Parliament of Queensland enacts-- 1
Chapter 1 Introduction 2
Part 1 Preliminary 3
1 Short title 4
This Act may be cited as the Public Service Act 2008. 5
2 Commencement 6
This Act commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation. 7
3 Main purposes of Act and their achievement 8
(1) The main purposes of this Act are to-- 9
(a) establish a high performing apolitical public service that 10
is-- 11
(i) responsive to Government priorities; and 12
(ii) focused on the delivery of services in a 13
professional and non-partisan way; and 14
(b) promote the effectiveness and efficiency of government 15
entities; and 16
(c) provide for the administration of the public service and 17
the employment and management of public service 18
employees; and 19
(d) provide for the rights and obligations of public service 20
employees; and 21
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 The Queensland Public Service
[s 4]
(e) promote equality of employment opportunity in the 1
public service and in other particular agencies in the 2
public sector. 3
(2) To help achieve the main purposes, this Act-- 4
(a) fixes principles to guide public service management, 5
public service employment and the work performance 6
and personal conduct of public service employees; and 7
(b) establishes a Public Service Commission to-- 8
(i) enhance the public service's human resource 9
management and capability; and 10
(ii) review and improve the overall effectiveness and 11
efficiency of government entities; and 12
(c) establishes a chief executive service and a senior 13
executive service to provide the public service with high 14
performing leaders who will actively promote the 15
purposes and the principles. 16
4 Dictionary 17
The dictionary in schedule 4 defines particular words used in 18
this Act. 19
Part 2 The Queensland Public Service 20
Division 1 Basic concepts 21
5 The public service 22
The Queensland Public Service consists of the persons who 23
are employed under this Act, called public service employees. 24
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 The Queensland Public Service
[s 6]
6 Employment of public service employees 1
Public service employees are employed in departments or 2
public service offices. 3
7 What are departments 4
A department is an entity declared under division 2 to be a 5
department of government. 6
Note-- 7
For public services offices, see section 21. 8
8 Who is a public service officer 9
A person is a public service officer if the person is employed 10
under this Act as-- 11
(a) a chief executive; or 12
(b) a senior executive; or 13
(c) an officer of another type. 14
Note-- 15
For the appointment of public service officers, see sections 92, 110 and 16
119. 17
9 Public service employees 18
(1) A person is a public service employee if the person is 19
employed under this Act as-- 20
(a) a public service officer; or 21
(b) a general employee; or 22
(c) a temporary employee. 23
(2) Public service employees are employees for the Industrial 24
Relations Act 1999. 25
(3) Subsection (2) is subject to sections 215(3) and 218. 26
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 The Queensland Public Service
[s 10]
Notes-- 1
1 Section 215(3) excludes the jurisdiction of the IRC for decisions 2
against which a person has appealed to the commission chief 3
executive. 4
2 Section 218 excludes particular matters from the concept of 5
industrial matter. 6
10 Who is a chief executive 7
(1) A chief executive, in relation to a department, is the person 8
who holds appointment under this Act as the chief executive 9
of that department. 10
Notes-- 11
1 For public service offices, see sections 22 and 23. 12
2 Under section 104, the chief executive of a chief executive is the 13
Minister. 14
(2) The chief executive, of a person who is a public service 15
employee, is the chief executive of the department in which 16
the person holds appointment as a public service employee. 17
(3) Otherwise, a reference to a chief executive is a reference to 18
the chief executive of a department. 19
11 Relationship between chief executives and their public 20
service employees 21
(1) The chief executive of a department is, for the State, 22
responsible for the employment of public service employees 23
of that department. 24
(2) The public service employees of a department are responsible 25
to that department's chief executive in relation to their 26
employment in that department. 27
Note-- 28
For particular provisions about a chief executive's functions, see chapter 29
4, part 1, division 3. 30
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 The Queensland Public Service
[s 12]
12 Application of Act to various types of employees etc. 1
(1) This Act mainly applies to public service officers. 2
(2) However, some provisions of this Act expressly apply to all 3
public service employees. 4
(3) Also, a provision of this Act may expressly apply to, or may, 5
by directive, be applied to a general or temporary employee. 6
Notes-- 7
1 However, for employees of a public service office declared by 8
regulation under section 21, see section 23. 9
2 For the directive-making power, see section 55. 10
13 Act does not apply to particular offices and employment 11
(1) This Act does not apply to an office if-- 12
(a) appointments to the office are made by the Governor 13
alone; or 14
(b) the salary for the office is provided for under the 15
Judicial Remuneration Act 2007, the District Court of 16
Queensland Act 1967 or the Magistrates Act 1991; or 17
(c) the office is a particular office established by an Act that 18
expressly provides for the appointment of the holder of 19
an office mentioned in paragraph (b); or 20
(d) the office is honorary. 21
(2) In addition, this Act does not apply to the employment of a 22
person as associate to a Supreme Court judge, District Court 23
judge or industrial commissioner. 24
(3) Subsection (1) does not prevent the holder of an office 25
mentioned in it from having or exercising powers under this 26
Act. 27
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 The Queensland Public Service
[s 14]
Division 2 Departments of government 1
14 Declaration of departments 2
(1) The departments of government are the entities declared to be 3
departments of government by the Governor in Council by 4
gazette notice. 5
(2) A department of government includes the entities declared to 6
be part of the department by the Governor in Council by 7
gazette notice. 8
15 Establishment of departments etc. 9
The Governor in Council may, by gazette notice-- 10
(a) establish a department or another government entity; or 11
(b) amalgamate government entities; or 12
(c) add a government entity to a department or another 13
government entity; or 14
(d) divide a department or another government entity; or 15
(e) name or rename a department or another government 16
entity; or 17
(f) abolish a department or another government entity. 18
16 Declaration of functions of departments etc. 19
The Governor in Council may, by gazette notice, declare the 20
functions that-- 21
(a) are to be the functions of a department or another 22
government entity; or 23
(b) are included or not included in the functions of a 24
department or another government entity. 25
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 The Queensland Public Service
[s 17]
17 Giving functions to departments etc. 1
The Governor in Council may, by gazette notice-- 2
(a) give a function to a department or another government 3
entity; or 4
(b) change or discontinue a function given to a department 5
or another government entity; or 6
(c) transfer a function given to a department or another 7
government entity to a different government entity. 8
18 Other powers 9
(1) The Governor in Council may, by gazette notice or regulation, 10
prescribe anything necessary or convenient to be prescribed-- 11
(a) to enable the making of a division 2 gazette notice; or 12
(b) for carrying out or giving effect to a division 2 gazette 13
notice; or 14
(c) because of the making of a division 2 gazette notice. 15
(2) The Governor in Council may do anything else the Governor 16
in Council considers necessary or convenient to be done-- 17
(a) to enable the making of a division 2 gazette notice; or 18
(b) to carry out or give effect to a division 2 gazette notice; 19
or 20
(c) because of the making of a division 2 gazette notice. 21
Example of action to carry out or give effect to a division 2 gazette 22
notice-- 23
transferring public service employees from a department to another 24
department 25
(3) In this section-- 26
division 2 gazette notice means a gazette notice made or to be 27
made under this division. 28
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 The Queensland Public Service
[s 19]
19 Provision for public service employees and 1
amalgamations 2
(1) This section applies if a department (the first department) or a 3
part of the first department is amalgamated with another 4
department or a part of another department. 5
(2) All public service employees of the first department, or the 6
part of the first department, become public service employees 7
of the other department or the part of the other department, 8
unless the Governor in Council decides otherwise. 9
(3) This section does not limit or otherwise affect section 18. 10
20 Existence of separate government entities not affected 11
(1) This section applies if another Act establishes a particular 12
government entity as a separate entity or regulates the 13
existence of an entity as a government entity. 14
(2) To remove any doubt, it is declared that a gazette notice under 15
this division does not have any effect on the government 16
entity's separate existence. 17
Division 3 Public service offices 18
21 Public service offices and their heads 19
(1) A public service office is-- 20
(a) an entity that schedule 1 states is a public service office; 21
or 22
(b) another designated entity, or part of a designated entity, 23
declared under a regulation to be a public service office. 24
(2) The head of each public service office is-- 25
(a) for a public service office stated in schedule 1--the 26
person stated opposite its name; or 27
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 The Queensland Public Service
[s 22]
(b) otherwise--the person declared under a regulation to be 1
the head of the office. 2
(3) In this section-- 3
designated entity means an entity, or part of an entity, 4
mentioned in section 24(1)(c), (d), (e) or (f) that is not an 5
entity mentioned in section 24(2). 6
22 General provision for application of Acts to public 7
service offices 8
(1) This section applies subject to section 23 and any regulation 9
made under it. 10
(2) This Act and other Acts apply to a public service office and its 11
public service employees as if-- 12
(a) the office were a department; and 13
(b) the head of the office were the department's chief 14
executive. 15
(3) Without limiting subsection (2), the head of the public service 16
office has, for the office's public service employees, all of a 17
chief executive's functions and powers. 18
(4) This section does not affect-- 19
(a) the provisions about accountable officers under the 20
Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977, sections 21
34 and 35B; or 22
(b) the meaning of department under section 4A of that Act. 23
23 Application of Act to public service offices declared 24
under a regulation 25
(1) This section applies only to a public service office declared 26
under section 21. 27
(2) A provision of a regulation (an application provision) may 28
provide for the following for the public service office-- 29
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 The Queensland Public Service
[s 24]
(a) what provisions of this Act are to apply to it, with or 1
without change; 2
(b) the way in which the applied provisions are to apply. 3
(3) However, an application provision can not reduce a 4
employee's overall employment conditions, unless-- 5
(a) the reduction arises out of a change in the employee's 6
employment; and 7
(b) the change was sought by the employee. 8
(4) If an application provision is made for the public service 9
office-- 10
(a) this Act only applies to the public service office to the 11
extent provided for under the provision; and 12
(b) this Act applies as mentioned in paragraph (a) with 13
necessary changes; and 14
(c) other Acts do not apply to the public service office as a 15
public service office. 16
(5) A regulation may prescribe anything necessary or convenient 17
to be prescribed for an application provision-- 18
(a) to enable the provision to be made; or 19
(b) to carry out or give effect to the provision; or 20
(c) because of the making of the provision, including the 21
portability of employment rights and entitlements. 22
Division 4 Government entities 23
24 What is a government entity 24
(1) An entity is a government entity if it is-- 25
(a) a department or part of a department; or 26
(b) a public service office or part of a public service office; 27
or 28
Page 23
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 The Queensland Public Service
[s 24]
(c) an agency, authority, commission, corporation, 1
instrumentality, office, or other entity, established under 2
an Act or under State authorisation for a public or State 3
purpose; or 4
(d) a part of an entity mentioned in paragraph (c); or 5
(e) another entity, or part of another entity, declared under a 6
regulation to be a government entity; or 7
(f) a registry or other administrative office of a court of the 8
State of any jurisdiction. 9
(2) However, each of the following entities is not a government 10
entity-- 11
(a) a local government; 12
(b) a local government owned corporation, or a subsidiary 13
of a local government owned corporation, under the 14
Local Government Act 1993, section 592; 15
(c) the parliamentary service; 16
(d) the Governor's official residence (known as 17
`Government House') and its associated administrative 18
unit; 19
(e) the Executive Council; 20
(f) the Legislative Assembly; 21
(g) a court of the State of any jurisdiction; 22
(h) the police service to the extent that it does not include 23
staff members mentioned in the Police Service 24
Administration Act 1990, section 2.5(1)(a); 25
(i) a school council established under the Education 26
(General Provisions) Act 2006, university or university 27
college; 28
(j) a cooperative under the Cooperatives Act 1997 for 29
primary producers that is not in receipt of moneys of, or 30
financial assistance from, the State; 31
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 3 General public service principles
[s 25]
(k) a government owned corporation, unless a regulation 1
declares it to be a government entity; 2
(l) another entity, or part of another entity, declared under a 3
regulation not to be a government entity. 4
Part 3 General public service 5
principles 6
25 The management and employment principles 7
(1) Public service management is to be directed towards-- 8
(a) providing responsive, effective and efficient services to 9
the community and the Government; and 10
(b) maintaining impartiality and integrity in informing, 11
advising and assisting the Government; and 12
(c) promoting collaboration between Government and 13
non-government sectors in providing services to the 14
community; and 15
(d) continuously improving public service administration, 16
performance management and service delivery; and 17
(e) managing public resources efficiently, responsibly and 18
in a fully accountable way; and 19
(f) promoting the Government as an employer of choice; 20
and 21
(g) promoting equality of employment opportunity. 22
(2) Public service employment is to be directed towards 23
promoting-- 24
(a) best practice human resource management; and 25
(b) equitable and flexible working environments in which 26
all public service employees are-- 27
Page 25
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 3 General public service principles
[s 26]
(i) treated fairly and reasonably; and 1
(ii) remunerated at rates appropriate to their 2
responsibilities; and 3
(c) a diverse and highly skilled workforce drawing from 4
Government and non-government sectors. 5
(3) Subsections (1) and (2) are the management and employment 6
principles. 7
26 Work performance and personal conduct principles 8
In recognition that public service employment involves a 9
public trust, a public service employee's work performance 10
and personal conduct must be directed towards-- 11
(a) achieving excellence in service delivery; and 12
(b) ensuring the effective, efficient and appropriate use of 13
public resources; and 14
(c) giving effect to Government policies and priorities; and 15
(d) collaborating with other departments with a focus on 16
public service-wide priorities as well as 17
department-specific priorities; and 18
(e) providing sound and impartial advice to the 19
Government; and 20
(f) improving all aspects of the employee's work 21
performance; and 22
(g) carrying out duties impartially and with integrity; and 23
(h) observing all laws relevant to the employment; and 24
(i) ensuring the employee's personal conduct does not 25
reflect adversely on the reputation of the public service; 26
and 27
(j) observing the ethics principles for public officials under 28
the Public Sector Ethics Act 1994, section 4; and 29
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 4 The merit principle
[s 27]
(k) complying with codes of conduct, as required under the 1
Public Sector Ethics Act 1994, section 18. 2
Part 4 The merit principle 3
27 The merit principle 4
(1) The selection, under this Act, of an eligible person for an 5
appointment or secondment as a public service employee 6
must be based on merit alone (the merit principle). 7
(2) The merit principle applies subject to chapter 5, part 2, 8
division 2. 9
Editor's note-- 10
Chapter 5, part 2, division 2 (Reappointment of particular election 11
candidates) 12
(3) In this section-- 13
appointment does not include a transfer. 14
28 Merit criteria 15
In applying the merit principle to a person, the following must 16
be taken into account-- 17
(a) the extent to which the person has abilities, aptitude, 18
skills, qualifications, knowledge, experience and 19
personal qualities relevant to the carrying out of the 20
duties in question; 21
(b) if relevant-- 22
(i) the way in which the person carried out any 23
previous employment or occupational duties; and 24
(ii) the extent to which the person has potential for 25
development. 26
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 2 Equality of employment opportunity
[s 29]
29 Directives about applying the merit principle 1
(1) A directive of the commission chief executive may provide for 2
how selection, under the merit principle, for a stated type of 3
appointment or secondment must be carried out. 4
(2) A selection for an appointment or secondment must comply 5
with any relevant directive under subsection (1). 6
Chapter 2 Equality of employment 7
opportunity 8
30 General EEO obligation 9
(1) Each of the following entities (a relevant EEO agency) must 10
act to promote EEO for employment matters that concern it-- 11
(a) a government entity; 12
(b) the police service; 13
(c) an entity that another Act provides is a relevant EEO 14
agency; 15
(d) an entity prescribed under a regulation. 16
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), each relevant EEO agency 17
must act to-- 18
(a) enable members of the EEO target groups to do the 19
following as effectively as people who are not members 20
of those groups-- 21
(i) compete for recruitment, selection, promotion and 22
transfer; 23
(ii) pursue careers; and 24
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 2 Equality of employment opportunity
[s 30]
(b) eliminate unlawful discrimination about employment 1
matters by the agency or its employees against members 2
of the EEO target groups. 3
(3) To remove any doubt, it is declared that this section, does not 4
require the taking of action incompatible with the merit 5
principle. 6
(4) In this section-- 7
EEO target groups means all of the following groups-- 8
(a) people of the Aboriginal race of Australia or people who 9
are descendants of the indigenous inhabitants of the 10
Torres Strait Islands; 11
(b) people who have migrated to Australia and whose first 12
language is a language other than English, and the 13
children of those people; 14
(c) people with a physical, sensory, intellectual or 15
psychiatric disability, whether the disability presently 16
exists or previously existed but no longer exists; 17
(d) women, irrespective of age; 18
(e) a group of people prescribed under a regulation. 19
employees means individuals appointed or engaged-- 20
(a) under a contract of service, whether on a full-time, 21
part-time, permanent, casual or temporary basis; or 22
(b) under a statutory appointment. 23
employment matters means-- 24
(a) recruitment procedure, and selection criteria, for 25
appointment or engagement of people as employees; or 26
(b) promotion, transfer or redeployment of employees; or 27
(c) training and staff development for employees; or 28
(d) terms and conditions of service and separation of 29
employees; or 30
(e) any other matter relating to the employment of 31
employees. 32
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Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 2 Equality of employment opportunity
[s 31]
unlawful discrimination means discrimination that is 1
unlawful under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991. 2
31 Annual EEO reporting requirement 3
(1) Each relevant EEO agency must, for each financial year, give 4
the commission chief executive a report about the outcome of 5
its actions required with section 30 during the financial year. 6
(2) The report must be given within 3 months after the end the 7
financial year. 8
(3) The report may be included in other documents the relevant 9
EEO agency gives the commission chief executive. 10
32 Exemption from reporting requirement 11
(1) If a relevant EEO agency asks, the commission chief 12
executive may grant the agency an exemption from the 13
operation of section 31. 14
(2) The exemption may be for all financial years or a particular 15
financial year. 16
(3) The commission chief executive may cancel all or part of the 17
exemption. 18
(4) The exemption or cancellation must be written. 19
33 Commission chief executive may take action if 20
dissatisfied with report 21
(1) This section applies if the commission chief executive is 22
dissatisfied with any matter relating to a report under section 23
31. 24
(2) The commission chief executive may recommend to the 25
relevant EEO agency's chief executive the taking of action to 26
overcome that dissatisfaction. 27
Page 30
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 3 Administration
Part 1 The Minister's role
[s 34]
34 Compliance with recommendation 1
If a relevant EEO agency is given a recommendation under 2
section 33, its chief executive must-- 3
(a) ensure the action recommended to be taken; or 4
(b) give the Minister administering the Act relevant to the 5
agency and the commission chief executive a notice 6
stating the reasons why the action can not be taken. 7
Chapter 3 Administration 8
Part 1 The Minister's role 9
Division 1 General provisions 10
35 Meaning of public service office for pt 1 11
In this part, public service office-- 12
(a) includes-- 13
(i) a department or part of a department; and 14
(ii) the police service; but 15
(b) does not include-- 16
(i) the integrity commissioner; or 17
(ii) the information commission office; or 18
(iii) the audit office. 19
36 Minister's role for the public service and public service 20
offices 21
(1) The Minister has the following functions-- 22
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[s 37]
(a) to promote the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the 1
public service; 2
(b) to assess the appropriateness, effectiveness and 3
efficiency of public service management, and in 4
particular, departments or parts of departments; 5
(c) to advise departmental Ministers about steps that should 6
be taken to improve the public service's effectiveness 7
and efficiency; 8
(d) to authorise reviews of activities or functions of public 9
service offices; 10
(e) to refer to the commission for review matters relating to 11
the effectiveness or efficiency of public service offices; 12
(f) to monitor the performance of the commission's 13
functions. 14
(2) Subsection (1) does not limit or otherwise affect the 15
Minister's other functions or require the Minister to carry out 16
any particular action. 17
Division 2 Obtaining reports 18
Subdivision 1 Commission reports 19
37 Report on effectiveness and efficiency 20
(1) The Minister may, by signed notice, refer to the commission 21
any matter relating to the effectiveness or efficiency of a 22
public service office for the commission to review and report 23
to the Minister about (a commission review). 24
(2) The reference may be for a single commission review for 2 or 25
more public service offices. 26
(3) Each chief executive or head of a public service office the 27
subject of the reference must give the commission the help it 28
reasonably requires to conduct the review. 29
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[s 38]
(4) The Minister must table the report in the Legislative 1
Assembly. 2
Note-- 3
For particular provisions about commission reviews, see part 4. 4
38 Matters that may be included in referral 5
To ensure a commission review is conducted appropriately, 6
the Minister may, when referring a matter to the commission, 7
do all or any of the following-- 8
(a) ask it to consider and advise whether the review is 9
warranted; 10
(b) give terms of reference for the review; 11
(c) state the entities with whom it must consult for the 12
review; 13
(d) state a period within which it must give its report; 14
(e) ask it to give a draft report to the Minister, another 15
Minister, a chief executive, public service office head or 16
another stated entity for comment before finalising the 17
review; 18
(f) ask it to make recommendations about a stated matter. 19
Subdivision 2 Other reports 20
39 Chief executive report on management and employment 21
principles 22
(1) The Minister may require the chief executive of a department 23
to give the Minister a report about particular aspects of the 24
department's application of the management and employment 25
principles. 26
(2) The report must be given to the Minister within the time the 27
Minister requires. 28
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[s 40]
(3) To help the Minister to decide whether to require reports 1
under subsection (1), the commission may, of its own 2
initiative, give the Minister advice about the application of the 3
management and employment principles. 4
40 Obtaining report on functions or activities 5
(1) The Minister may, by signed notice, authorise a person (the 6
authorised person) to conduct a review (a management 7
review) of the functions or activities of a stated public service 8
office. 9
Note-- 10
For management reviews of the audit office, see however the Financial 11
Administration and Audit Act 1977, section 71. 12
(2) Before or after giving the authorisation, the Minister may-- 13
(a) inform the departmental Minister and the chief 14
executive or the head of the public service office about 15
the management review; and 16
(b) give the chief executive or the head of the public service 17
office an opportunity to nominate a stated number of 18
employees of the public service office to take part in the 19
management review. 20
(3) The authorisation may be for a single management review for 21
2 or more public service offices. 22
(4) The authorised person must give the Minister a report on the 23
review, including any findings or recommendations. 24
(5) The Minister may give a copy of the report to the 25
departmental Minister, the chief executive or head and anyone 26
else the Minister considers appropriate. 27
41 Conduct of management reviews 28
(1) A person authorised under section 40 to conduct a 29
management review-- 30
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[s 41]
(a) must produce the person's authority if asked by 1
someone concerned in the review; and 2
(b) may, for conducting the review, do any or all of the 3
following-- 4
(i) enter official premises of the public service office 5
the subject of the review at any reasonable time; 6
(ii) require the production of, examine, copy, or take 7
an extract from, any official document in the 8
possession of the public service office; 9
(iii) interview employees of the public service office; 10
(iv) interview anyone else who can provide information 11
relevant to the review. 12
Example of another person who can provide information-- 13
a client of services provided by the public service office 14
(2) The chief executive or the head of the public service office 15
and each other person employed in the office must give the 16
authorised person the help the authorised person reasonably 17
requires to conduct the review. 18
(3) Without limiting subsection (2), the authorised person may 19
require a person employed in the public service office to 20
answer any question relevant to the review. 21
(4) However, the employee need not answer the question if-- 22
(a) the employee objects to answering the question because 23
answering it might tend to incriminate the employee of a 24
criminal offence; and 25
(b) the employee would have a claim of privilege against 26
self-incrimination in relation to a criminal offence if the 27
employee were asked the question in a Supreme Court 28
action. 29
(5) In this section-- 30
official document, in the possession of the public service 31
office, includes an official document-- 32
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[s 42]
(a) under its control or to which it is entitled to access, 1
whether or not created in the public service office; and 2
(b) in the possession, or under the control, of a person 3
employed in the public service office in his or her 4
official capacity. 5
Division 3 Miscellaneous provision 6
42 Minister may direct action about surplus public service 7
employees 8
(1) This section applies if the Minister is satisfied more public 9
service employees are employed in a department than it needs 10
for the effective, efficient and appropriate performance of its 11
functions. 12
(2) The Minister may direct the department's chief executive to 13
take action in accordance with relevant rulings of the 14
commission chief executive. 15
Part 2 The Public Service 16
Commission and its role 17
43 Establishment 18
The Public Service Commission is established. 19
44 Commission represents the State 20
(1) The commission represents the State. 21
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the commission has the 22
status, privileges and immunities of the State. 23
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[s 45]
45 Commissioners 1
The commission consists of the following persons (each a 2
commissioner)-- 3
(a) the commission chief executive; 4
(b) each chief executive of the department in which each of 5
the following Acts is administered-- 6
· Industrial Relations Act 1999 7
· Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 8
· Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 9
1982; 10
(c) a person appointed by the Governor in Council as the 11
chairperson of the commission; 12
(d) at least 3 other persons appointed by the Governor in 13
Council as commissioners. 14
Note-- 15
For particular provisions about the commission chief executive and 16
other commissioners, see part 4, division 1. 17
46 Main functions 18
(1) The commission's main functions are to do the following-- 19
(a) enhance the public service's human resource 20
management and capability; 21
(b) promote the management and employment principles; 22
(c) conduct commission reviews; 23
(d) develop and implement public service-wide workforce 24
management strategies; 25
(e) together with the departments responsible for public 26
sector industrial relations and public sector financial 27
policy, consider improvements in the performance of 28
departments through remuneration and conditions of 29
employment; 30
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[s 47]
(f) facilitate the purposes of the chief executive and senior 1
executive services and the position of senior officer; 2
(g) advise the Minister about the need for commission 3
reviews about particular matters; 4
(h) promote a culture of continuous improvement and 5
organisational performance management across all 6
public service offices; 7
(i) provide a best practice advisory role on public service 8
management, organisational performance management 9
and workforce practices. 10
(2) In performing its functions, the commission must have regard 11
to the management and employment principles. 12
Part 3 Rulings by the commission 13
chief executive and industrial 14
relations Minister 15
Division 1 General provisions about rulings 16
47 Types of ruling 17
(1) Division 2 and particular other provisions of this Act 18
authorise the making of instruments about persons who are, or 19
who wish to become, public service employees or other 20
employees in public service offices. 21
Example of another provision-- 22
Chapter 5, part 6 (Assessing suitability of persons to be engaged in 23
particular employment) 24
(2) A directive is an instrument of a type mentioned in subsection 25
(1) that the instrument states is a directive. 26
(3) A directive binds the persons to whom it applies. 27
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[s 48]
(4) A guideline is an instrument of a type mentioned in subsection 1
(1) that the instrument states is a guideline. 2
(5) A guideline is for the guidance only of the persons to whom it 3
applies. 4
(6) A ruling is a directive or a guideline. 5
48 Making of and access to rulings 6
(1) A directive may be made only by gazette notice. 7
(2) A guideline may be made in the way the person making it 8
considers appropriate. 9
(3) After a person makes a ruling, the person must ensure it is 10
published on the following website as soon as practicable-- 11
(a) if the person is the commission chief executive--the 12
commission's website; 13
(b) if the person is the industrial relations Minister--the 14
website of the department in which the Industrial 15
Relations Act 1999 is administered. 16
(4) A failure to comply with subsection (3) does not invalidate or 17
otherwise affect the ruling. 18
49 General references to a ruling 19
A reference to a ruling or a type of ruling, without specifying 20
who made it, is a reference to any ruling, or any ruling of that 21
type. 22
50 Criteria for making a ruling 23
In making a ruling, the commission chief executive or the 24
industrial relations Minister must consider any advice given to 25
the other about improving the public service's effectiveness 26
and efficiency. 27
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[s 51]
Note-- 1
For rulings that are to specifically apply to the audit office, see also the 2
Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977, section 70. 3
51 Relationship with legislation 4
If a ruling is inconsistent with an Act or subordinate 5
legislation, the Act or subordinate legislation prevails to the 6
extent of the inconsistency. 7
52 Relationship between directives and industrial 8
instruments 9
(1) This section applies if a directive deals with a matter all or 10
part of which is dealt with under an industrial instrument of 11
the IRC. 12
(2) A directive of the commission chief executive prevails over 13
an industrial instrument, unless a regulation provides 14
otherwise. 15
Note-- 16
See however, the Industrial Relations Act 1999, section 687 (Conflict 17
between industrial instruments etc. and statutory decision). 18
(3) An industrial instrument prevails over a directive of the 19
industrial relations Minister, unless the directive provides 20
otherwise. 21
(4) In this section-- 22
directive includes a decision made in the exercise of a 23
discretion under a directive. 24
Division 2 General ruling-making powers 25
53 Rulings by commission chief executive 26
The commission chief executive may make a ruling about-- 27
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[s 54]
(a) a matter relating to any of the commission's or the 1
commission chief executive's functions; or 2
Examples of what a ruling by the commission chief executive may 3
be about-- 4
· recruitment and selection, deployment, training and 5
development of public service employees 6
· the transfer or redeployment of public service employees 7
surplus to the needs of a department 8
· overall performance management standards for the public 9
service 10
(b) the overall employment conditions for persons 11
employed or to be employed as-- 12
(i) chief executives or senior executives; or 13
(ii) public service officers on contract whose 14
remuneration is equal to, or higher than, the 15
remuneration payable to a senior executive; or 16
(c) other specific matters that, under this Act, the 17
commission chief executive may make a ruling about. 18
54 Rulings by industrial relations Minister 19
(1) The industrial relations Minister may make rulings about-- 20
(a) the remuneration and conditions of employment of 21
non-executive employees; or 22
(b) other matters under this Act that the Minister may make 23
a ruling about. 24
(2) However, a ruling under subsection (1)(b) may only be made 25
for non-executive employees. 26
(3) In this section-- 27
non-executive employees means public service employees 28
other than-- 29
(a) chief executives or senior executives; or 30
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[s 55]
(b) public service officers on contract whose remuneration 1
is equal to, or higher than, the remuneration payable to a 2
senior executive. 3
55 Directives to apply Act to general and temporary 4
employees 5
(1) A directive may apply a provision of this Act to a general 6
employee or temporary employee. 7
(2) The provision applies to the employee in the following ways 8
(the directive's application)-- 9
(a) as if the employee were a public service officer; 10
(b) with necessary changes and any other changes 11
prescribed under a directive of the commission chief 12
executive. 13
(3) The directive may prescribe anything necessary or 14
convenient-- 15
(a) to make the directive or for its application; or 16
(b) to carry out or give effect to the directive or its 17
application; or 18
(c) because of the making of the directive or its application. 19
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Chapter 3 Administration
Part 4 Particular provisions about the commission and commission reviews
[s 56]
Part 4 Particular provisions about the 1
commission and commission 2
reviews 3
Division 1 Commissioners 4
Subdivision 1 Commission chief executive 5
56 Appointment 6
(1) The Governor in Council must appoint a person as the chief 7
executive of the commission (the commission chief 8
executive). 9
(2) A disqualified person can not be appointed. 10
(3) The term of the appointment is decided by the Governor in 11
Council. 12
(4) However, the term can not be more than 5 years. 13
(5) The appointment must be on a full-time basis. 14
57 Basis of employment 15
(1) A person appointed as the commission chief executive must 16
enter into a written contract of employment with the Minister. 17
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the contract may provide-- 18
(a) for the commission chief executive to meet performance 19
standards set by the Minister; and 20
(b) for the remuneration to which the person is entitled; and 21
(c) that the appointment and contract of employment may 22
be terminated by the Governor in Council by notice 23
signed by the Minister given to the person at least 1 24
month before it is to take effect. 25
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[s 58]
(3) The conditions of the contract are to be approved by the 1
Governor in Council. 2
(4) The appointee's conditions of employment are governed by 3
this Act and the contract. 4
58 Main functions 5
(1) The commission chief executive is responsible for the 6
performance of the commission's functions. 7
(2) The commission chief executive's other main functions are to 8
do the following-- 9
(a) approve final reports for commission reviews; 10
(b) make rulings; 11
(c) appoint and second senior executives; 12
(d) facilitate the development of senior executives and 13
senior officers; 14
(e) hear and decide appeals under chapter 7, part 1; 15
(f) perform other duties as directed by the Minister. 16
59 Duty in performing functions 17
The commission chief executive must perform his or her 18
functions independently, impartially, fairly, and in the public 19
interest. 20
60 Acting as commission chief executive 21
(1) The Minister may appoint a person to act as the commission 22
chief executive during any period or all periods when-- 23
(a) there is a vacancy in the office; or 24
(b) the commission chief executive is absent from duty or 25
is, for another reason, unable to perform the functions of 26
commissioner. 27
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[s 61]
(2) It does not matter whether the appointee is or is not a public 1
service officer. 2
61 Preservation of commission chief executive's accrued 3
rights 4
(1) This section applies if a public service officer is appointed as 5
the commission chief executive. 6
(2) The person keeps all rights accrued or accruing to the person 7
as a public service officer as if service as the commission 8
chief executive were a continuation of service as a public 9
service officer. 10
62 Delegation 11
(1) The commission chief executive may delegate his or her 12
functions under this Act to-- 13
(a) generally--an appropriately qualified staff member of 14
the commission; or 15
(b) for the hearing and deciding of appeals under chapter 7, 16
part 1--any appropriately qualified person. 17
(2) However, the commission chief executive can not delegate the 18
functions of-- 19
(a) approving final reports for commission reviews; or 20
(b) making rulings; or 21
(c) appointing or seconding senior executives. 22
63 Resignation 23
(1) The commission chief executive may resign by signed notice 24
given to the Minister. 25
(2) However, at least 1 month's notice of resignation must be 26
given. 27
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[s 64]
Subdivision 2 Appointed commissioners 1
64 Appointment 2
(1) This section applies for the appointment of an appointed 3
commissioner. 4
(2) A disqualified person can not be appointed. 5
(3) The term of the appointment and the conditions of office not 6
provided for under this division are decided by the Governor 7
in Council. 8
(4) However, the term can not be more than 5 years. 9
65 Disclosure of interests 10
(1) This section applies if-- 11
(a) an appointed commissioner has a direct or indirect 12
interest in a matter being considered, or about to be 13
considered, by the commission at a commission 14
meeting; and 15
(b) the interest could conflict with the proper performance 16
of the commissioner's functions for the matter. 17
(2) The commissioner must, as soon as practicable, disclose the 18
interest to the commission chief executive. 19
(3) Unless the commission otherwise decides, the commissioner 20
must not participate in the commission's consideration of the 21
matter at the meeting. 22
66 Resignation 23
An appointed commissioner may resign by signed notice 24
given to the Minister. 25
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[s 67]
Subdivision 3 Miscellaneous provisions 1
67 Criminal history checks to confirm suitability for 2
appointment 3
(1) To help decide whether a person is suitable for nomination for 4
appointment as the commission chief executive or an 5
appointed commissioner, the Minister may ask the police 6
commissioner for a report about the person's criminal history. 7
(2) However, the Minister may make the request only if the 8
person has given the Minister written consent for the request. 9
(3) The police commissioner must comply with the request. 10
(4) However, subsection (3) applies only to information in the 11
police commissioner's possession or to which the 12
commissioner has access. 13
(5) If the criminal history of the person includes a conviction 14
recorded against the person, the commissioner's report must 15
be written. 16
(6) The Minister must destroy the report as soon as practicable 17
after the decision has been made. 18
68 Additional appointment as deputy chairperson 19
(1) The Governor in Council may appoint an appointed 20
commissioner as the deputy chairperson to act as the 21
chairperson-- 22
(a) during a vacancy in the office; or 23
(b) during any period, or during all periods, when the 24
chairperson is absent from duty or from the State or is, 25
for another reason, unable to perform the duties of the 26
office. 27
(2) The term of the appointment and the deputy chairperson's 28
conditions of office not provided for under this Act are 29
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[s 69]
decided by the Governor in Council. 1
(3) However, the term can not be more than 5 years. 2
Division 2 Meetings and other business 3
69 Conduct of business 4
Subject to this part, the commission may conduct its business, 5
including its meetings, in the way it considers appropriate. 6
70 Times and places of meetings 7
(1) Commission meetings are to be held at the times and places 8
the chairperson decides. 9
(2) However, the chairperson must call a meeting if asked, in 10
writing, to do so by at least 4 commissioners. 11
(3) Also, the chairperson must call a meeting at least once in each 12
quarter. 13
71 Quorum 14
A quorum for a commission meeting is any 4 commissioners. 15
72 Meeting deputies for particular commissioners 16
(1) A commissioner who is a chief executive of a department 17
may, by signed notice, appoint an appropriately qualified 18
public service officer as his or her deputy. 19
(2) The deputy may, as the commissioner's delegate, attend a 20
commission meeting in the commissioner's absence and 21
exercise the commissioner's powers under this Act at the 22
meeting. 23
(3) A deputy attending a commission meeting is to be counted in 24
deciding if there is a quorum for the meeting. 25
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[s 73]
73 Presiding at meetings 1
(1) The chairperson is to preside at all commission meetings at 2
which the chairperson is personally present. 3
(2) If the chairperson is absent from a commission meeting, the 4
deputy chairperson is to preside. 5
(3) If the chairperson and the deputy chairperson are absent from 6
a commission meeting, the commissioner chosen by the 7
commissioners present is to preside. 8
74 Conduct of meetings 9
(1) The commission may hold meetings, or allow commissioners 10
to take part in its meetings, by using any technology allowing 11
reasonably contemporaneous and continuous communication 12
between persons taking part in the meeting. 13
(2) A person who takes part in a commission meeting under 14
subsection (1) is taken to be present at the meeting. 15
75 Decisions outside meetings 16
A decision of the commission, other than a decision at a 17
commission meeting, is validly made if-- 18
(a) the decision is made with the written agreement of at 19
least 4 commissioners; and 20
(b) notice of the proposed decision is given under 21
procedures approved by the commission. 22
76 Minutes and record of decisions 23
The commission must keep-- 24
(a) minutes of its meetings; and 25
(b) a record of any decisions under section 65(3) or 75. 26
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[s 77]
Division 3 Staff and agents 1
77 Staff members of the commission 2
(1) The commission chief executive may-- 3
(a) employ the persons he or she considers necessary to 4
perform the commission's functions; and 5
(b) arrange with the chief executive of a department or the 6
head of a public service office for the services of its 7
public service employees to be made available to the 8
commission. 9
(2) Persons employed or made available under subsection (1) are 10
staff members of the commission. 11
78 Staff subject to direction by commission chief executive 12
Staff members of the commission are subject to the direction 13
of the commission chief executive relating to the performance 14
of the commission's functions. 15
79 Agents 16
(1) To meet temporary circumstances, the commission chief 17
executive may engage suitably qualified persons to provide 18
the commission with services, information or advice. 19
(2) The engagement of the persons is on the terms and conditions 20
decided by the commission chief executive, and not under this 21
Act. 22
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[s 80]
Division 4 Commission reviews and reports 1
Subdivision 1 Conduct and scope 2
80 Minister to be kept informed of conduct of review 3
The commission chief executive must keep the Minister 4
informed of the general conduct of each commission review. 5
81 Minister may obtain information from commission 6
(1) If the Minister asks the commission for particular information 7
concerning a matter relating to a commission review, the 8
commission must-- 9
(a) comply with the request; and 10
(b) give the help the Minister needs to consider the 11
information. 12
(2) Information provided to the Minister under subsection (1) is 13
confidential. 14
82 Disclosures to commission for review 15
A person may disclose a document or information to the 16
commission or a commission official for the purpose of a 17
commission review. 18
Subdivision 2 Reports 19
83 Affected agencies to be given a draft report 20
(1) This section applies if a particular public service office is the 21
subject of a commission review. 22
(2) The commission must-- 23
(a) prepare a draft report for the review; and 24
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[s 84]
(b) give a copy of the draft report to the public service 1
office; and 2
(c) give the public service office a reasonable opportunity to 3
respond to the draft report; and 4
(d) have regard to any response before preparing a final 5
report for the review and giving it to the Minister. 6
(3) In its response, the public service office may ask the 7
commission to include a particular statement in the 8
commission's final report. 9
84 Content 10
A final report for a commission review must be approved by 11
the commission chief executive and include-- 12
(a) a consideration of relevant viewpoints and options to 13
address the issues covered by the report; and 14
(b) the commission's recommendations relating to the 15
issues; and 16
(c) details of the consultation undertaken in the course of 17
the review; and 18
(d) any statement the commission is asked to include under 19
section 83(3). 20
85 Procedure for reporting sensitive information 21
(1) This section applies if the commission considers that, apart 22
from this section, information that would be included in a 23
draft report or final report for a commission review is sensitive 24
information. 25
(2) The commission need not include the information in the 26
report. 27
(3) If the report is a final report, the commission may include the 28
information in a separate document given to the Minister. 29
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[s 86]
(4) In this section-- 1
sensitive information means information-- 2
(a) that would be contrary to the public interest to disclose; 3
or 4
Examples of when disclosing information may be contrary to the 5
public interest-- 6
1 The disclosure would have a serious adverse effect on 7
someone's commercial interests. 8
2 The disclosure would reveal trade secrets. 9
3 The disclosure would cause damage to the relations between 10
the Government of the State and another Government. 11
(b) for which, in any judicial proceeding, the State would 12
have a basis for claiming that disclosure should not be 13
permitted. 14
Division 5 Miscellaneous provisions 15
86 How commission's functions may be performed 16
(1) The commission may make enquiries, gather information and 17
otherwise engage in activities necessary to perform its 18
functions. 19
(2) In performing its functions, the commission-- 20
(a) need not act in a formal way; and 21
(b) may inform itself in the way it considers appropriate; 22
and 23
(c) may consult with anyone it considers appropriate; and 24
(d) may receive written or oral submissions and other 25
information. 26
(3) However, for a commission review, the functions must be 27
performed consistently with the terms of the Minister's 28
referral for the review. 29
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[s 87]
87 Confidentiality relating to commission reviews 1
(1) This section applies to a person who-- 2
(a) is or has been a commission official; and 3
(b) in that capacity acquired protected information or has or 4
had access to, or custody of, a document containing 5
protected information. 6
(2) The person must not-- 7
(a) make a record of protected information; or 8
(b) whether directly or indirectly, divulge or communicate 9
protected information; or 10
(c) use protected information to benefit any person. 11
Maximum penalty--200 penalty units or 1 year's 12
imprisonment. 13
(3) However, subsection (2) does not apply if the record is made, 14
or the information is divulged, communicated or used-- 15
(a) to the extent necessary to perform the person's functions 16
under or relating to this Act; or 17
(b) with the consent of the entity to which the information 18
relates; or 19
(c) as required or permitted by law. 20
(4) In this section-- 21
protected information means information not publicly 22
available obtained for a commission review. 23
88 Protection of commission officials from liability 24
(1) A commission official is not civilly liable to someone for an 25
act done, or omission made, honestly and without negligence 26
under this Act. 27
(2) If subsection (1) prevents a civil liability attaching to an 28
official, the liability attaches instead to the State. 29
Page 54
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 1 Chief executives
[s 89]
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior 1
executives and senior 2
officers 3
Part 1 Chief executives 4
Division 1 The chief executive service 5
89 Establishment 6
(1) A chief executive service is established in the public service. 7
(2) The service consists of chief executives appointed under 8
division 2. 9
90 Purpose and its achievement 10
(1) The purpose of the chief executive service is to promote-- 11
(a) the public service's effectiveness and efficiency; and 12
(b) collaboration between departments with a focus on 13
public service-wide priorities as well 14
department-specific priorities; and 15
(c) performance management in the public service; and 16
(d) the delivery of services by the public service in 17
accordance with Government priorities. 18
(2) The purpose is to be achieved by attracting, developing and 19
retaining in the public service a core of mobile, highly skilled 20
chief executives. 21
91 Chief executive service standards 22
(1) The Minister may make standards about the way the Minister 23
expects the chief executive service to operate. 24
Page 55
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Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 1 Chief executives
[s 92]
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the standards may provide for 1
competencies expected of, and ethical standards for, chief 2
executives. 3
(3) The Minister must publish the standards in the way the 4
Minister considers appropriate. 5
(4) The standards do not limit or otherwise affect the obligations 6
that a chief executive has under the Public Sector Ethics Act 7
1994. 8
Division 2 Appointments 9
92 Appointment of chief executives generally 10
The Governor in Council may, by gazette notice, appoint chief 11
executives. 12
93 Appointment to particular departments 13
(1) Each department is to have a chief executive. 14
(2) The Minister may, by signed notice, appoint a chief executive 15
to be the chief executive of any department. 16
(3) Public notice of the appointment must be published in the 17
gazette or in another way the Minister considers appropriate. 18
94 Acting as chief executive 19
(1) The departmental Minister for a department may appoint a 20
person to act as its chief executive during any period or all 21
periods when-- 22
(a) no-one is employed as chief executive; or 23
(b) the chief executive is absent from duty or is, for another 24
reason, unable to perform the responsibilities of chief 25
executive. 26
Page 56
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 1 Chief executives
[s 95]
(2) It does not matter whether the appointee is or is not already a 1
public service officer. 2
95 Statutory officer as chief executive 3
(1) The Governor in Council may, by gazette notice, declare that 4
the holder of a stated office established under an Act is the 5
chief executive of a stated department. 6
(2) This Act does not apply to an appointment to the stated office. 7
96 Contractual basis of employment for chief executives 8
(1) Each person appointed as a chief executive under this Act 9
must enter into a written contract of employment with the 10
Minister. 11
(2) The appointee's conditions of employment are governed by 12
this Act, any relevant directives by the commission chief 13
executive and the contract. 14
97 Term of appointment 15
(1) The term of a chief executive's appointment can not be more 16
than 5 years. 17
(2) A chief executive may resign by signed notice of resignation 18
given to the Minister at least 1 month before the notice is to 19
take effect. 20
(3) An appointment and contract of employment as a chief 21
executive may be terminated by the Governor in Council by 22
notice signed by the Minister given to the appointee at least 1 23
month before it is to take effect. 24
Page 57
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 1 Chief executives
[s 98]
Division 3 Functions 1
98 Responsibilities 2
(1) A chief executive is responsible for all of the following 3
matters in relation to the chief executive's department-- 4
(a) establishing and implementing goals and objectives in 5
accordance with Government policies and priorities; 6
(b) managing the department in a way that promotes the 7
effective, efficient and appropriate management of 8
public resources; 9
(c) the following for departmental employees-- 10
(i) their numbers; 11
(ii) classification levels; 12
(iii) designation of roles; 13
(d) adopting management practices that are responsive to 14
Government policies and priorities; 15
(e) promoting continual evaluation and improvement of the 16
appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of 17
departmental management; 18
(f) implementing policies and practices about access and 19
equity to ensure maximum access by members of the 20
community to Government programs and to appropriate 21
avenues for review; 22
(g) ensuring compliance with the equality of employment 23
opportunity obligations under chapter 2; 24
(h) ensuring maintenance of proper standards in the 25
creation, keeping and management of public records. 26
Examples of chief executive responsibilities for departmental employees-- 27
· recruitment and selection 28
· performance appraisal, training and development 29
· discipline and termination of employment 30
Page 58
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 1 Chief executives
[s 99]
· working conditions and industrial issues 1
· ensuring fair treatment 2
(2) The chief executive's responsibilities under this Act are in 3
addition to the chief executive's responsibilities under another 4
Act. 5
Note-- 6
The following are not subject to direction by a chief executive-- 7
· the information commissioner and staff of the information 8
commissioner office (See the Freedom of Information Act 1992, 9
sections 101E and 101W) 10
· the auditor-general, deputy auditor-general and staff of the audit 11
office (See the Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977, 12
sections 49, 62 and 65) 13
(3) In this section-- 14
departmental employees means public service employees 15
employed in the chief executive's department. 16
designation, of a role, includes the title of the role and its 17
organisational location within a department. 18
99 How responsibilities must be discharged 19
(1) In discharging responsibilities under an Act, a chief executive 20
must-- 21
(a) observe the management and employment principles; 22
and 23
(b) comply with all relevant laws, industrial instruments and 24
directives; and 25
(c) have regard to all relevant guidelines. 26
(2) The discharge of the responsibilities is subject to section 27
109(3). 28
Editor's note-- 29
Section 109 (Senior executive numbers and classification levels) 30
Page 59
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 1 Chief executives
[s 100]
100 Extent of chief executive's autonomy 1
(1) A chief executive is subject to the directions of the 2
departmental Minister in managing the department. 3
(2) However, in making decisions about particular individuals, 4
the chief executive-- 5
(a) must act independently, impartially and fairly; and 6
(b) is not subject to direction by any Minister. 7
(3) Also, subsection (1) is subject to another Act-- 8
(a) that provides that the chief executive is not subject to the 9
directions of the departmental Minister about particular 10
matters; or 11
(b) that otherwise limits the extent to which, or 12
circumstances in which, the chief executive is subject to 13
directions of the departmental Minister. 14
Division 4 Miscellaneous provisions 15
101 Declaration of interests 16
(1) This section applies to any chief executive on appointment. 17
Note-- 18
Appointment includes reappointment. See the Acts Interpretation Act 19
1954, section 36, definition appoint. 20
(2) The chief executive must, within 1 month, give the 21
departmental Minister a statement about his or her interests. 22
(3) The statement must include the information required under a 23
directive of the commission chief executive. 24
(4) Subsections (5) and (6) apply if-- 25
(a) a change to the chief executive's interests happens after 26
the giving of the statement; and 27
(b) the change is of a type prescribed under a directive of 28
the commission chief executive. 29
Page 60
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 1 Chief executives
[s 102]
(5) The chief executive must give the departmental Minister a 1
revised version of the statement. 2
(6) The revised version must-- 3
(a) be given as soon as possible after the relevant facts 4
about the change come to the chief executive's 5
knowledge; and 6
(b) comply with subsection (3). 7
102 Conflicts of interest 8
(1) If a chief executive has an interest that conflicts or may 9
conflict with the discharge of the chief executive's 10
responsibilities, the chief executive-- 11
(a) must disclose the nature of the interest and conflict to 12
the departmental Minister as soon as practicable after 13
the relevant facts come to the chief executive's 14
knowledge; and 15
(b) must not take action or further action concerning a 16
matter that is, or may be, affected by the conflict unless 17
authorised by the departmental Minister. 18
(2) The departmental Minister for a department may direct its 19
chief executive to resolve a conflict or possible conflict 20
between an interest of the chief executive and the chief 21
executive's responsibilities. 22
103 Delegation 23
(1) A chief executive may delegate the chief executive's 24
functions under an Act to any appropriately qualified person. 25
(2) A delegation of a function may permit the subdelegation of 26
the function. 27
(3) If the function is performed under another Act, the power to 28
delegate or subdelegate is subject to the other Act. 29
Page 61
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 2 Senior executives
[s 104]
104 References in Act to chief executive of a chief executive 1
are to the Minister 2
For a chief executive, a reference in this Act to his or her chief 3
executive, or to the chief executive of his or her department, is 4
a reference to the Minister. 5
Part 2 Senior executives 6
Division 1 The senior executive service 7
105 Senior executive service continued 8
A senior executive service is continued in the public service. 9
106 Purposes of service and their achievement 10
(1) The senior executive service is continued to promote the 11
public service's effectiveness and efficiency. 12
(2) Employment in the senior executive service is to be directed 13
towards ensuring senior executives-- 14
(a) develop a public service-wide perspective; and 15
(b) continue their executive development; and 16
(c) develop their skills through deployment within and 17
outside the public service. 18
(3) The purposes under subsections (1) and (2) are to be achieved 19
by attracting, developing and retaining in the public service a 20
core of mobile, highly skilled senior executives. 21
107 Role of commission chief executive 22
To help achieve the purposes of the senior executive service, 23
the commission chief executive must make and implement 24
Page 62
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 2 Senior executives
[s 108]
arrangements to facilitate the executive development of senior 1
executives. 2
108 Composition 3
The senior executive service consists of persons employed 4
under this Act as senior executives. 5
109 Senior executive numbers and classification levels 6
(1) The Governor in Council may, by gazette notice, fix-- 7
(a) the maximum number of senior executives to be 8
employed in a department; and 9
(b) the classification levels at which they are to be 10
employed. 11
(2) The commission chief executive must be consulted before a 12
recommendation is made to the Governor in Council for 13
subsection (1). 14
(3) The department's chief executive must comply with the 15
notice. 16
Division 2 Appointment matters 17
110 Appointment 18
(1) The commission chief executive may, by signed notice, 19
appoint senior executives. 20
(2) Public notice of the appointment must be published in the 21
gazette or in another way the commission chief executive 22
considers appropriate. 23
Page 63
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 2 Senior executives
[s 111]
111 Secondments 1
(1) The commission chief executive may, by signed notice, 2
second public service officers as senior executives and cancel 3
the secondments at any time. 4
(2) However-- 5
(a) before acting under subsection (1), the commission 6
chief executive must take reasonable steps to consult 7
with any relevant chief executive; and 8
(b) if the secondment is to a lower classification, it may be 9
made only with the senior executive's consent. 10
112 Acting senior executives 11
(1) The chief executive of a department may appoint a person to 12
act in the office of a senior executive in the department during 13
any period or all periods when-- 14
(a) no-one is employed in the office; or 15
(b) the person holding the office is absent from duty or is, 16
for another reason, unable to perform the 17
responsibilities of the office. 18
(2) It does not matter whether the appointee is or is not already a 19
public service officer. 20
113 Contractual basis of employment 21
(1) Each senior executive must enter into a written contract of 22
employment with his or her chief executive. 23
(2) In entering into, or fixing the terms of, the contract, the chief 24
executive must comply with any relevant directive. 25
(3) The senior executive's conditions of employment are 26
governed by this Act, any relevant directives by the 27
commission chief executive and the contract. 28
Page 64
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 2 Senior executives
[s 114]
114 Term of appointment 1
(1) The term of a senior executive's appointment can not be more 2
than 5 years. 3
(2) A senior executive may resign by signed notice of resignation 4
given to his or her chief executive at least 1 month before the 5
notice is to take effect. 6
(3) A senior executive's appointment and contract of employment 7
may be terminated by his or her chief executive by signed 8
notice given to the appointee at least 1 month before it is to 9
take effect. 10
Division 3 Transfers and redeployment 11
115 Transfer of senior executives 12
(1) The commission chief executive may, by signed notice, 13
transfer or redeploy senior executives. 14
(2) However-- 15
(a) before acting under subsection (1), the commission 16
chief executive must take reasonable steps to consult 17
with the senior executive and his or her chief executive; 18
and 19
(b) a redeployment may be made only with the senior 20
executive's consent. 21
(3) The transfer or redeployment-- 22
(a) may involve a change in the location where the senior 23
executive performs duties; and 24
(b) has effect despite anything in the senior executive's 25
contract of employment. 26
Page 65
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 4 Chief executives, senior executives and senior officers
Part 3 Purpose of position of senior officers
[s 116]
Part 3 Purpose of position of senior 1
officers 2
116 Purpose 3
(1) Senior officer positions are continued to-- 4
(a) promote the public service's effectiveness and 5
efficiency; and 6
(b) ensure there is a group of highly skilled public service 7
officers who are capable of development as senior 8
executives. 9
(2) Employment as a senior officer is to be directed towards-- 10
(a) developing a public service-wide perspective; and 11
(b) continuance of the officer's professional development. 12
Note-- 13
For other provisions about senior officers, see chapter 5. 14
117 Role of commission chief executive 15
To help achieve the purposes of senior officer positions, the 16
commission chief executive must make and implement 17
arrangements to facilitate the development of senior officers 18
as senior executives. 19
Page 66
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 5 Staffing generally
Part 1 Preliminary
[s 118]
Chapter 5 Staffing generally 1
Part 1 Preliminary 2
118 Chapter does not generally apply to chief executives or 3
senior executives 4
(1) This chapter does not apply to chief executives or senior 5
executives, but does apply to other public service officers, 6
including senior officers. 7
(2) However, part 2, division 2 and section 127 apply to all public 8
service officers. 9
Editor's note-- 10
Part 2, division 2 (Reappointment of particular election candidates) and 11
section 127 (Requirement about citizenship etc.) 12
Part 2 Appointment matters 13
Division 1 General provisions 14
119 Appointment 15
(1) A chief executive may, by signed notice, appoint public 16
service officers in the chief executive's department. 17
(2) Public notice of the appointment must be published in the 18
gazette or in another way the commission chief executive 19
considers appropriate if-- 20
(a) notice of intention to make an appointment for the 21
relevant duties was publicly notified; or 22
(b) notice of the appointment is required under section 128 23
or another Act to be publicly notified. 24
Page 67
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 5 Staffing generally
Part 2 Appointment matters
[s 120]
(3) In this section-- 1
appoint does not include transfer. 2
120 Secondment 3
(1) The chief executive of a department (the first department) 4
may-- 5
(a) second a public service officer of the department within 6
the first department; or 7
(b) with the approval of the chief executive of another 8
department, second a public service officer of the other 9
department to the first department. 10
(2) However, if the secondment is to a lower classification level it 11
may be made only with the officer's consent. 12
(3) Public notice of the secondment must be published in the 13
gazette or in another way the chief executive of the first 14
department considers appropriate if-- 15
(a) notice of intention to make the secondment for the 16
relevant duties was publicly notified; or 17
(b) notice of the secondment of a person to perform the 18
relevant duties is required under an Act to be publicly 19
notified. 20
(4) The chief executive of the first department may cancel the 21
secondment at any time. 22
121 Basis of employment--tenure or contract 23
(1) A directive may provide for the circumstances in which a 24
public service officer may be appointed on contract for a fixed 25
term. 26
(2) Appointment as a public service officer is on tenure unless-- 27
(a) the officer's chief executive decides the appointment 28
may be on contract for a fixed term; and 29
Page 68
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 5 Staffing generally
Part 2 Appointment matters
[s 122]
(b) the chief executive declares the officer's position to be 1
available on contract for a fixed term. 2
(3) In making the decision the chief executive must comply with 3
any relevant directive. 4
122 Basis of employment for contract employment 5
(1) This section applies if a public service officer's appointment 6
is to be on contract for a fixed term. 7
(2) The officer must enter into a written contract of employment 8
with the officer's chief executive. 9
Notes-- 10
1 Equivalent contracts under the repealed Public Service Act 1996, 11
section 70 were commonly called `section 70 contracts'. 12
2 For the application of this Act to the equivalent contracts, see 13
section 230. 14
(3) However, if the officer holds the appointment on tenure 15
immediately before it is to be on contract for a fixed term, the 16
officer may, but is not required to, enter into a contract with 17
the officer's chief executive relating to the appointment. 18
(4) If subsection (3) applies and the officer elects to not enter a 19
contract of employment relating to the appointment, the 20
officer continues to hold the appointment on tenure without 21
change in the conditions of the appointment. 22
(5) In entering into the contract or fixing the terms of the contract, 23
the chief executive must comply with any relevant directive. 24
(6) Also, the officer's overall employment conditions under the 25
contract must not, on balance, be less than those that the 26
officer would be entitled to if the officer were appointed on 27
tenure. 28
(7) If there is a dispute between the parties to the contract about 29
the application of subsection (6), the IRC may hear and decide 30
the dispute. 31
Page 69
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 5 Staffing generally
Part 2 Appointment matters
[s 123]
(8) The conditions of the officer's employment are governed by 1
this Act, any relevant directive and the contract. 2
123 Tenure on ending of particular employment contracts 3
(1) This section applies if-- 4
(a) a public service officer is employed on contract; and 5
(b) the contract is terminated other than by disciplinary 6
action, or the contract expires and is not renewed or 7
replaced by another contract of employment under this 8
Act; and 9
(c) when the officer was first employed under the contract 10
or an earlier continuous contract of employment as a 11
public service officer, the officer was employed as an 12
officer on tenure. 13
(2) The officer becomes a public service officer employed on 14
tenure. 15
(3) The officer is to be employed-- 16
(a) at the classification level at which the officer would have 17
been employed if the officer had continued in 18
employment as a public service officer on tenure; and 19
(b) on the remuneration to which the officer would have 20
been entitled if the officer had continued in employment 21
as a public service officer on tenure. 22
124 Contract terminated on acceptance of tenure 23
(1) If a public service officer who is employed on contract 24
accepts employment as a public service officer on tenure, the 25
contract is taken to be terminated by agreement of the parties. 26
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the person is not entitled to 27
payment under the contract because of the termination. 28
Page 70
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 5 Staffing generally
Part 2 Appointment matters
[s 125]
125 Basis of employment on tenure--full-time or part-time 1
Appointment as a public service officer in a department on 2
tenure may be on the basis of full-time or part-time 3
employment, as decided by the officer's chief executive. 4
126 Appointments on probation 5
(1) This section applies if a person who is not already a public 6
service officer is appointed as a public service officer on 7
tenure. 8
(2) The officer's chief executive may decide that the officer is 9
appointed on probation for the following period from the 10
appointment (the probationary period)-- 11
(a) generally--3 months; 12
(b) if the officer and the chief executive agree in writing 13
before employment under the appointment to a longer 14
period--the longer period. 15
(3) The longer period can not be more than 13 months. 16
(4) The chief executive may-- 17
(a) by signed notice given to the officer, terminate the 18
officer's employment at any time during the 19
probationary period; or 20
(b) at the end of the probationary period-- 21
(i) confirm the appointment; or 22
(ii) extend the probationary period to no more than 13 23
months; or 24
(iii) by signed notice given to the officer, terminate the 25
employment. 26
(5) The appointment is taken to have been confirmed 13 months 27
after the appointment if it has not already been confirmed and 28
the employment has not been terminated. 29
Page 71
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 5 Staffing generally
Part 2 Appointment matters
[s 127]
127 Requirement about citizenship etc. 1
(1) A person is eligible to be a public service officer only if the 2
person-- 3
(a) is an Australian citizen; or 4
(b) resides in Australia and has permission or a right to be 5
granted permission, under Commonwealth law, to 6
remain in Australia indefinitely; or 7
(c) is a New Zealand citizen who has a special category visa 8
or a right to be granted a special category visa under the 9
Migration Act 1958 (Cwlth). 10
(2) The chief executive may, by signed notice, terminate the 11
employment of an officer who is ineligible under subsection 12
(1) to be a public service officer. 13
128 Notification of proposed appointments 14
(1) If a chief executive intends to appoint or second someone to 15
perform duties as a public service officer, the chief executive 16
must advertise the intention as required under a directive. 17
(2) This section does not apply to-- 18
(a) an appointment declared under a directive to be an 19
appointment to which this section does not apply; or 20
(b) the transfer, redeployment or secondment of a person in 21
accordance with a provision of an Act or a directive. 22
Division 2 Reappointment of particular 23
election candidates 24
129 Definitions for div 2 25
In this division-- 26
service with the State means employment, in any capacity 27
in-- 28
Page 72
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Chapter 5 Staffing generally
Part 2 Appointment matters
[s 130]
(a) the public service; or 1
(b) the police service; or 2
(c) any other office, position or place under the State. 3
the State includes a board, commission, commissioner, 4
corporation, instrumentality or other person representing the 5
State. 6
130 Request for reappointment 7
(1) This section applies if-- 8
(a) a person held an office of service with the State and the 9
office was permanent (the former office); and 10
(b) the person resigned from that office to become a 11
candidate for election as any of the following-- 12
(i) a senator or a member of the House of 13
Representatives of the Commonwealth Parliament; 14
(ii) a member of the Legislative Assembly; and 15
(c) the person was a defeated candidate at the election. 16
(2) The person may ask to be reappointed to the former office. 17
(3) However, the request can not be more than 3 months after the 18
return of the writ for the election. 19
(4) The request can only be made by notice to the person who has 20
the power to appoint to the former office. 21
131 Dealing with request 22
(1) A person who has made a request under section 130 may-- 23
(a) be reappointed to the person's former office mentioned 24
in that section; or 25
(b) be appointed to any other service with the State, whether 26
of the same classification level or a lower classification 27
level as the former office. 28
Page 73
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 5 Staffing generally
Part 2 Appointment matters
[s 132]
(2) The reappointment may be made despite the person's age. 1
(3) Despite the other provisions of this Act or another Act, the 2
merit provisions do not apply for the reappointment. 3
(4) However, subsection (3) does not prevent matters mentioned 4
in the merit provisions from being considered in making a 5
decision on the request. 6
(5) In this section-- 7
classification includes rank or grade. 8
merit provisions means-- 9
(a) generally--chapter 1, part 4; or 10
(b) if the former office of the person was as a police 11
officer--the Police Service Administration Act 1990, 12
section 5.2. 13
132 Continuity of service 14
(1) This section applies if a person is appointed or reappointed 15
under section 131. 16
(2) The continuity of the person's service with the State is taken 17
not to have been broken by resignation from the person's 18
former office. 19
(3) However, the period during which the person's service with 20
the State was interrupted by the resignation can not be taken 21
into account for working out the person's total period of 22
service with the State. 23
Page 74
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 5 Staffing generally
Part 3 Transfers and redeployment
[s 133]
Part 3 Transfers and redeployment 1
133 Chief executive's power to transfer or redeploy 2
(1) The chief executive of a department may transfer or redeploy 3
a public service officer of the department within the 4
department. 5
(2) The chief executive of a department may, with the approval of 6
the chief executive of another department, transfer or 7
redeploy a public service officer of the other department to the 8
first department. 9
(3) Despite subsections (1) and (2), a redeployment may be made 10
only with the officer's consent. 11
(4) The transfer or redeployment of a public service officer under 12
this section-- 13
(a) may involve a change in the location where the officer 14
performs duties; and 15
(b) if the officer is employed on contract--has effect despite 16
anything in the contract. 17
134 Consequence if transfer refused 18
(1) If a public service officer is transferred under section 133, the 19
transfer has effect unless the officer establishes reasonable 20
grounds for refusing the transfer to the satisfaction of the 21
officer's chief executive. 22
(2) If the officer refuses the transfer after failing to establish 23
reasonable grounds for the refusal to the chief executive's 24
satisfaction, the chief executive may terminate the officer's 25
employment by signed notice given to the officer. 26
(3) If the officer establishes reasonable grounds to the chief 27
executive's satisfaction-- 28
(a) the transfer is cancelled; and 29
Page 75
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 5 Staffing generally
Part 4 Termination, suspension and related matters
[s 135]
(b) the refusal must not be used to prejudice the officer's 1
prospects for future promotion or advancement. 2
Part 4 Termination, suspension and 3
related matters 4
Division 1 General provisions 5
135 Resignation 6
(1) A public service officer may resign by signed notice of 7
resignation given to the officer's chief executive-- 8
(a) at least 2 weeks before the notice is to take effect; or 9
(b) within a shorter period approved by the chief executive. 10
(2) The notice takes effect in accordance with its terms and 11
without needing the chief executive's acceptance. 12
136 Voluntary retirement 13
A public service officer or general employee may, by signed 14
notice given to the officer's or employee's chief executive, 15
elect to retire from the public service if-- 16
(a) the person has turned 55 years; or 17
(b) the person is permitted to retire under a directive. 18
137 Suspension other than as disciplinary action 19
(1) The chief executive of a department may suspend a public 20
service officer from duty if the chief executive reasonably 21
believes the proper and efficient management of the 22
department might be prejudiced if the officer is not 23
suspended. 24
Page 76
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 5 Staffing generally
Part 4 Termination, suspension and related matters
[s 138]
(2) However, before suspending the officer, the chief executive 1
must consider all alternate duties that may be available for the 2
officer to perform. 3
(3) The period of the suspension can not be more than the period 4
that the chief executive reasonably believes is necessary to 5
avoid the prejudice. 6
(4) During the suspension period the officer is entitled to normal 7
remuneration. 8
(5) The continuity of the officer's service as a public service 9
officer is taken not to have been broken only because of the 10
suspension. 11
(6) The chief executive may cancel the suspension at any time. 12
(7) This section does not limit or otherwise affect section 189. 13
138 Action because of surplus 14
(1) This section applies if the chief executive of a department 15
believes a public service employee is surplus to the 16
department's needs because-- 17
(a) more employees are employed in the department than it 18
needs for the effective, efficient and appropriate 19
performance of its functions; or 20
(b) the duties performed by the employee are no longer 21
required. 22
(2) The chief executive must take the action required under a 23
directive. 24
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[s 139]
Division 2 Removal of statutory office holders 1
who are term appointees 2
Subdivision 1 Preliminary 3
139 What is a statutory office 4
(1) A statutory office is an office established under an Act to 5
which a person may be appointed only by the Governor in 6
Council or a Minister. 7
(2) It is immaterial whether an appointment may only be made 8
after a recommendation or other process. 9
140 Who is a term appointee 10
(1) A term appointee is a person appointed to a statutory office 11
under an Act that provides the appointee holds the office for a 12
particular term under the Act, in the appointment instrument 13
or in another instrument. 14
(2) It is immaterial whether the office is held full-time or 15
part-time. 16
(3) A person is not a term appointee because of appointment as 17
the holder of an office-- 18
(a) under an Act that provides the holder may or must be 19
removed from office following an address or resolution 20
of the Legislative Assembly; or 21
(b) mentioned in schedule 2; or 22
(c) prescribed under a regulation. 23
(4) A person appointed to a statutory office is not a term 24
appointee only because, under an Act, the person stops 25
holding the office on reaching a particular age. 26
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Subdivision 2 Removal of term appointees 1
141 Power to remove 2
(1) The Governor in Council may remove a term appointee from 3
office at any time. 4
(2) Subsection (1) applies despite another Act or the conditions of 5
the term appointee's appointment or contract of employment. 6
142 Other removal powers not affected 7
This subdivision does not stop removal of a term appointee 8
apart from this subdivision. 9
Example-- 10
It is stated in another Act that a person holding a particular statutory 11
office provided for by the Act may be removed from office for a list of 12
reasons, for example, incompetence and the commission of an 13
indictable offence. A person holding the office is a term appointee. The 14
person may be removed from the office not only under the Act 15
mentioned, but also under this subdivision. 16
Subdivision 3 Re-employment and entitlements 17
143 Application of sdiv 3 18
This subdivision applies to a person if-- 19
(a) under section 141, the person is removed from a 20
statutory office; and 21
(b) at the time of the person's first appointment to the 22
statutory office, or to another statutory office that the 23
person held continuously before being first appointed to 24
the statutory office, the person was a public service 25
officer; and 26
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(c) at that time, the person had been in continuous 1
employment as a public service officer for at least 5 2
years. 3
144 Entitlement to public service employment 4
The person is entitled to be employed as a public service 5
officer-- 6
(a) at the classification level at which the person would 7
have been employed if the person had continued in 8
employment as a public service officer; and 9
(b) on the remuneration to which the person would have 10
been entitled if the person had continued in employment 11
as a public service officer; and 12
(c) for duties appropriate to the person's classification level 13
and qualifications. 14
145 Commission chief executive's role 15
(1) The commission chief executive has the function of 16
identifying appropriate public service employment in which 17
the person may be employed. 18
(2) The commission chief executive may direct a chief executive 19
to employ the person, if the employment is in the chief 20
executive's department. 21
146 Compensation 22
(1) If the person is employed as a public service officer according 23
to the person's entitlements under this subdivision, the person 24
is not entitled to additional compensation for being removed 25
from the statutory office. 26
(2) Subsection (1) applies despite the conditions of the person's 27
appointment or contract of employment as a term appointee. 28
(3) Apart from subsection (1), this division does not affect the 29
person's right to claim compensation or other entitlements 30
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[s 147]
under the conditions of the person's appointment or contract 1
of employment applying when the appointment or 2
employment ends. 3
(4) The person may only claim under the conditions of the 4
person's appointment or contract of employment 5
compensation and other entitlements as if the person's 6
appointment or employment had been terminated as permitted 7
under the conditions or as if the person's term of office had 8
ended. 9
Part 5 General and temporary 10
employees 11
147 Employment of general employees 12
(1) A chief executive may employ a person as a general employee 13
to perform work of a type not ordinarily performed by a 14
public service officer. 15
(2) The employment may be-- 16
(a) on tenure, or on a temporary basis and full-time or 17
part-time; or 18
(b) on a casual basis. 19
(3) A person employed under this section does not, only because 20
of the employment, become a public service officer. 21
(4) Subsections (1) and (2) are subject to any relevant directive 22
about general employees. 23
148 Employment of temporary employees 24
(1) To meet temporary circumstances, a chief executive may 25
employ a person as a temporary employee to perform work of 26
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[s 149]
a type ordinarily performed by a public service officer other 1
than a chief executive or senior executive. 2
(2) The employment may be-- 3
(a) on a temporary basis and full-time or part-time; or 4
(b) on a casual basis. 5
(3) A person employed under this section does not, only because 6
of the employment, become a public service officer. 7
(4) Subsections (1) and (2) are subject to any relevant directive 8
about temporary employees. 9
149 Review of status of temporary employee 10
(1) This section applies at the end of each 3 year period during 11
which a temporary employee has been continuously employed 12
in a department. 13
(2) The department's chief executive must, within the period 14
provided for in a commission chief executive directive, decide 15
whether the person's employment in the department is to-- 16
(a) continue as a temporary employee; or 17
(b) be as a general employee on tenure or a public service 18
officer. 19
(3) In making the decision, the chief executive must consider any 20
criteria for the decision fixed under a directive by the 21
commission chief executive. 22
(4) If the chief executive does not make the decision within the 23
period, the chief executive is taken to have decided that the 24
person's employment in the department is to continue as a 25
temporary employee. 26
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Part 6 Assessing suitability of 1
persons to be engaged in 2
particular employment 3
Division 1 Preliminary 4
150 Definitions for pt 6 5
In this part-- 6
CCYPCG disqualification order means a disqualification 7
order made under the Commission for Children and Young 8
People and Child Guardian Act 2000, section 126C. 9
child-related duties see section 156. 10
CPOPOA disqualification order means a disqualification 11
order made under the Child Protection (Offender Prohibition 12
Order) Act 2008, section 25. 13
criminal history report means a report given under section 14
154. 15
disqualification order means-- 16
(a) a CCYPCG disqualification order; or 17
(b) a CPOPOA disqualification order. 18
engage, a person, includes-- 19
(a) appoint, employ, promote, redeploy or second the 20
person within or to a department; and 21
(b) allow the person to participate in any of the following in 22
the department-- 23
(i) an interchange arrangement within the meaning of 24
section 184; 25
(ii) a work performance arrangement, within the 26
meaning of section 183, in a department; and 27
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(c) start training the person in a department as an apprentice 1
or trainee, within the meaning of the Vocational 2
Education, Training and Employment Act 2000, chapter 3
1, part 2. 4
investigative information see the Commission for Children 5
and Young People and Child Guardian Act 2000, schedule 4. 6
offender prohibition order see the Child Protection (Offender 7
Prohibition Order) Act 2008, schedule. 8
part 6 directive means a ruling that is a directive made for this 9
part. 10
police information, about a person, means the following-- 11
(a) the person's criminal history within the meaning of the 12
Commission for Children and Young People and Child 13
Guardian Act 2000, schedule 4; 14
Note about the reference to criminal history in paragraph (a)-- 15
A criminal history under the Commission for Children and 16
Young People and Child Guardian Act 2000 is not limited to 17
recorded convictions but includes unrecorded convictions and 18
charges. 19
(b) investigative information about the person; 20
(c) information as to whether the person is or has been-- 21
(i) a relevant disqualified person; or 22
(ii) the subject of an application for a disqualification 23
order; or 24
(iii) named as the respondent to an application for an 25
offender prohibition order. 26
police information report means a report and other 27
information given under section 160. 28
relevant disqualified person see the Commission for Children 29
and Young People and Child Guardian Act 2000, schedule 4. 30
relevant duties see section 151. 31
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serious offence see the Commission for Children and Young 1
People and Child Guardian Act 2000, schedule 4. 2
temporary offender prohibition order means a temporary 3
order under the Child Protection (Offender Prohibition Order) 4
Act 2008. 5
Division 2 Relevant duties 6
151 Application of div 2 7
(1) This division applies to duties to be performed in a 8
department if, under a part 6 directive, the department's chief 9
executive decides-- 10
(a) that, because of the nature of the particular duties, it 11
may be necessary to have regard to the criminal history 12
of anyone engaged to perform the duties to ensure the 13
person so engaged is suitable to perform them; and 14
(b) the particular duties are not likely to involve 15
child-related duties. 16
(2) Duties to which this division applies are relevant duties. 17
(3) This division is subject to the Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of 18
Offenders) Act 1986 but does not limit any other law, or other 19
provision of this Act, under which a person's criminal history 20
may be obtained. 21
152 Chief executive may decide to obtain criminal history 22
(1) If the chief executive proposes to engage a person to perform 23
relevant duties, the chief executive may, under a part 6 24
directive, ask the person for written consent for the chief 25
executive to obtain the person's criminal history. 26
(2) Subsection (1) applies even if the person is a public service 27
employee at the time the chief executive proposes to engage 28
the person to perform the relevant duties. 29
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[s 153]
153 Failure to consent to obtaining criminal history 1
(1) This section applies if the person does not consent, or 2
withdraws his or her consent, to the chief executive obtaining 3
the person's criminal history. 4
(2) If the person is a public service employee in the department 5
who is engaged in performing relevant duties, the chief 6
executive must ensure the person does not perform relevant 7
duties. 8
(3) If the person is not a public service employee in the 9
department who is engaged in performing relevant duties, the 10
chief executive is not required to consider the person for 11
engagement to perform the relevant duties. 12
154 Obtaining criminal history with consent 13
(1) If the person gives written consent to the chief executive 14
obtaining the person's criminal history, the chief executive 15
may ask the police commissioner for a written report about 16
the person's criminal history. 17
(2) The request may include the following-- 18
(a) the person's name and any other name the chief 19
executive believes the person may use or may have used; 20
(b) the person's date and place of birth, gender and address. 21
(3) The police commissioner must give the requested report to the 22
chief executive. 23
Note-- 24
See sections 166 and 167 for when the police commissioner need not 25
give the requested report. 26
155 Assessment of suitability using criminal history report 27
After the person's criminal history report is given to the chief 28
executive, the chief executive must, under a part 6 directive, 29
consider the person's criminal history in making an 30
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[s 156]
assessment about the person's suitability for engagement to 1
perform the relevant duties. 2
Division 3 Child-related duties 3
156 Application of div 3 4
(1) This division applies if, under a part 6 directive, the chief 5
executive of a department decides that duties to be performed 6
in the department are likely to involve providing dedicated 7
services or activities if-- 8
(a) a child is the primary or significant client or children are 9
the primary or significant client group; or 10
(b) the nature of contact with a child or children, and the 11
context in which that contact happens, creates an 12
unacceptable level of risk for the child or children. 13
(2) Duties to which this division applies are child-related duties. 14
(3) This division applies despite anything in the Criminal Law 15
(Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986 but does not limit any 16
other law, or other provision of this Act, under which 17
information that is police information may be obtained. 18
157 Chief executive must obtain police information in 19
particular circumstances 20
(1) If the chief executive proposes to engage a person in the 21
department to perform child-related duties, the chief executive 22
must, under a part 6 directive, ask the person for written 23
consent for the chief executive to obtain police information 24
about the person. 25
(2) Subsection (1) applies even if the person is a public service 26
employee at the time the chief executive proposes to engage 27
the person to perform the child-related duties. 28
(3) The chief executive must, under a part 6 directive and at least 29
every 2 years, ask each person in the department employed in 30
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[s 158]
child-related duties for written consent for the chief executive 1
to obtain police information about the person. 2
(4) However, the chief executive need not make a request under 3
subsection (1) or (3) if satisfied that the person is prescribed 4
under a regulation as an exempt person. 5
158 Failure to consent to obtaining police information 6
(1) This section applies if the person does not consent, or 7
withdraws his or her consent, to the chief executive obtaining 8
police information about the person. 9
(2) If the person is a public service employee in the department 10
who is engaged in performing child-related duties, the chief 11
executive must ensure the person does not perform 12
child-related duties. 13
(3) If the person is not a public service employee in the 14
department who is engaged in performing child-related duties, 15
the chief executive is not required to consider the person for 16
engagement to perform the child-related duties. 17
159 Obtaining police information with consent 18
(1) If the person gives written consent to the chief executive 19
obtaining police information about the person, the chief 20
executive may ask the police commissioner for a written 21
report about the person's police information. 22
(2) The request may include the following-- 23
(a) the person's name and any other name the chief 24
executive believes the person may use or may have used; 25
(b) the person's date and place of birth, gender and address. 26
160 Information to be given by police commissioner 27
(1) This section applies if a chief executive asks the police 28
commissioner for a written report about a person's police 29
information. 30
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[s 160]
(2) The police commissioner must, under this section, give-- 1
(a) the requested report to the chief executive; and 2
(b) if the chief executive asks for information as mentioned 3
in subsection (5)--the information mentioned in that 4
subsection. 5
Note-- 6
See sections 166 and 167 for when the police commissioner need not 7
give the requested report. 8
(3) The police commissioner must give the chief executive the 9
following information about a person who is or has been a 10
relevant disqualified person-- 11
(a) that the person is or has been a relevant disqualified 12
person; 13
(b) if the person is or has been subject to a disqualification 14
order--the duration and details of the disqualification 15
order; 16
(c) if the person is or has been subject to an offender 17
prohibition order-- 18
(i) a brief description of the conduct that gave rise to 19
the order; and 20
(ii) the duration and details of the order, including 21
whether it is or was a temporary offender 22
prohibition order, a final offender prohibition order 23
or a registered corresponding order. 24
(4) The police commissioner must give the chief executive the 25
following information about a person who is or has been the 26
subject of an application for a disqualification order or named 27
as the respondent to an application for an offender prohibition 28
order and the order was not made-- 29
(a) that the person is or has been the subject of an 30
application for a disqualification order or named as the 31
respondent for an application for an offender prohibition 32
order and the order was not made; 33
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(b) the reasons why the application was made; 1
(c) the reasons why the order was not made; 2
(d) if the application was for an offender prohibition order 3
and the magistrate or court hearing the application 4
decided not to make a CPOPOA disqualification order 5
for the person--the reasons why the CPOPOA 6
disqualification order was not made. 7
(5) If the police information report about the person includes 8
information about a conviction, charge or investigative 9
information, the chief executive may ask the police 10
commissioner for a brief description of the circumstances of 11
the conviction, charge or investigative information. 12
(6) The police commissioner need not disclose investigative 13
information about the person to the chief executive under this 14
section if the police commissioner is reasonably satisfied that 15
giving the information may do any of the following-- 16
(a) prejudice the investigation of a contravention or possible 17
contravention of the law in a particular case; 18
(b) enable the existence or identity of a confidential source 19
of information, in relation to the enforcement or 20
administration of the law, to be ascertained; 21
(c) endanger a person's life or physical safety; 22
(d) prejudice the effectiveness of a lawful method or 23
procedure for preventing, detecting, investigating or 24
dealing with a contravention or possible contravention 25
of the law. 26
(7) If the police commissioner gives investigative information 27
about the person to the chief executive under this section, the 28
police commissioner must give notice, in the approved form, 29
to the person that-- 30
(a) the police commissioner has decided that information 31
about the person is investigative information; and 32
(b) investigative information has been given to the chief 33
executive. 34
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[s 161]
(8) In this section-- 1
final offender prohibition order means a final order under the 2
Child Protection (Offender Prohibition Order) Act 2008. 3
registered corresponding order see the Child Protection 4
(Offender Prohibition Order) Act 2008, schedule. 5
161 Decision by police commissioner that information is 6
investigative information 7
(1) This section applies if the police commissioner decides that 8
information about a person is investigative information. 9
(2) The person may appeal to a Magistrates Court about the 10
decision. 11
(3) However, an appeal under subsection (2) may only be made 12
within 14 days after the person is given notice under section 13
160(7). 14
(4) The chief executive and police commissioner must be given a 15
copy of the notice of appeal. 16
(5) A Magistrates Court hearing the appeal is to decide afresh 17
whether information given to the chief executive as 18
investigative information about a person is investigative 19
information. 20
(6) A person who is the relevant complainant under the 21
Commission for Children and Young People and Child 22
Guardian Act 2000, section 121A must not be asked or called 23
on to give evidence in person before the court. 24
(7) Subsection (6) does not prevent documentary evidence being 25
tendered and received in evidence by the court. 26
(8) After hearing the appeal, the court may confirm or set aside 27
the decision and the registrar of the court is to give the person 28
notice of the decision. 29
(9) For subsection (4), the court must have regard to the matters 30
the police commissioner was required to have regard to under 31
the Commission for Children and Young People and Child 32
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[s 162]
Guardian Act 2000, when the police commissioner made the 1
decision. 2
(10) If, on appeal, the court sets aside the police commissioner's 3
decision that information given to the chief executive about a 4
person is investigative information, the chief executive must 5
reassess the person's suitability to be engaged or to continue 6
to be engaged to perform child-related duties. 7
162 Using police information report 8
(1) This section applies after a police information report about the 9
person is given to the chief executive. 10
(2) The chief executive must, under a part 6 directive, consider 11
the police information in making an assessment about the 12
person's suitability for engagement, or continued engagement, 13
to perform child-related duties. 14
163 Decision about suitability of person after considering 15
police information report 16
(1) This section applies in relation to a decision of a chief 17
executive of a department about whether a person is suitable 18
for engagement or continued engagement to perform 19
child-related duties in the department. 20
(2) Subject to subsection (3), the chief executive must decide the 21
person is suitable if the chief executive-- 22
(a) is not aware of any police information about the person; 23
or 24
(b) is not aware of a conviction of the person for any 25
offence but is aware that there is 1 or more of the 26
following about the person-- 27
(i) investigative information; 28
(ii) a charge for an offence other than a disqualifying 29
offence; 30
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[s 163]
(iii) a charge for a disqualifying offence that has been 1
dealt with other than by a conviction; or 2
(c) is aware of a conviction of the person for an offence 3
other than a serious offence. 4
(3) The chief executive must decide the person is suitable for 5
engagement or continued engagement to perform 6
child-related duties under subsection (2)(b) or (c) unless the 7
chief executive is satisfied it is an exceptional case in which it 8
would not be in the best interests of children for the chief 9
executive to make that decision. 10
(4) If the chief executive is satisfied under subsection (3) that it is 11
an exceptional case, the chief executive must not decide the 12
person is suitable for engagement or continued engagement to 13
perform child-related duties. 14
(5) Subject to subsections (2) and (6), the chief executive must 15
decide the person is not suitable for engagement or continued 16
engagement to perform child-related duties if the chief 17
executive is aware the person-- 18
(a) is a relevant disqualified person, other than only because 19
the person is subject to a temporary offender prohibition 20
order; or 21
(b) is a person, other than a person mentioned in paragraph 22
(a), who has at any time been a relevant disqualified 23
person; or 24
(c) has been convicted of a serious offence. 25
(6) The chief executive is required to decide the person is not 26
suitable for engagement or continued engagement to perform 27
child-related duties under subsection (5)(b) or (c) unless the 28
chief executive is satisfied it is an exceptional case in which it 29
would not harm the best interests of children for the chief 30
executive to make that decision. 31
(7) If the chief executive is satisfied under subsection (6) that it is 32
an exceptional case, the chief executive must decide the 33
person is suitable for engagement or continued engagement to 34
perform child-related duties. 35
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(8) Decisions under this section by the chief executive must be 1
made under a part 6 directive. 2
164 Decision-making in relation to discretionary matters 3
(1) This section applies if, under a part 6 directive, a chief 4
executive is deciding whether or not, in relation to a person, 5
there is an exceptional case as mentioned in section 163(3) or 6
(6). 7
(2) If the chief executive is aware that the person has been 8
convicted of, or charged with, an offence, the chief executive 9
must have regard to the following-- 10
(a) in relation to the commission, or alleged commission, of 11
an offence by the person-- 12
(i) whether it is a conviction or a charge; and 13
(ii) whether the offence is a serious offence and, if it is, 14
whether it is a disqualifying offence; and 15
(iii) when the offence was committed or is alleged to 16
have been committed; and 17
(iv) the nature of the offence; and 18
(v) in the case of a conviction--the penalty imposed 19
by the court and if it decided not to impose an 20
imprisonment order for the offence, or decided not 21
to make a disqualification order, the court's 22
reasons for its decision; 23
(b) anything else relating to the commission, or alleged 24
commission, of the offence that the chief executive 25
reasonably considers to be relevant to whether or not the 26
person is suitable for engagement or continued 27
engagement to perform child-related duties. 28
(3) If the chief executive is aware of investigative information 29
about the person, the chief executive must have regard to the 30
following-- 31
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(a) when the acts or omissions constituting the alleged 1
offence to which the investigative information relates 2
were committed; 3
(b) anything else relating to the commission of the acts or 4
omissions that the chief executive reasonably considers 5
relevant to the assessment of the person. 6
165 Chief executive may enter into arrangements about 7
police information 8
(1) A chief executive may, under a part 6 directive, enter into an 9
arrangement with another chief executive, or an entity 10
prescribed under a regulation, in relation to a matter under this 11
division. 12
(2) The chief executive may delegate his or her powers under this 13
division to a person under the arrangement. 14
Division 4 Provisions relating to reports under 15
divisions 2 and 3 16
166 Duty of police commissioner relating to requests for 17
criminal history or police information 18
The duty imposed on the police commissioner under this part 19
to comply with a request to give the chief executive a written 20
report about a person's criminal history or police information, 21
or otherwise to give information under section 169, applies 22
only to information in the police commissioner's possession 23
or to which the police commissioner has access. 24
167 Criminal history or police information no longer required 25
to be obtained 26
(1) This section applies if-- 27
(a) a chief executive has, under section 154 or 159, 28
requested the police commissioner to give the chief 29
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executive a written report about a person's criminal 1
history or police information; and 2
(b) the chief executive decides the criminal history or police 3
information is no longer required. 4
(2) The chief executive must, by written notice, tell the police 5
commissioner that the requested report is no longer required. 6
(3) If the police commissioner is notified as mentioned subsection 7
(2) before the police commissioner has given a report to the 8
chief executive, the police commissioner must not give it to 9
the chief executive. 10
168 Police commissioner not to use information given as part 11
of request except for particular circumstances 12
(1) Information given to the police commissioner by a chief 13
executive under section 154(2) or 159(2) about a person must 14
not be accessed, disclosed or used for any purpose except for a 15
purpose under this part or any other purpose relevant to law 16
enforcement. 17
(2) However, subsection (1) does not apply to information the 18
police commissioner obtained before the chief executive gave 19
the information to the police commissioner. 20
169 Destruction of reports and notices 21
(1) This section applies to any of the following if, under a part 6 22
directive, it is no longer required to be kept-- 23
(a) a criminal history report or police information report 24
about a person after the chief executive who requested 25
the report makes an assessment about the person under 26
division 2 or 3; 27
(b) a notice given to a chief executive under section 170. 28
(2) The chief executive must destroy the report, the notice and 29
any other document required by the directive to be destroyed. 30
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[s 170]
Division 5 Other matters including 1
notifications, offences and rulings 2
170 Prosecuting authority to notify chief executive about 3
committal, conviction etc. 4
(1) This section applies if the police commissioner or the director 5
of public prosecutions (a prosecuting authority) is aware that 6
a person is a public service employee in a department and, 7
after the commencement of this section, any of the following 8
happens to the person-- 9
(a) the person is charged with a relevant offence; 10
(b) a disqualification order or offender prohibition order is 11
made against the person; 12
(c) a decision is made, as mentioned in the Commission for 13
Children and Young People and Child Guardian Act 14
2000, section 121A, not to charge the person who is an 15
investigated person under that section; 16
(d) the person is the subject of an application for a 17
disqualification order; 18
(e) the person is named as the respondent to an application 19
for an offender prohibition order. 20
(2) If the person is committed by a court for trial for a relevant 21
offence, the prosecuting authority must, within 7 days after 22
the committal, give notice to the department's chief executive 23
of the following-- 24
(a) the person's name; 25
(b) the court; 26
(c) particulars of the offence; 27
(d) the date of the committal; 28
(e) the court to which the person was committed. 29
(3) If the person is convicted before a court of a relevant offence, 30
the prosecuting authority must, within 7 days after the 31
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conviction, give notice to the department's chief executive of 1
the following-- 2
(a) the person's name; 3
(b) the court; 4
(c) particulars of the offence; 5
(d) the date of the conviction; 6
(e) the sentence imposed by the court. 7
(4) If a disqualification order or offender prohibition order is 8
made against the person, the prosecuting authority must, 9
within 7 days after the order is made, give notice to the 10
department's chief executive of the following-- 11
(a) the person's name; 12
(b) the court; 13
(c) particulars of the order; 14
(d) the date of the order; 15
(e) the order made by the court. 16
(5) If the person is convicted as mentioned in subsection (3), or 17
an order is made as mentioned in subsection (4), and the 18
person has appealed against the conviction or making of the 19
order, and the appeal is finally decided or has otherwise 20
ended, the prosecuting authority must, within 7 days after the 21
decision or the day the appeal otherwise ends, give notice to 22
the department's chief executive of the following-- 23
(a) the person's name; 24
(b) particulars of the offence or order; 25
(c) the date of the decision or other ending of the appeal; 26
(d) if the appeal was decided-- 27
(i) the court in which it was decided; and 28
(ii) particulars of the decision. 29
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(6) If the prosecution for the relevant offence ends without the 1
person being convicted of the offence, the prosecuting 2
authority must, within 7 days after the prosecution process 3
ends, give notice to the chief executive about the following-- 4
(a) the person's name; 5
(b) if relevant, the court in which the prosecution process 6
ended; 7
(c) particulars of the offence; 8
(d) the date the prosecution process ended. 9
(7) For subsection (5), the prosecution process ends if-- 10
(a) an indictment was presented against the person but a 11
nolle prosequi is entered on the indictment or the person 12
is acquitted; or 13
(b) the prosecution process has otherwise ended. 14
(8) If the police commissioner gives investigative information 15
about the person to a chief executive under this section, the 16
police commissioner must give notice, in the approved form, 17
to the person that-- 18
(a) the police commissioner has decided that information 19
about the person is investigative information; and 20
(b) investigative information has been given to the chief 21
executive. 22
(9) In this section-- 23
relevant offence means-- 24
(a) an indictable offence; or 25
(b) a disqualifying offence that is not an indictable offence. 26
171 False or misleading statements in consent 27
(1) A person must not give a chief executive a consent as 28
mentioned in section 152 or 157, or another document for this 29
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[s 172]
part, that the person knows contains information that is false 1
or misleading in a material particular. 2
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 3
(2) It is enough for a complaint for an offence against subsection 4
(1) to state the information was `false or misleading' to the 5
person's knowledge, without specifying which. 6
172 Confidentiality 7
(1) This section applies to a person who-- 8
(a) is, or has been, a public service employee in a 9
department or a selection panel member; and 10
(b) in that capacity acquired information, or gained access 11
to a document, under this part about someone else's 12
criminal history or police information, including, for 13
example, a criminal history report or police information 14
report. 15
(2) The person must not disclose the acquired information, or 16
give access to the document, to anyone else. 17
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 18
(3) Subsection (2) does not apply to the disclosure of acquired 19
information, or giving of access to a document, about a 20
person-- 21
(a) to a public service employee in the department or a 22
selection panel member, for the purpose of assessing the 23
person's suitability to be engaged to perform relevant 24
duties or child-related duties in relation to which the 25
information or document were acquired; or 26
(b) with the person's consent; or 27
(c) if the disclosure or giving of access is otherwise 28
required under an Act. 29
(4) In this section-- 30
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[s 173]
selection panel member means a member of a panel formed 1
to make a recommendation to the chief executive of a 2
department about engaging a person in the department. 3
173 Commission chief executive may make rulings for this 4
part 5
(1) The commission chief executive may make rulings for this 6
part. 7
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), a directive made for this part 8
must make provision for-- 9
(a) the circumstances in which a chief executive may decide 10
that it is necessary to obtain the criminal history of a 11
person; and 12
(b) a reasonable opportunity to be given to a person to make 13
written representations about any of the following 14
before an adverse decision relating to the person is 15
made-- 16
(i) a criminal history report; 17
(ii) a police information report; 18
(iii) a decision of a chief executive about whether or not 19
there is an exceptional case for section 163; and 20
(c) in relation to child-related duties--a decision-making 21
process that, so far as practicable, is consistent with 22
relevant provisions of the Commission for Children and 23
Young People and Child Guardian Act 2000. 24
(3) In this section-- 25
adverse decision, relating to a person, means a decision about 26
the person's suitability for engagement or continued 27
engagement to perform-- 28
(a) relevant duties in relation to which a criminal history 29
report was obtained, other than a decision that the 30
person is suitable for engagement to perform the 31
relevant duties; or 32
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[s 174]
(b) child-related duties, other than a decision that the person 1
is suitable for engagement to perform the child-related 2
duties. 3
Part 7 Mental or physical incapacity 4
174 Application of pt 7 5
This part applies to a public service employee if-- 6
(a) the employee is absent from duty or the employee's 7
chief executive is reasonably satisfied the employee is 8
not performing his or her duties satisfactorily; and 9
(b) the chief executive reasonably suspects that the 10
employee's absence or unsatisfactory performance is 11
caused by mental or physical illness or disability. 12
175 Chief executive may require medical examination 13
The chief executive may-- 14
(a) appoint a doctor to examine the employee and give the 15
chief executive a written report on the examination; and 16
(b) require the employee to submit to the medical 17
examination. 18
176 Employee not to be given sick leave if requirement not 19
complied with 20
The employee must not be given sick leave for any period 21
during which the employee fails to comply with the 22
requirement. 23
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[s 177]
177 Medical examination report 1
(1) The report on the medical examination must include the 2
examining doctor's opinion as to whether the employee has a 3
mental or physical illness or disability that may adversely 4
affect the employee's performance. 5
(2) If the doctor considers the employee has an illness or 6
disability mentioned in subsection (1), the report must also 7
include the doctor's opinion as to the following-- 8
(a) the likely direct or indirect effect of the illness or 9
disability on the employee's performance; 10
(b) an estimate of how long the illness or disability or its 11
effects are likely to last; 12
(c) whether or not disclosing the information in the report 13
to the employee might be prejudicial to the employee's 14
mental or physical health or wellbeing. 15
(3) If the doctor's opinion is that the disclosure will not be 16
prejudicial to the employee's mental or physical health or 17
wellbeing, the chief executive must give the employee a copy 18
of the report as soon as practicable after receiving it. 19
(4) If the doctor's opinion is that the disclosure might be 20
prejudicial to the employee's mental or physical health or 21
wellbeing, the chief executive must not disclose the contents 22
of the report to the employee. 23
(5) However, if asked by the employee in writing, the chief 24
executive must make the disclosure to another doctor 25
nominated by the employee in the request. 26
178 Action following report 27
(1) If, after considering the report of the medical examination, the 28
chief executive is reasonably satisfied the employee's absence 29
or unsatisfactory performance is caused by mental or physical 30
illness or disability, the chief executive may-- 31
(a) transfer or redeploy the employee; or 32
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[s 179]
(b) if it is not reasonably practicable to transfer or redeploy 1
the employee--retire the employee from the public 2
service. 3
(2) Subsection (1) does not limit the action that may be taken 4
relating to the employee. 5
179 Record of requirement and report 6
(1) The chief executive must keep a record of-- 7
(a) the requirement; and 8
(b) the report on the medical examination. 9
(2) If the chief executive considers it necessary to protect the 10
employee's interests, the chief executive may keep the record 11
separate from other records about the employee. 12
Part 8 Miscellaneous provisions 13
180 Requirement to give evidence of age 14
A public service employee must, within 1 month after starting 15
employment in the public service, give the employee's chief 16
executive-- 17
(a) a certified copy or certified extract of the employee's 18
birth certificate; or 19
(b) if it is not practicable to obtain the copy or extract, 20
another document the chief executive considers 21
satisfactorily establishes the employee's age. 22
181 Requirement to give notice of charge or conviction for 23
indictable offence 24
(1) This section applies if a public service employee is-- 25
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[s 182]
(a) charged with an indictable offence; or 1
(b) convicted by a court of an indictable offence. 2
(2) The employee must give the employee's chief executive a 3
notice stating-- 4
(a) if the employee has been charged with an indictable 5
offence-- 6
(i) that the employee has been charged; and 7
(ii) the details of the alleged offence; or 8
(b) if the employee has been convicted of an indictable 9
offence-- 10
(i) that the employee has been convicted; and 11
(ii) the details of the offence; and 12
(iii) the penalty imposed on the employee. 13
(3) The notice must be given-- 14
(a) if the employee has been charged with an indictable 15
offence--immediately after the employee is charged; or 16
(b) if the employee has been convicted of an indictable 17
offence--immediately after the employee is convicted. 18
(4) In this section-- 19
convicted includes a finding of guilt, whether or not a 20
conviction is recorded. 21
indictable offence means an offence for which a charge may 22
be laid by indictment or an equivalent process, whether that is 23
the only, or an optional, way to lay a charge of the offence. 24
182 Confidentiality of private information contained in notice 25
(1) This section applies to a person if-- 26
(a) the person is or has been a public service employee; and 27
(b) in that capacity, the person has or had access to, or 28
custody of, a notice given under section 181; and 29
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[s 183]
(c) information contained in the notice is not publicly 1
available. 2
(2) The person must not-- 3
(a) make a record of the information; or 4
(b) whether directly or indirectly, divulge or communicate 5
the information; or 6
(c) use the information to benefit any person. 7
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 8
(3) However, subsection (2) does not apply if the record is made, 9
or the information is divulged, communicated or used-- 10
(a) to the extent necessary to perform the person's functions 11
under or relating to this Act; or 12
(b) with the consent of the person who gave the notice; or 13
(c) as required or permitted by law. 14
183 Work performance arrangements 15
(1) A chief executive may enter into, and give effect to, an 16
arrangement (a work performance arrangement) under 17
which-- 18
(a) a public service employee employed in a department 19
performs work for another entity; or 20
(b) a person employed by or within another entity performs 21
work for a department. 22
Examples of another entity-- 23
· another government entity 24
· An entity of the Commonwealth or another State, including, for 25
example, any of the following-- 26
(a) a department of government, or part of a department of 27
government, of the Commonwealth or other State; 28
(b) an entity, or part of an entity, corresponding to a public 29
service office; 30
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[s 184]
(c) an agency, authority, commission, corporation, 1
instrumentality, office, or other entity, established under a 2
law of the jurisdiction or under an authorisation of the 3
Commonwealth or other State for its public or other 4
purposes; 5
(d) a part of an entity mentioned in paragraph (c). 6
· a private or public company 7
(2) A work performance arrangement must be made with the 8
chief executive of the other department or the appropriate 9
authority of the other entity. 10
(3) A work performance arrangement may make provision for all 11
matters necessary or convenient to be provided under the 12
arrangement. 13
(4) A work performance arrangement may, for example, 14
provide-- 15
(a) for the appointment of, and holding by, a public service 16
employee or someone else to any office for the 17
arrangement; and 18
(b) for the authorising of a public service employee or 19
someone else to exercise any powers for the 20
arrangement; and 21
(c) for whether payment is to be made for work done under 22
the arrangement and, if so, what payment is to be made 23
and who is to make the payment. 24
184 Interchange arrangements 25
(1) A chief executive may enter into, and give effect to, an 26
arrangement (an interchange arrangement) under which-- 27
(a) a public service employee employed in a department 28
performs duties in another entity; or 29
(b) a person employed by or within another entity performs 30
duties in a department. 31
Note-- 32
For examples of other entities, see section 183(1), examples. 33
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[s 185]
(2) An interchange arrangement must be made with the chief 1
executive of the other department or the appropriate authority 2
of the other entity. 3
(3) An interchange arrangement may make provision for all 4
matters necessary or convenient to be provided under the 5
arrangement. 6
185 Declaration of interests 7
(1) The chief executive of a department may direct a person 8
employed in the department to prepare and give the chief 9
executive a statement about the employee's interests. 10
(2) The statement must include the information required under a 11
directive of the commission chief executive. 12
(3) Subsections (4) and (5) apply if-- 13
(a) a change to the employee's interests happens after the 14
giving of the statement; and 15
(b) the change is of a type prescribed under a directive of 16
the commission chief executive. 17
(4) The chief executive may direct the employee to give the chief 18
executive a revised version of the statement. 19
(5) The revised version must-- 20
(a) be given as soon as possible after the relevant facts 21
about the change come to the employee's knowledge; 22
and 23
(b) comply with subsection (2). 24
(6) A direction under this section may-- 25
(a) be given whenever the chief executive considers it 26
necessary, because of the employee's duties and 27
responsibilities; and 28
(b) require the statement, or revised version, to be given-- 29
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[s 186]
(i) to the chief executive or someone nominated by the 1
chief executive; or 2
(ii) within a stated period or at stated intervals. 3
186 Conflicts of interest 4
(1) If a public service employee, other than a chief executive, has 5
an interest that conflicts or may conflict with the discharge of 6
the employee's duties, the employee-- 7
(a) must disclose the nature of the interest and conflict to 8
the employee's chief executive as soon as practicable 9
after the relevant facts come to the employee's 10
knowledge; and 11
(b) must not take action or further action relating to a matter 12
that is, or may be, affected by the conflict unless 13
authorised by the chief executive. 14
(2) The chief executive of a department may direct a public 15
service employee employed in the department to resolve a 16
conflict or possible conflict between an interest of the 17
employee and the employee's duties. 18
Chapter 6 Disciplinary action for 19
public service officers 20
187 Grounds for discipline 21
(1) A public service officer's chief executive may discipline the 22
officer if the chief executive is reasonably satisfied the officer 23
has-- 24
(a) performed the officer's duties carelessly, incompetently 25
or inefficiently; or 26
(b) been guilty of misconduct; or 27
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[s 188]
(c) been absent from duty without approved leave and 1
without reasonable excuse; or 2
(d) contravened, without reasonable excuse, a direction 3
given to the officer as a public service officer by a 4
responsible person; or 5
(e) used, without reasonable excuse, a substance to an 6
extent that has adversely affected the competent 7
performance of the officer's duties; or 8
(f) contravened, without reasonable excuse, a provision of 9
this Act or an obligation imposed on the person under a 10
code of conduct-- 11
(i) approved under the Public Sector Ethics Act 1994; 12
or 13
(ii) prescribed under a directive of the commission 14
chief executive. 15
(2) In this section-- 16
misconduct means-- 17
(a) inappropriate or improper conduct in an official 18
capacity; or 19
(b) inappropriate or improper conduct in a private capacity 20
that reflects seriously and adversely on the public 21
service. 22
Example of misconduct-- 23
victimising another public service employee in the course of the other 24
employee's employment in the public service 25
responsible person, for a direction, means a person with 26
authority to give the direction, whether the authority derives 27
from this Act or otherwise. 28
188 Disciplinary action that may be taken 29
(1) In disciplining a public service officer, the officer's chief 30
executive may take the action, or order the action be taken, 31
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[s 188]
(disciplinary action) that the chief executive considers 1
reasonable in the circumstances. 2
Examples of disciplinary action-- 3
· termination of employment 4
· reduction of classification level and a consequential change of 5
duties 6
· transfer or redeployment to other public service employment 7
· forfeiture or deferment of a remuneration increment or increase 8
· reduction of remuneration level 9
· imposition of a monetary penalty 10
· if a penalty is imposed, a direction that the amount of the penalty be 11
deducted from the officer's periodic remuneration payments 12
· a reprimand 13
(2) However, a monetary penalty can not be more than the total of 14
2 of the officer's periodic remuneration payments. 15
(3) Also, an amount directed to be deducted from any particular 16
periodic remuneration payment of the officer-- 17
(a) must not be more than half of the amount payable to or 18
for the officer in relation to the payment; and 19
(b) must not reduce the amount of salary payable to the 20
officer in relation to the period to less than-- 21
(i) if the officer has a dependant--the guaranteed 22
minimum wage for each week of the period; or 23
(ii) otherwise--two-thirds of the guaranteed minimum 24
wage for each week of the period. 25
(4) In acting under subsection (1), the chief executive must 26
comply with this Act and any relevant directive of the 27
commission chief executive. 28
(5) An order under subsection (1) is binding on anyone affected 29
by it. 30
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[s 189]
189 Suspension of public service officer liable to discipline 1
(1) The chief executive may suspend a public service officer from 2
duty if the chief executive reasonably believes the officer is 3
liable to discipline under a disciplinary law. 4
(2) The chief executive may cancel the suspension at any time. 5
190 Procedure for disciplinary action 6
(1) In disciplining or suspending a public service officer, a chief 7
executive must comply with this Act, any relevant directive of 8
the commission chief executive, and the principles of natural 9
justice. 10
(2) However, natural justice is not required if the suspension is on 11
normal remuneration. 12
191 Effect of suspension from duty 13
(1) This section applies to a public service officer suspended from 14
duty under this chapter unless the officer's chief executive 15
decides otherwise. 16
(2) The officer is entitled to normal remuneration during the 17
suspension period. 18
(3) If the suspension is cancelled and the officer resumes duty, 19
the officer is entitled to be paid the normal remuneration, less 20
any amount earned by the officer from additional employment 21
undertaken during the suspension period. 22
(4) The continuity of the officer's service as a public service 23
officer is taken not to have been broken only because of the 24
suspension. 25
192 Additional procedures for suspension or termination 26
(1) If a chief executive decides to suspend or terminate the 27
employment of a public service officer, the chief executive 28
must give the officer notice of the suspension or termination. 29
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[s 193]
(2) The notice must state-- 1
(a) for a suspension-- 2
(i) when the suspension starts and ends; and 3
(ii) the remuneration to which the officer is entitled for 4
the period of the suspension, under a decision 5
mentioned in section 191(1) or, if no decision has 6
been made under section 191(1), under section 7
191(2); or 8
(b) for a termination--the day when it takes effect. 9
Chapter 7 Appeals and reviews 10
Part 1 Appeals to the commission 11
chief executive 12
Division 1 Right of appeal 13
193 Appeals to commission chief executive 14
A person may appeal to the commission chief executive 15
against a decision if-- 16
(a) an appeal may be made against the decision, under 17
section 194; and 18
(b) the person is entitled to appeal against the decision 19
under section 196. 20
194 Decisions against which appeals may be made 21
(1) An appeal may be made to the commission chief executive 22
against the following decisions-- 23
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[s 195]
(a) a decision to take, or not take, action under a directive; 1
(b) a decision under a disciplinary law to discipline a person 2
(other than by termination of employment), including 3
the action taken in disciplining the person; 4
(c) a decision to promote a public service officer (a 5
promotion decision); 6
(d) a decision to transfer a public service officer (a transfer 7
decision); 8
(e) a decision under section 149 that a temporary 9
employee's employment in a department is to continue 10
as a temporary employee; 11
(f) a decision about anything else against which another 12
Act allows a person to appeal to the commission chief 13
executive. 14
(2) However, an appeal can not be made against a decision if 15
section 195 applies to the decision. 16
195 Decisions against which appeals can not be made 17
(1) A person can not appeal to the commission chief executive 18
against any of the following decisions-- 19
(a) a decision of the Governor in Council; 20
(b) a decision of a Minister; 21
(c) a decision about superannuation benefits or workers' 22
compensation; 23
(d) a decision about probation; 24
(e) a decision to terminate the employment of a public 25
service officer employed on probation; 26
(f) a decision about the classification level of employment, 27
unless the decision is declared under a directive of the 28
commission chief executive to be a decision against 29
which an appeal may be made; 30
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[s 195]
(g) a decision to promote, transfer, redeploy or second a 1
person as a chief executive, senior executive or senior 2
officer; 3
(h) a decision mentioned in section 161(1); 4
Editor's note-- 5
Section 161 (Decision by police commissioner that information 6
is investigative information) 7
(i) a non-appealable appointment. 8
(2) A person can not appeal against, or in an appeal call in 9
question in any way, a decision that decides the policy, 10
strategy, nature, scope, resourcing or direction of the public 11
service or a department. 12
(3) A person can not appeal against a promotion decision if-- 13
(a) the relevant public service officer had been redeployed 14
within 1 year before the promotion; and 15
(b) the promotion is to a classification level that is not 16
higher than the officer's classification level immediately 17
before the redeployment. 18
(4) In addition, a person can not appeal against a decision if-- 19
(a) the parties to the appeal would include the commission, 20
a commissioner or a staff member of the commission; or 21
(b) it is a matter that has been heard by the IRC. 22
Note-- 23
Under section 215, the IRC has jurisdiction to hear and decide a matter 24
mentioned in this subsection. 25
(5) In this section-- 26
non-appealable appointment means an appointment-- 27
(a) for which the commission chief executive is satisfied 28
merit in selection processes is sufficiently protected by 29
ways other than an appeal under this part; and 30
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[s 196]
(b) that the commission chief executive has declared by 1
gazette notice to be an appointment against which an 2
appeal may not be made. 3
196 Who may appeal 4
The following persons may appeal against the following 5
decisions to the commission chief executive-- 6
(a) for a decision mentioned in section 194(1)(a)--a public 7
service officer aggrieved by the decision if the officer is 8
entitled to appeal under a directive of the commission 9
chief executive; 10
(b) for a decision mentioned in section 194(1)(b)--a public 11
service officer aggrieved by the decision to discipline 12
the officer if the officer is entitled to appeal under a 13
directive of the commission chief executive; 14
(c) for promotion decision--a public service officer 15
aggrieved by the decision who is entitled to appeal 16
under a directive of the commission chief executive; 17
(d) for a transfer decision--the public service officer the 18
subject of the transfer; 19
(e) for a decision mentioned in section 194(1)(e)--the 20
temporary employee the subject of the decision; 21
(f) for a decision mentioned in section 194(1)(f)--the 22
person the other Act allows to appeal. 23
Division 2 Appeal procedures 24
197 Starting an appeal 25
(1) An appeal to the commission chief executive may be started 26
only by giving the commission chief executive a notice (an 27
appeal notice) stating-- 28
(a) details identifying the decision appealed against; and 29
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[s 198]
(b) reasons for the appeal. 1
(2) An appeal notice must be given and actually received by the 2
commission chief executive before 5:00p.m. on the day that is 3
21 days after-- 4
(a) for a promotion decision--the day the decision is 5
publicly notified; or 6
(b) otherwise--the day the appellant received notice of the 7
decision appealed against. 8
(3) However, the commission chief executive may at any time 9
extend the time for giving an appeal notice. 10
198 Notice by commission chief executive of appeal 11
(1) As soon as possible after receiving an appeal notice under 12
section 197, the commission chief executive must give notice 13
of its receipt to the appellant. 14
(2) The commission chief executive must give a copy of an 15
appeal notice to-- 16
(a) each other party to the appeal; and 17
(b) for a relocation decision--the chief executive of the 18
department or the head of the public service office in 19
which the promoted or transferred officer was employed 20
immediately before the promotion or transfer took 21
effect. 22
(3) In this section-- 23
relocation decision means a promotion decision or transfer 24
decision involving a public service officer's promotion or 25
transfer to employment in a different department or public 26
service office to the one in which the officer was employed 27
immediately before the promotion or transfer. 28
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199 Stay of operation of decisions etc. 1
(1) The commission chief executive may stay a decision appealed 2
against to secure the effectiveness of the appeal. 3
(2) A stay-- 4
(a) may be given on conditions; and 5
(b) operates for the period fixed by the commission chief 6
executive; and 7
(c) may be revoked or amended by the commission chief 8
executive. 9
(3) The period of a stay must not extend past the time when the 10
commission chief executive decides the appeal. 11
(4) The starting of an appeal against a decision affects the 12
decision, or the carrying out of the decision, only if the 13
decision is stayed. 14
200 Commission chief executive may decline to hear 15
particular appeals 16
(1) The commission chief executive may decline to hear an 17
appeal against a decision mentioned in section 194(1)(a) 18
unless he or she is satisfied the appellant has used grievance 19
procedures required to be used under a directive. 20
(2) The commission chief executive may decline to hear an 21
appeal against a promotion decision unless he or she is 22
satisfied, by oral or written submissions, that the appellant has 23
an arguable case for the appeal. 24
(3) The commission chief executive may decline to hear an 25
appeal against any decision if-- 26
(a) the appellant has made an application to a court or 27
tribunal relating to the decision, whether or not the 28
application has been fully decided; or 29
(b) he or she reasonably believes the appeal-- 30
(i) is frivolous or vexatious; or 31
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[s 201]
(ii) is misconceived or lacks substance; or 1
(iii) should not be heard for another compelling reason. 2
(4) However, before declining to hear an appeal under subsection 3
(3)(b), the commission chief executive must ask the appellant 4
to establish by oral or written submissions that the appellant 5
has an arguable case for the appeal. 6
201 Appeal is by way of review 7
(1) The commission chief executive must decide an appeal by 8
reviewing the decision appealed against. 9
(2) For an appeal against a decision about a promotion or 10
disciplinary action, the commission chief executive must 11
decide the appeal on the basis of the evidence available to the 12
decision maker when the decision was made. 13
(3) However, subsection (2) does not prevent the commission 14
chief executive from allowing other evidence to be taken into 15
account. 16
202 Commission chief executive's functions on appeal 17
In hearing and deciding an appeal, the commission chief 18
executive must-- 19
(a) observe the principles of natural justice; and 20
(b) act as quickly, and with as little formality and 21
technicality, as is consistent with a fair and proper 22
consideration of the issues. 23
203 Commission chief executive may decide procedures 24
(1) The commission chief executive-- 25
(a) is not bound by the rules of evidence; and 26
(b) may inform himself or herself in the way, and to the 27
extent, he or she considers appropriate; and 28
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[s 204]
(c) may decide the persons, other than the appellant, who 1
are the parties to the appeal; and 2
(d) may decide the appeal without a hearing if the parties to 3
the appeal agree; and 4
(e) may hear and decide any issue relevant to the appeal; 5
and 6
(f) may decide the procedures to be followed in the appeal, 7
including, for example, whether-- 8
(i) the appeal should be heard with other appeals; and 9
(ii) the parties should be heard together or separately; 10
and 11
(iii) the parties should be heard, or evidence or 12
submissions taken, by way of video link or another 13
form of communication. 14
(2) However, the commission chief executive must comply with 15
this part and any relevant procedural rules prescribed under a 16
regulation. 17
204 Representation of parties 18
(1) A party to an appeal may appear personally or by an agent. 19
(2) However, a party may not be represented by a person if-- 20
(a) the party has instructed the person to act as the party's 21
lawyer; and 22
(b) in so acting, the person would be subject to the Legal 23
Profession Act 2007. 24
(3) Also, a party to an appeal about a promotion decision may be 25
represented by an agent only with the commission chief 26
executive's leave. 27
205 Commission chief executive's powers on appeal 28
(1) In hearing an appeal, the commission chief executive may-- 29
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[s 206]
(a) act in the absence of a person who has been given 1
reasonable notice; and 2
(b) receive evidence on oath or affirmation or by statutory 3
declaration; and 4
(c) require a public service employee to attend as a witness 5
to give evidence or produce documents or things; and 6
(d) require a public service employee attending as a witness 7
to make an oath or affirmation. 8
(2) The commission chief executive may administer an oath or 9
affirmation to a person appearing as a witness. 10
206 Withdrawing an appeal 11
(1) An appellant may withdraw the appeal by notice to the 12
commission chief executive. 13
(2) However, the notice may only be given before the 14
commission chief executive gives the appellant notice of the 15
decision on the appeal. 16
(3) The commission chief executive must give notice of the 17
withdrawal to the other parties to the appeal and to anyone 18
else he or she considers has an interest in the appeal. 19
207 Lapse of appeal 20
An appeal lapses if the appellant stops being-- 21
(a) a public service employee; or 22
(b) a person who may appeal against the decision the 23
subject of the appeal. 24
Division 3 Deciding appeal 25
208 Decision on appeal 26
(1) In deciding an appeal, the commission chief executive may-- 27
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[s 209]
(a) confirm the decision appealed against; or 1
(b) for an appeal against a promotion decision--set the 2
decision aside, and return the issue to the decision 3
maker with a copy of the decision on appeal and any 4
directions permitted under a directive of the commission 5
chief executive that he or she considers appropriate; or 6
(c) for another appeal--set the decision aside, and 7
substitute another decision or return the issue to the 8
decision maker with a copy of the decision on appeal 9
and any directions considered appropriate. 10
(2) In deciding an appeal against a promotion decision, the 11
commission chief executive may set the decision aside only if 12
he or she finds that the recruitment or selection process was 13
deficient. 14
(3) A decision on an appeal must be written and state the reasons 15
for the decision. 16
(4) The commission chief executive must give a copy of a 17
decision on an appeal to the parties to the appeal as soon as 18
possible after it is available. 19
209 Criteria for deciding process deficiency 20
For section 208(2), the commission chief executive must have 21
regard to whether or not the selection or recruitment process 22
complied with-- 23
(a) generally--this Act, a regulation or a directive of the 24
commission chief executive; and 25
(b) for persons employed other than under this Act--the 26
relevant Act or a regulation under that Act. 27
210 Reopening decided appeals 28
The commission chief executive may reopen an appeal that 29
has been decided if he or she is satisfied there are compelling 30
reasons for hearing and deciding it again. 31
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[s 211]
Division 4 Miscellaneous provisions 1
211 Attendance at an appeal is part of an employee's duties 2
Attendance at an appeal proceeding is part of a public service 3
employee's duties if the employee-- 4
(a) is a party to the appeal; or 5
(b) is requested or required by the commission chief 6
executive to attend the proceeding. 7
212 Public service employee's entitlements for attending 8
appeal as part of duties 9
(1) A public service employee is entitled to be paid travelling 10
expenses and allowances reasonably incurred in attending an 11
appeal proceeding as part of the employee's duties. 12
(2) The amount of the expenses and allowances is to be decided 13
by the commission chief executive. 14
(3) However, this section does not apply to an employee who is 15
the appellant and is suspended from duty without pay, unless 16
the employee's appeal is allowed. 17
213 Entitlement of non-public service employees 18
(1) This section applies if the commission chief executive asks a 19
person, other than a public service employee, to attend an 20
appeal proceeding. 21
(2) The person is entitled to be reimbursed for any expenses 22
reasonably incurred by the person in attending the proceeding. 23
(3) The amount of the expenses is to be decided by the 24
commission chief executive. 25
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Part 2 Alternate jurisdiction
[s 214]
214 Relevant department's or public service office's financial 1
obligation for appeal 2
(1) The department or public service office whose decision is 3
appealed against must pay-- 4
(a) the costs of the appeal, including the commission chief 5
executive's costs incurred for, or attributable to, the 6
appeal; and 7
(b) the travelling expenses and allowances payable under 8
section 212; and 9
(c) the amount of any expenses required to be reimbursed 10
under section 213. 11
(2) An amount payable for costs under subsection (1)(a) is the 12
amount the commission chief executive considers is 13
reasonable that is no more than the actual costs. 14
(3) The chief executive of the department or head of the public 15
service office must ensure subsection (1) is complied with as 16
soon as practicable. 17
Part 2 Alternate jurisdiction 18
215 Jurisdiction of IRC for industrial matters 19
(1) This section is to be read in conjunction with the Industrial 20
Relations Act 1999. 21
(2) The IRC may hear and decide, as an industrial matter, an 22
application by a person aggrieved by a matter mentioned in 23
section 195(4). 24
Note-- 25
Section 195(4) is about decisions that can not be appealed against 26
because the appeal would involve the commission, a commissioner or a 27
staff member of the commission, or a matter that has been heard by the 28
IRC. 29
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Part 3 Exclusion of particular matters from jurisdiction under other Acts
[s 216]
(3) The IRC can not hear or decide, as an industrial matter, an 1
application by a person about a decision against which the 2
person has appealed to the commission chief executive. 3
Part 3 Exclusion of particular matters 4
from jurisdiction under other 5
Acts 6
216 Application of pt 3 7
(1) This part applies to the following matters (each an excluded 8
matter)-- 9
(a) a decision to appoint, or not to appoint, a person under 10
this Act or as a statutory office holder; 11
(b) the contract of employment of, or the application of this 12
Act or a provision of this Act to, any of the following-- 13
(i) a commissioner; 14
(ii) a chief executive; 15
(iii) a senior executive; 16
(iv) a senior officer; 17
(v) another public service officer whose employment 18
is on contract for a fixed term; 19
(c) the removal of a statutory office holder under this Act. 20
(2) In this section-- 21
decision includes a purported decision affected by 22
jurisdictional error. 23
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Chapter 8 Miscellaneous provisions
Part 3 Exclusion of particular matters from jurisdiction under other Acts
[s 217]
217 Exclusion for Industrial Relations Act 1999 1
(1) An excluded matter, or a matter affecting or relating to an 2
excluded matter, is not an industrial matter for the Industrial 3
Relations Act 1999. 4
(2) However, subsection (1)-- 5
(a) is subject to section 122(7); and 6
(b) does not apply for a dismissal of a public service officer 7
who is employed on tenure; and 8
(c) has no effect on the Industrial Relations Act 1999, 9
section 276. 10
Editor's notes-- 11
· Section 122 (Basis of employment for employment) 12
· Industrial Relations Act 1999, section 276 (Power to amend or void 13
contracts) 14
(3) Without limiting subsection (1), industrial instruments do not 15
apply to a person who holds an office mentioned in section 16
216(1)(b). 17
218 Exclusion for Judicial Review Act 1991 18
(1) A decision about an excluded matter can not be challenged, 19
appealed against, reviewed, quashed, set aside, or called in 20
question in another way, under the Judicial Review Act 1991. 21
(2) However, subsection (1) does not apply to a decision about a 22
senior officer. 23
Chapter 8 Miscellaneous provisions 24
219 Effect of Act on the State 25
(1) Subject to subsection (3), this Act binds the State. 26
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[s 220]
(2) A person who employs another person under this Act employs 1
the person as the authorised agent of the State. 2
(3) The right or power of the State recognised at common law to 3
dispense with the services of a person employed in the public 4
service is not abrogated or restricted by any provision of this 5
Act. 6
220 Provision for acting appointments not by original 7
appointor 8
(1) This section applies if-- 9
(a) a provision of this Act authorises a person (the 10
appointor) to appoint someone else to act in an office 11
(the appointee); and 12
(b) the appointor is not the person who, under this Act, may 13
appoint persons to that office. 14
(2) The Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 24B(8) and (9) 15
apply to the appointor and the appointee as if the appointee 16
had been appointed under that section. 17
(3) This section does not limit or otherwise affect the Acts 18
Interpretation Act 1954, section 24B. 19
221 Offences against Act are summary 20
An offence against this Act is a summary offence. 21
222 Regulation-making power 22
(1) The Governor in Council may make regulations under this 23
Act. 24
(2) A regulation may be made about-- 25
(a) the operation of the public service, a department or 26
public service office; or 27
(b) the entitlements, responsibilities, functions, powers and 28
liabilities of public service employees; or 29
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Chapter 9 Repeal and transitional provisions
Part 1 Repeal provisions
[s 223]
(c) any matter that is permitted under this Act to be 1
provided for by a ruling. 2
(3) To the extent that it permits the making of a regulation for 3
remuneration and conditions of employment, this section is to 4
be administered by the industrial relations Minister. 5
(4) A regulation may provide for administration of it by a 6
Minister other than the Minister. 7
Chapter 9 Repeal and transitional 8
provisions 9
Part 1 Repeal provisions 10
223 Acts repealed 11
The following Acts are repealed-- 12
· Crown Employees Act 1958, No. 36 13
· Equal Opportunity in Public Employment Act 1992, No. 14
10 15
· Public Service Act 1996, No. 37 16
· Service Delivery and Performance Commission Act 17
2005, No. 52. 18
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Part 2 Transitional provisions
[s 224]
Part 2 Transitional provisions 1
Division 1 Preliminary 2
224 Definitions for pt 2 3
In this part-- 4
changeover day means the day this section commences. 5
former public service commissioner means the person 6
holding office as the Public Service Commissioner under the 7
repealed Public Service Act immediately before the 8
changeover day. 9
former public service office means the Office of the Public 10
Service Commissioner established under the repealed Public 11
Service Act. 12
former service delivery commission means the Service 13
Delivery and Performance Commission established under the 14
repealed Commission Act. 15
repealed Commission Act means the repealed Service 16
Delivery and Performance Commission Act 2005. 17
repealed Public Service Act means the repealed Public 18
Service Act 1996. 19
Division 2 Public service employees 20
225 Existing public service officers generally 21
(1) A person who was a public service officer under the repealed 22
Public Service Act immediately before the changeover day 23
(an existing officer) is taken to be a public service officer 24
under this Act. 25
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[s 226]
(2) The person's employment and conditions of employment are 1
not affected by any discontinuance of public service positions 2
because of the enactment of this Act. 3
(3) If there is doubt about whether a person is an existing officer, 4
a chief executive may, if the person asks, declare the person to 5
be an existing officer. 6
(4) On the making of the declaration, subsections (1) and (2) are 7
taken to have always applied to the person. 8
226 Existing chief executives 9
(1) If, immediately before the changeover day, a person held 10
appointment under the repealed Public Service Act as a chief 11
executive, the person is taken to have been appointed under 12
this Act as a chief executive for the remainder of the person's 13
term of appointment. 14
(2) If, immediately before the changeover day, a person was 15
seconded as chief executive of a department, the secondment 16
continues as if it had been made under this Act. 17
(3) The title of a chief executive immediately before the 18
changeover day continues to be the title of the chief executive, 19
subject to the Minister's power of appointment to particular 20
departments, under section 93. 21
(4) For section 95, the police commissioner is taken to be the 22
chief executive of the Department of Police. 23
(5) The contract of employment of a chief executive in force 24
immediately before the changeover day is taken to have been 25
made under this Act. 26
(6) An appointment in existence immediately before the 27
changeover day for a person to act as a chief executive 28
continues in force as if the appointment had been made under 29
this Act. 30
(7) To remove any doubt, it is declared that subsection (6) applies 31
whether or not the person was acting under the appointment. 32
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[s 227]
227 General provision for existing senior executives other 1
than chief executives 2
(1) This section applies to a person who, immediately before the 3
changeover day, held appointment under the repealed Public 4
Service Act as a senior executive other than a chief executive. 5
(2) The person is taken to have been appointed under this Act as a 6
senior executive. 7
(3) If the person was seconded as a senior executive, other than a 8
chief executive, the secondment continues as if it had been 9
made under this Act. 10
228 Existing tenured senior executives 11
(1) This section applies to a person if-- 12
(a) immediately before the changeover day, the person held 13
appointment under the repealed Public Service Act as a 14
senior executive other than a chief executive; and 15
(b) the person's employment as a senior executive was on 16
tenure. 17
(2) The person may, but is not required to, enter into a contract of 18
employment with the person's chief executive relating to the 19
appointment. 20
(3) If the person is transferred or redeployed, the person may, but 21
is not required to, enter into a contract of employment with 22
the person's chief executive for the transferred or redeployed 23
employment. 24
(4) Chapter 1, part 4 does not apply to the appointment on 25
contract of the person if-- 26
(a) the appointment on contract is to perform duties in the 27
same department at a higher classification level; and 28
(b) the duties to be performed at the higher classification 29
level are, in the opinion of the person's chief executive, 30
the same or substantially the same as those performed 31
by the person immediately before the appointment; and 32
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[s 229]
(c) the chief executive and the person agree to the 1
appointment. 2
(5) Despite section 218, the Judicial Review Act 1991 continues 3
to apply to a decision about an excluded matter relating to the 4
person. 5
(6) This section does not limit or otherwise affect section 227. 6
229 Exclusion from tenure on termination of contract for 7
particular public service officers 8
Section 123 does not apply to a person employed in a 9
department as a public service officer on a contract for a fixed 10
term that was first entered into before 1 December 1996. 11
230 Existing contracts of employment 12
(1) This section applies if a person, other than a chief executive, 13
was employed under the repealed Public Service Act under a 14
contract of employment immediately before the changeover 15
day. 16
(2) The contract is taken to have been made under this Act 17
between the person and the person's chief executive. 18
(3) If the person was a public service officer immediately before 19
the changeover day, the employment of the person under this 20
Act is taken to be on contract for a fixed term. 21
231 Existing general employees 22
(1) A person who was employed under the repealed Public 23
Service Act as a general employee immediately before the 24
changeover day (an existing general employee) is taken to be 25
a general employee employed under this Act. 26
(2) The person's employment and conditions of employment are 27
not affected by the repeal of the repealed Public Service Act. 28
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[s 232]
(3) If there is doubt about whether a person is an existing general 1
employee, a chief executive may, if the person asks, declare 2
the person to be an existing general employee. 3
(4) On the making of the declaration, subsections (1) and (2) are 4
taken to have always applied to the person. 5
232 Existing temporary employees 6
(1) A person who was employed under the repealed Public 7
Service Act as a temporary employee immediately before the 8
changeover day (an existing temporary employee) is taken to 9
be a temporary employee employed under this Act. 10
(2) The person's employment and conditions of employment are 11
not affected by the repeal of the repealed Public Service Act. 12
(3) If there is doubt about whether a person is an existing 13
temporary employee, a chief executive may, if the person 14
asks, declare the person to be an existing temporary 15
employee. 16
(4) On the making of the declaration, subsections (1) and (2) are 17
taken to have always applied to the person. 18
233 Period for first status review of a temporary employee 19
(1) This section applies if a 3 year period in relation to a 20
temporary employee as mentioned in section 149(1) ends 21
before the first anniversary of the changeover day. 22
(2) The period for making the decision under section 149(2) for 23
the employee is the period that ends on the first anniversary. 24
(3) However, if a directive is made under section 149(2) before 25
the first anniversary and the directive provides for a longer 26
period, the period is the longer period. 27
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Chapter 9 Repeal and transitional provisions
Part 2 Transitional provisions
[s 234]
Division 3 Rulings 1
234 Existing rulings 2
(1) A ruling in force under the repealed Public Service Act 3
immediately before the changeover day (the continued 4
ruling) remains in force as a ruling of the same type under this 5
Act. 6
(2) The continued ruling-- 7
(a) is to be read with the changes necessary to make it 8
consistent with, and adapt its operation to, this Act; and 9
(b) may be amended or repealed by a ruling under this Act 10
made by the person who can make that type of ruling 11
under this Act about the matters provided for under the 12
continued ruling. 13
(3) If the continued ruling was made by the former public service 14
commissioner, it is taken to have been made by the 15
commission chief executive. 16
235 References to existing rulings 17
In an Act or document, a reference to a ruling under the 18
repealed Public Service Act may, if the context permits, be 19
taken as a reference to a ruling of the same type under this 20
Act. 21
Division 4 Disciplinary action and suspension 22
236 Existing disciplinary action 23
If disciplinary action had been started, but not finished, under 24
the repealed Public Service Act before the changeover day, 25
the action may be finished under this Act. 26
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Part 2 Transitional provisions
[s 237]
237 Application of disciplinary action provisions to prior acts 1
and omissions 2
For the purpose of taking disciplinary action, chapter 6 applies 3
to acts and omissions that happened before the changeover 4
day as well as to acts and omissions that happen after the 5
changeover day. 6
238 Existing suspensions 7
If, immediately before the changeover day, a person was 8
suspended from duty under the repealed Public Service Act, 9
the suspension continues to have effect as a suspension under 10
this Act. 11
Division 5 Appeals 12
239 Application of div 5 13
This division applies if, immediately before the changeover 14
day, an appeal under the repealed Public Service Act had not 15
been decided. 16
240 Conversion to appeal under this Act 17
The appeal is taken to be an appeal about the same matter 18
made to the commission chief executive, under chapter 7, part 19
1. 20
241 Provision for former protective appeals 21
If the appeal was made under section 106 of the repealed 22
Public Service Act, it may be continued under chapter 7, part 23
1 despite there being no equivalent of that section under this 24
Act. 25
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Chapter 9 Repeal and transitional provisions
Part 2 Transitional provisions
[s 242]
242 Appeal documents or information 1
As soon as practicable after the changeover day, the person 2
who was the former public service commissioner must give 3
the commission chief executive any documents or information 4
given to that person for the appeal. 5
Division 6 Former commissioner and 6
commission 7
243 Dissolution 8
(1) On the changeover day-- 9
(a) the office (a former office) of the former public service 10
commissioner and the former public service office cease 11
to exist; and 12
(b) the office (also a former office) of the former service 13
delivery commission ceases to exist and its 14
commissioners go out of office; and 15
(c) any contract relating to a former office ends. 16
(2) No amount, whether by way of compensation, reimbursement 17
or otherwise is payable by the State to a person who held a 18
former office immediately before the changeover day for or in 19
connection with the enactment or operation of subsection (1). 20
244 References to former commissioner or commission 21
In a document other than an Act, a reference to the former 22
public service commissioner or the former service delivery 23
commission may, if the context permits, be taken as a 24
reference to the commission under this Act. 25
245 Former staff become commission staff 26
If, immediately before the changeover day, a person was-- 27
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Chapter 9 Repeal and transitional provisions
Part 2 Transitional provisions
[s 246]
(a) employed in the former public service office or was a 1
staff member of the former service delivery commission 2
under the repealed Commission Act; and 3
(b) a public service officer under the repealed Act; 4
the person becomes a staff member of the commission under 5
this Act, subject to this Act. 6
Division 7 Miscellaneous provisions 7
246 Specific provisions relating to criminal history of a 8
person under the repealed Public Service Act 9
(1) The purpose of this provision is to make specific provision for 10
matters that were dealt with under repealed part 9A. 11
(2) If, under repealed part 9A, the chief executive of a department 12
had decided that it may be necessary to have regard to the 13
criminal history of anyone engaged to perform particular 14
duties to ensure the person so engaged is suitable to perform 15
them, that decision continues to have effect as if it had been 16
made under section 151. 17
(3) If, before the changeover day, the chief executive asked for a 18
person's written consent to obtain the person's criminal 19
history under repealed section 114C and the person had 20
refused or not given the written consent, the chief executive's 21
request for the consent is taken to be a request made under 22
section 152. 23
(4) If, before the changeover day, the chief executive asked the 24
police commissioner to give a report about a person's criminal 25
history under repealed section 114D and the police 26
commissioner had not given it to the chief executive, the chief 27
executive's request is taken to be a request under section 154 28
and, subject to sections 166 and 167, the police commissioner 29
must give the report to the chief executive. 30
(5) Section 169 applies to a criminal history report even if it was 31
obtained before the changeover day. 32
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Chapter 9 Repeal and transitional provisions
Part 2 Transitional provisions
[s 247]
(6) If a person gained access to someone's criminal history under 1
under repealed part 9A-- 2
(a) the person is taken to have gained access to the criminal 3
history under chapter 5, part 6; and 4
(b) if the person does not comply with section 172(2) in 5
relation to the criminal history or a document relevant to 6
the criminal history, the person may be prosecuted for 7
an offence against that subsection. 8
(7) A directive, that was issued under repealed section 114H and 9
in force immediately before the changeover day, is taken to be 10
a part 6 directive. 11
(8) This section does not limit another provision of this part. 12
(9) In this section-- 13
repealed, in relation to a provision, means that provision as in 14
force under the repealed Public Service Act before its repeal. 15
247 Existing term appointees 16
Chapter 5, part 4, division 2 applies to a term appointee 17
holding office before the changeover day as well as to a term 18
appointee appointed to office after the changeover day. 19
248 Existing delegations by chief executives 20
(1) A delegation by a chief executive in force under the repealed 21
Public Service Act immediately before the changeover day 22
continues in force despite the repeal of that Act. 23
(2) If the delegation was for a matter under the repealed Public 24
Service Act, it continues in force as if the delegation had been 25
made under this Act for that matter. 26
Page 138
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 9 Repeal and transitional provisions
Part 2 Transitional provisions
[s 249]
249 References to repealed Acts 1
(1) A reference in another Act or a document to an Act repealed 2
under part 1 may, if the context permits, be taken as a 3
reference to this Act. 4
(2) A reference in another Act or a document to a particular 5
provision of the repealed Public Service Act (the repealed 6
provision) may, if the context permits, be taken as a reference 7
to any provision of this Act all or part of which corresponds, 8
or substantially corresponds, to the repealed provision. 9
Example-- 10
A reference in another Act to section 21 of the repealed public service 11
Act is taken to be a reference to section 24 (What is a government 12
entity) of this Act. 13
(3) This section does not apply for the Freedom of Information 14
Act 1992, section 39. 15
(4) This section is subject to the other provisions of this part. 16
250 Corresponding approvals, decisions and notices under 17
the repealed Public Service Act 18
(1) This section applies if-- 19
(a) a provision of the repealed Public Service Act (the old 20
provision) provides for an approval, decision, 21
declaration or a gazette notice or other notice to be made 22
or given for a matter; and 23
(b) an approval, decision, declaration or notice of that type 24
is in force under the repealed Public Service Act 25
immediately before the changeover day; and 26
(c) a provision of this Act corresponds or substantially 27
corresponds to the old provision. 28
(2) On the changeover day, the approval, decision, declaration or 29
notice is taken to be an approval, decision, declaration or 30
notice made or given for the matter under this Act. 31
Page 139
Public Service Bill 2008
Chapter 10 Amendment of Acts
[s 251]
Example-- 1
A declaration under section 12 of the repealed Public Service Act in 2
force immediately before the changeover day is taken to be a declaration 3
under section 14 (Declaration of departments) of this Act. 4
251 Public Service Regulation 2007 5
(1) The Public Service Regulation 2007, other than the following 6
provisions, remains in force for this Act-- 7
· part 2, divisions 1 to 3 8
· part 3. 9
(2) The regulation-- 10
(a) is to be read with the changes necessary to make it 11
consistent with, and adapt its operation to, this Act; and 12
(b) may be amended or repealed by a regulation under this 13
Act. 14
(3) Without limiting subsection (2)(a)-- 15
(a) a reference in the regulation to a public sector unit is 16
taken to be a reference to a public service office; and 17
(b) a reference to the application of a provision of the 18
repealed Public Service Act (the repealed provision) is 19
taken to be a reference to the application of any 20
provision of this Act all or part of which corresponds, or 21
substantially corresponds, to the repealed provision. 22
Chapter 10 Amendment of Acts 23
252 Acts amended in sch 3 24
Schedule 3 amends the Acts it mentions. 25
Page 140
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 1
Schedule 1 Public service offices and their 1
heads 2
section 21 3
Public service office Head
adult guardian office under the adult guardian
Guardianship and Administration Act
2000
Anti-Discrimination Commission anti-discrimination
under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 commissioner
audit office auditor-general
Building and Construction Industry general manager
(Portable Long Service Leave)
Authority under the Building and
Construction Industry (Portable Long
Service Leave) Act 1991
Commission for Children and Young Commissioner for Children
People and Child Guardian under the and Young People and Child
Commission for Children and Young Guardian
People and Child Guardian Act 2000
Electoral Commission of Queensland electoral commissioner
under the Electoral Act 1992
Forestry Plantations Queensland Office chief executive of the office
declared under the repealed Public
Service Act 1996 as a public service
office under that Act, as mentioned in
the Forestry Plantations Queensland Act
2006, section 58, definition FPQO
Industrial Registry under the Industrial industrial registrar
Relations Act 1999
Page 141
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 1
information commission office information commissioner
Land Tribunal under the Aboriginal chairperson of the tribunal
Land Act 1991
Land Tribunal under Torres Strait chairperson of the tribunal
Islander Land Act 1991
Mental Health Review Tribunal under president of the tribunal
the Mental Health Act 2000
Office of the Energy Ombudsman under energy ombudsman under the
the Energy Ombudsman Act 2006 Energy Ombudsman Act
2006
Office of Health Practitioner executive officer
Registration Boards under the Health
Practitioner Registration Boards
(Administration) Act 1999
Office of the Health Quality and chief executive officer of the
Complaints Commission under the office
Health Quality and Complaints
Commission Act 2006
Office of the Medical Board of executive officer of the office
Queensland under the Medical Board
(Administration) Act 2006
Office of the Prostitution Licensing executive director
Authority under the Prostitution Act
1999
Office of the Queensland College of director of the office
Teachers under the Education
(Queensland College of Teachers) Act
2005
Office of the Queensland Parliamentary parliamentary counsel
Counsel under the Legislative Standards
Act 1992
Page 142
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 1
Office of the Queensland Studies director
Authority under the Education
(Queensland Studies Authority) Act
2002
Public Service Commission commission chief executive
Public Trust Office under the Public public trustee
Trustee Act 1978
Queensland Water Commission under chief executive officer of the
the Water Act 2000 commission
Queensland Workplace Rights Office Queensland workplace rights
under the Industrial Relations Act 1999 ombudsman under the
Industrial Relations Act 1999
TransLink Transit Authority Employing chief executive officer under
Office under the Transport Operations the Transport Operations
(TransLink Transit Authority) Act 2008 (TransLink Transit Authority)
Act 2008
Urban Land Development Authority chief executive officer under
under the Urban Land Development the Urban Land Development
Authority Act 2007 Authority Act 2007
Workers' Compensation Regulatory chief executive officer of the
Authority under the Workers' authority
Compensation and Rehabilitation Act
2003
Page 143
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 2
Schedule 2 Statutory office holders who 1
are not term appointees 2
section 140(3)(b) 3
Aboriginal Land Act 1991 4
· a member of the Land Tribunal 5
Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 6
· the anti-discrimination commissioner 7
· a member of the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal 8
Children Services Tribunal Act 2000 9
· a member of the Children Services Tribunal 10
Classification of Computer Games and Images Regulation 11
2005 12
· a member of the Computer Games and Images Appeals 13
Tribunal 14
Classification of Films Regulation 1992 15
· a member of the Films Appeals Tribunal 16
Classification of Publications Regulation 1992 17
· a member of the Publications Appeals Tribunal 18
Commission for Children and Young People and Child 19
Guardian Act 2000 20
· the commissioner for children and young people and 21
child guardian 22
Page 144
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 2
Crime and Misconduct Act 2001 1
· the chairperson of the Crime and Misconduct 2
Commission 3
Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1984 4
· the director of public prosecutions 5
· the deputy director of public prosecutions 6
Electoral Act 1992 7
· the electoral commissioner 8
· the deputy electoral commissioner 9
· an appointed commissioner 10
Fisheries Act 1994 11
· a member of the Fisheries Tribunal 12
Gaming Machine Act 1991 13
· commissioner of the Queensland Gaming Commission 14
Guardianship and Administration Act 2000 15
· the adult guardian 16
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006 17
· a member of the Health Quality and Complaints 18
Commission 19
· the chief executive officer of the Office of the Health 20
Quality and Complaints Commission 21
Page 145
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 2
Law Reform Commission Act 1968 1
· the member of the Law Reform Commission 2
Legal Aid Queensland Act 1997 3
· the chief executive officer of Legal Aid Queensland 4
Legislative Standards Act 1992 5
· the parliamentary counsel 6
Local Government Act 1993 7
· a review commissioner 8
Mental Health Act 2000 9
· a member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal 10
Misconduct Tribunals Act 1997 11
· a member of the panel of misconduct tribunal members 12
Parliamentary Service Act 1988 13
· an officer in parliamentary service 14
Police Service Administration Act 1990 15
· a member of the police service 16
Public Trustee Act 1978 17
· the Public Trustee of Queensland 18
Page 146
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 2
Queensland Competition Authority Act 1997 1
· a member of the Queensland Competition Authority 2
Solicitor-General Act 1985 3
· the solicitor-general 4
Torres Strait Islander Land Act 1991 5
· a member of the Land Tribunal 6
Page 147
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 3
Schedule 3 Minor and consequential 1
amendments of other Acts 2
section 252 3
Acts Interpretation Act 1954 4
1 Section 33(6) and section 36, definition chief executive, 5
paragraph (b) and definition senior executive, `Public 6
Service Act 1996'-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`Public Service Act 2008'. 9
2 Section 36, definitions public sector unit, public service, 10
public service employee, public service office and public 11
service officer-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`public sector unit means-- 14
(a) a department or part of a department; or 15
(b) a public service office or part of a public service office. 16
public service means the Queensland public service under the 17
Public Service Act 2008, section 5. 18
public service employee see the Public Service Act 2008, 19
section 9(1). 20
public service office see the Public Service Act 2008, section 21
21(1). 22
public service officer see the Public Service Act 2008, section 23
8.'. 24
Page 148
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 3
Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977 1
1 Section 4A(1), definition department, paragraph (a) and 2
section 34, `Public Service Act 1996, section 12(1)'-- 3
omit, insert-- 4
`Public Service Act 2008, section 14(1)'. 5
2 Section 36B(2), `Public Service Act 1996, section 57'-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`Public Service Act 2008, section 103'. 8
3 Section 49(2), 60, 62(2), 63, 65(2) and 71, `Public Service 9
Act 1996'-- 10
omit, insert-- 11
`Public Service Act 2008'. 12
4 Section 70(1), `Public Service Commissioner' to `1996'-- 13
omit, insert-- 14
`the chief executive of the Public Service Commission may 15
make a ruling under the Public Service Act 2008'. 16
Government Owned Corporations Act 1993 17
1 Section 3, definition senior executive, 166(3) and 167, 18
`Public Service Act 1996'-- 19
omit, insert-- 20
`Public Service Act 2008'. 21
2 Section 170-- 22
omit, insert-- 23
Page 149
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 3
`170 Application of equal opportunity provisions under Public 1
Service Act 2008 2
`A GOC is a relevant EEO agency for the Public Service Act 3
2008, chapter 2.'. 4
Industrial Relations Act 1999 5
1 Section 72, 192(3)(b), 276(6)(b)(i), 303, 339D(3), definition 6
public entity, paragraph (a), 339H(2), 339V, 350(5) and 7
686(4), definition ruling and schedule 2, section 4C(3), 8
`Public Service Act 1996'-- 9
omit, insert-- 10
`Public Service Act 2008'. 11
2 Section 315(1), `Public Service Act 1996, section 82'-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`Public Service Act 2008, section 183 or 184'. 14
3 Section 686(1)(a)-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`(a) a matter that has been, or is, the subject of an appeal to 17
the chief executive of the Public Service Commission, 18
under the Public Service Act 2008, chapter 7, part 1; or'. 19
4 Section 687(1)(a)-- 20
omit, insert-- 21
`(a) any of the following directives under the Public Service 22
Act 2008-- 23
(i) a directive made by the chief executive of the 24
Public Service Commission that is the subject of a 25
regulation under section 52(2) of that Act; 26
Page 150
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 3
(ii) a directive made by the Minister administering this 1
Act; and'. 2
5 Schedule 5, definition, public sector unit-- 3
omit. 4
Legal Profession Act 2007 5
1 Section 575(4) and 584(4), Public Service Act 1996'-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`Public Service Act 2008'. 8
2 Section 593(2)(b) and 595(3)(b), `public service 9
commissioner'-- 10
omit, insert-- 11
`chief executive of the Public Service Commission'. 12
Ombudsman Act 2001 13
1 Section 58(2), 65(2), 76(2), 77(2)(b) and 78(4), `Public 14
Service Act 1996'-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`Public Service Act 2008'. 17
2 Section 79(3) and 82(4), `public service commissioner'-- 18
omit, insert-- 19
`chief executive of the Public Service Commission'. 20
Page 151
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 3
Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 1
1 Section 67(1)(p)-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`(p) a commissioner of the Public Service Commission;'. 4
Queensland Competition Authority Act 1997 5
1 Section 209(4) and 222(3), `Public Service Act 1996'-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`Public Service Act 2008'. 8
2 Section 229(b)-- 9
omit, insert-- 10
`(b) a relevant EEO agency for the Public Service Act 2008, 11
chapter 2; and'. 12
Residential Tenancies Act 1994 13
1 Section 304(b)-- 14
omit, insert-- 15
`(b) a relevant EEO agency for the Public Service Act 2008, 16
chapter 2.'. 17
2 Section 306(5), 311A(3), 311C(5), `Public Service Act 18
1996'-- 19
omit, insert-- 20
`Public Service Act 2008'. 21
Page 152
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 3
3 Schedule 3, definition government entity, `Public Service 1
Act 1996, section 21'-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`Public Service Act 2008, section 24'. 4
Rural and Regional Adjustment Act 1994 5
1 Section 26(b)-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`(b) a relevant EEO agency for the Public Service Act 2008, 8
chapter 2.'. 9
2 Section 31 and 36(4), `Public Service Act 1996'-- 10
omit, insert-- 11
`Public Service Act 2008'. 12
Whistleblowers Protection Act 1994 13
1 Section 11(3)(c), `public service commissioner'-- 14
omit, insert-- 15
`chief executive of the Public Service Commission'. 16
2 Section 46(1)(a), `Public Service Act 1996'-- 17
omit, insert-- 18
`Public Service Act 2008'. 19
3 Section 46(3), `public service commissioner'-- 20
omit, insert-- 21
`chief executive of the Public Service Commission (the 22
commission chief executive)'. 23
Page 153
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 3
4 Section 46(4) to (6), `public service commissioner'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`commission chief executive'. 3
Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 4
1 Section 355(3), 360(3), 442(3), 447(2), 475D(3) and 475F(5), 5
`Public Service Act 1996'-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`Public Service Act 2008'. 8
2 Section 361-- 9
omit, insert-- 10
`361 Application of equal opportunity provisions under Public 11
Service Act 2008 12
`The Authority is a relevant EEO agency for the Public 13
Service Act 2008, chapter 2.'. 14
3 Section 447(3), from `Public Service Act 1996'-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`Public Service Act 2008, section 23.'. 17
4 Section 452-- 18
omit, insert-- 19
`452 Application of equal opportunity provisions under Public 20
Service Act 2008 21
`WorkCover is a relevant EEO agency for the Public Service 22
Act 2008, chapter 2.'. 23
Page 154
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 3
5 Schedule 6, definition government entity, `Public Service 1
Act 1996, section 21'-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`Public Service Act 2008, section 24'. 4
Page 155
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 4
Schedule 4 Dictionary 1
section 4 2
appoint, a person as a public service officer, means-- 3
(a) for a person who is not already a public service 4
officer--employ the person as an officer; or 5
(b) for a public service officer--promote, transfer or 6
redeploy the officer. 7
appointed commissioner means a person appointed under 8
section 45(c) or (d). 9
appropriately qualified, in relation to a delegated function or 10
power, includes having the qualifications, experience or 11
standing to perform the function or exercise the power. 12
Example of standing-- 13
a person's classification level in the public service 14
approved leave means leave approved under an Act or 15
industrial instrument. 16
audit office means the Queensland Audit Office under the 17
Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977. 18
auditor-general means the Queensland Auditor-General 19
under the Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977. 20
award see the Industrial Relations Act 1999, schedule 5. 21
CCYPCG disqualification order, for chapter 5, part 6, see 22
section 150. 23
chairperson means the chairperson of the commission. 24
chief executive see section 10. 25
child-related duties, for chapter 5, part 6, see section 150. 26
commission means the Public Service Commission 27
established under section 43. 28
commission chief executive see section 56(1). 29
commissioner see section 45. 30
Page 156
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 4
commission official means-- 1
(a) a commissioner; or 2
(b) a staff member of the commission; or 3
(c) an agent of the commission or an employee of the State 4
performing functions for a commission review. 5
commission review see section 37(1). 6
contract for a fixed term means a contract that ends on a 7
stated day, whether or not the contract also provides for its 8
termination by a party giving to the other party a particular 9
period of notice of termination. 10
CPOPOA disqualification order, for chapter 5, part 6, see 11
section 150. 12
criminal history see the Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of 13
Offenders) Act 1986, section 3. 14
criminal history report, for chapter 5, part 6, see section 150. 15
department see section 7. 16
departmental Minister means-- 17
(a) for a department or public service office--the Minister 18
administering the department or public service office; or 19
(b) for a chief executive--the Minister administering the 20
chief executive's department; or 21
(c) for another public service employee--the Minister 22
administering the employee's department. 23
directive means a directive made under chapter 3, part 3. 24
disciplinary action see section 188(1). 25
disciplinary law means-- 26
(a) this Act; or 27
(b) a disciplinary provision of an award or industrial 28
agreement; or 29
(c) a law prescribed under a regulation. 30
disqualification order, for chapter 5, part 6, see section 150. 31
Page 157
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 4
disqualified person means-- 1
(a) a person who holds office as any of the following-- 2
(i) the auditor-general; 3
(ii) the ombudsman; 4
(iii) the integrity commissioner; 5
(iv) any commission officer under the Crime and 6
Misconduct Act 2001; 7
(v) the information commissioner; or 8
(b) a person who has been convicted of an indictable 9
offence; or 10
(c) a person who is or has been-- 11
(i) an insolvent under administration under the 12
Corporations Act, section 9; or 13
(ii) disqualified from managing corporations under the 14
Corporations Act, part 2D.6. 15
EEO means equality of employment opportunity. 16
engage, for chapter 5, part 6, see section 150. 17
excluded matter see section 216(1). 18
function, for a provision about a delegation, includes power. 19
general employee means a person employed under section 20
147. 21
government entity see section 24. 22
guideline means a guideline made under chapter 3, part 3. 23
head, of a public service office, see section 21(2). 24
higher classification level means a classification level that is 25
a higher classification level under a ruling. 26
industrial agreement means an industrial agreement or a 27
certified agreement under the Industrial Relations Act 1999. 28
industrial instrument includes-- 29
(a) an award or industrial agreement; and 30
Page 158
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 4
(b) a determination or rule of a commission, court, board, 1
tribunal or other entity having authority under a law of 2
the Commonwealth or this State to exercise powers of 3
conciliation or arbitration for industrial matters or 4
industrial disputes. 5
industrial matter see the Industrial Relations Act 1999, 6
section 7. 7
industrial relations Minister means the Minister 8
administering the Industrial Relations Act 1999. 9
information commissioner means the Information 10
Commissioner under the Freedom of Information Act 1992. 11
information commission office means the Office of the 12
Information Commissioner under the Freedom of Information 13
Act 1992. 14
integrity commissioner means the Queensland Integrity 15
Commissioner under the Public Sector Ethics Act 1994. 16
interest, of a public service employee, means a direct or 17
indirect personal interest, whether pecuniary or 18
non-pecuniary, of-- 19
(a) the employee; or 20
(b) a person who, under a regulation, is related or connected 21
to the employee. 22
investigative information, for chapter 5, part 6, see section 23
150. 24
IRC means the Industrial Relations Commission under the 25
Industrial Relations Act 1999. 26
law includes an unwritten law. 27
lower classification level means a classification level that is a 28
lower classification level under a ruling. 29
management and employment principles see section 25(3). 30
merit principle see section 27(1). 31
normal remuneration, for a public service officer, means all 32
of the remuneration and other entitlements to which the 33
Page 159
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 4
employee is or would be entitled, as prescribed under a 1
directive. 2
notice means a notice in writing. 3
offender prohibition order, for chapter 5, part 6, see section 4
150. 5
overall employment conditions means remuneration and 6
conditions of employment. 7
part 6 directive, for chapter 5, part 6, see section 150. 8
police commissioner means the commissioner of the police 9
service, under the Police Service Administration Act 1990. 10
police information, for chapter 5, part 6, see section 150. 11
police information report, for chapter 5, part 6, see section 12
150. 13
police service means the Queensland Police Service under the 14
Police Service Administration Act 1990. 15
promote, a public service officer, means employ the officer at 16
a higher classification level, whether or not on different 17
duties, other than temporarily. 18
promotion decision see section 194(1)(c). 19
publicly notified, for a notice, includes that the notice was 20
published in the gazette or on a department's website. 21
public service means the Queensland Public Service. 22
public service employee-- 23
1 Generally, a public service employee is a public service 24
employee as defined under section 9(1). 25
2 For a particular department, a public service employee is 26
a public service employee as defined under section 9(1) 27
whose employment is in that department. 28
public service office-- 29
1 Generally, a public service office is a public service 30
office as defined under section 21(1). 31
2 However, for chapter 3, part 1, see section 35. 32
Page 160
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 4
public service officer see section 8. 1
Queensland Public Service see section 5. 2
redeploy, a public service officer, means employ the officer, 3
with the officer's consent, at a lower classification level, 4
whether or not on different duties, other than temporarily. 5
relevant disqualified person, for chapter 5, part 6, see section 6
150. 7
relevant duties, for chapter 5, part 6, see section 150. 8
relevant EEO agency see section 30(1). 9
remuneration includes salary. 10
ruling see section 47(6). 11
same classification level means a classification level that is 12
the same classification level under a ruling. 13
second, a public service officer, means temporarily employ 14
the officer-- 15
(a) on different duties at the same classification level; or 16
(b) at a higher classification level or lower classification 17
level. 18
senior executive means a person employed under this Act as a 19
senior executive. 20
senior officer means a person employed under this Act as a 21
senior officer. 22
serious offence, for chapter 5, part 6, see section 150. 23
service with the State, for chapter 5, part 2, division 2, see 24
section 129. 25
staff members, of the commission, see section 77(2). 26
statutory office see section 139. 27
temporarily means for a period limited by time, whether or 28
not the time has been fixed. 29
temporary employee means a person employed under section 30
148. 31
Page 161
Public Service Bill 2008
Schedule 4
temporary offender prohibition order, for chapter 5, part 6, 1
see section 150. 2
term appointee see section 140. 3
the State, for chapter 5, part 2, division 2, see section 129. 4
transfer, a public service officer, means employ the officer at 5
the same classification level, on different duties or at a 6
different location, other than temporarily. 7
transfer decision see section 194(1)(d). 8
9
© State of Queensland 2008
Page 162
AMENDMENTS TO BILL
Public Service Bill 2008
Public Service Bill 2008
Amendments agreed to during Consideration
1 Clause 21 (Public service offices and their heads)--
At page 21, line 23, `another'--
omit, insert--
`subject to section 23, another'.
2 Clause 22 (General provision for application of Acts to
public service offices)--
At page 22, line 11, after `office'--
insert--
`mentioned in section 21(1)(a)'.
3 Clause 23 (Application of Act to public service offices
declared under a regulation)--
At page 22, lines 26 to 29 and page 23, lines 1 to 16--
omit, insert--
`(1) This section applies only to a public service office declared
under section 21(1)(b).
`(2) A provision of a regulation (an application provision) may
provide--
(a) that particular provisions of this Act (the applied
provisions) are to apply to--
(i) the public service office; or
(ii) persons, other than public service employees, who
are employed in the office; and
(b) for the way in which the applied provisions are to apply,
including, for example, that they apply with or without
change.
Page 1
Public Service Bill 2008
`(3) However, an application provision can not reduce an
employee's overall employment conditions, unless--
(a) the reduction arises out of a change in the employee's
employment; and
(b) the change was sought by the employee.
`(4) If an application provision is made for the public service
office--
(a) this Act applies, and only applies, to the following to the
extent provided for under the provision--
(i) the public service office;
(ii) persons, other than public service employees, who
are employed in the office; and
(b) this Act applies as mentioned in paragraph (a) with
necessary changes; and
(c) the public service office is a public service office only
for this Act as provided under this section and not for
the purposes of any other Act.'.
4 Clause 118 (Chapter does not generally apply to chief
executives or senior executives)--
At page 67, lines 3 to 12--
omit, insert--
`118 Application of ch 5
`(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), this chapter does not
generally apply to chief executives in their capacity as a
public service employee or to senior executives.
`(2) The following provisions apply to chief executives--
(a) in their capacity as public service employees--
· part 2, division 2
· part 7
· sections 127, 137 and 180 to 184;
Page 2
Public Service Bill 2008
(b) in their capacity as persons proposed to be appointed as
chief executives--part 6.
Note--
Under section 104, a reference in this Act to the chief executive of a
chief executive, or to the chief executive of his or her department, is a
reference to the Minister.
`(3) The following provisions apply to senior executives--
· part 2, division 2
· parts 6 and 7
· sections 127, 137 and 180 to 186.
`(4) Subject to subsections (1) to (3), this chapter applies to all
public service employees.
Note--
A regulation under section 23 may also apply provisions of this Act to
other persons employed in a public service office declared by a
regulation under section 21.'.
5 Clause 137 (Suspension other than as disciplinary
action)--
At page 77, lines 7 and 8--
omit, insert--
`(4) During the period of the suspension the officer is entitled to
normal remuneration, less any amount earned by the officer
from alternative employment that the officer engages in
during the period.
`(4A) For subsection (4), alternative employment does not include
employment if--
(a) the employee was engaged in the employment at the
time of the suspension; and
(b) the officer's engaging in the employment was not in
contravention of this Act or an obligation imposed on
the officer under a code of conduct--
(i) approved under the Public Sector Ethics Act 1994;
or
Page 3
Public Service Bill 2008
(ii) prescribed under a directive of the commission
chief executive.
`(4B) The deduction under subsection (4) must not be more than the
amount of the officer's normal remuneration during the period
of the suspension.'.
6 Clause 191 (Effect of suspension from duty)--
At page 112, lines 17 to 22--
omit, insert--
`(2) During the period of the suspension the officer is entitled to
normal remuneration, less any amount earned by the officer
from alternative employment that the officer engages in
during the period.
`(2A) For subsection (2), alternative employment does not include
employment if--
(a) the employee was engaged in the employment at the
time of the suspension; and
(b) the officer's engaging in the employment was not in
contravention of this Act or an obligation imposed on
the officer under a code of conduct--
(i) approved under the Public Sector Ethics Act 1994;
or
(ii) prescribed under a directive of the commission
chief executive.
`(3) The deduction under subsection (2) must not be more than the
amount of the officer's normal remuneration during the period
of the suspension.'.
7 Clause 192 (Additional procedures for suspension or
termination)--
At page 113, line 8--
omit, insert--
`191(2); and
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Public Service Bill 2008
(iii) the effect that alternative employment may, under
section 191, have on the entitlement; or'.
8 Clause 228 (Existing tenured senior executives)--
At page 132, after line 2--
insert--
`(4A) Despite section 118(1), sections 135, 136 and 138 apply to the
person.'.
9 Clause 243 (Dissolution)--
At page 136, lines 8 to 20--
omit, insert--
`243 Dissolutions
`(1) On the changeover day--
(a) the following cease to exist--
(i) the office of the former public service
commissioner;
(ii) the former public service office;
(iii) the former service delivery commission; and
(b) each SDPC commissioner goes out of office as an SDPC
commissioner; and
(c) each SDPC commissioner contract ends.
`(2) No amount, whether by way of compensation, reimbursement
or otherwise is payable by the State for or in connection with
the enactment or operation of subsection (1)(c), other than as
expressly provided for under a SDPC commissioner contract.
`(3) To remove any doubt, it is declared that subsections (1)(c) and
(2) do not limit or otherwise affect an SDPC commissioner's
right to a benefit or entitlement that, under an SDPC
commissioner contract, had accrued or was accruing
immediately before the changeover day.
Page 5
Public Service Bill 2008
`(4) On the changeover day, a benefit or entitlement mentioned in
subsection (3) ceases to accrue and becomes payable as if--
(a) the SDPC commissioner contract had, according to its
terms, been terminated on that day; and
(b) the termination is other than by the SDPC
commissioner.
`(5) In this section--
SDPC commissioner means a commissioner under the
repealed Commission Act.
SDPC commissioner contract means a contract of
employment under section 51 of the repealed Commission
Act.'.
10 Schedule 1 (Public service offices and their heads)
At page 141, columns following line 3, after sixth entry--
insert--
`Family Responsibilities Commission the commissioner under the
Registry under the Family Family Responsibilities
Responsibilities Commission Act 2008 Commission Act 2008'.
11 Schedule 3 (Minor and consequential amendments of
other Acts)--
At page 148, after line 24--
insert--
`Commission for Children and Young People and Child
Guardian Act 2000
`1 Section 120B(2)(b), `paragraph (a)'--
omit, insert--
`subsection (1)'.
Page 6
Public Service Bill 2008
`2 Schedule 4, definition CPOPOA disqualification order,
`24A'--
omit, insert--
`25'.
`Family Responsibilities Commission Act 2008
`1 Section 30--
omit, insert--
`30 Commission is a statutory body
`(1) The commission is a statutory body under--
(a) the Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977; and
(b) the Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982
(the SBFA).
`(2) The SBFA, part 2B sets out the way in which the
commission's powers under this Act are affected by that
Act.'.'.
12 Schedule 4 (Dictionary)--
At page 158, after line 15--
insert--
`disqualifying offence see the Commission for Children and
Young People and Child Guardian Act 2000, schedule 4.'.
© State of Queensland 2008
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