Page 261 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 February 2018
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Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations) (11.57): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
Today I am pleased to introduce an omnibus bill combining amendments to the Public Sector Management Act 1994 and the Workplace Privacy Amendment Act 2016. The bill is titled Workplace Legislation Amendment Bill 2018.
The bill contains minor amendments to the Public Sector Management Act, to ensure consistency between the Fair Work Act 2009, industrial instruments and the overarching public sector legislation in relation to employer deductions from an employee’s salary where an overpayment has occurred.
These amendments clearly express what actions can be taken by the head of service in respect of recovery of overpayments by the territory from its employees. The bill also omits uncommenced provisions contained in the Workplace Privacy Amendment Act 2016 which relate to covert surveillance by an employer on an employee outside the workplace.
The Public Sector Management Act aims to establish and maintain an apolitical public sector with clear values and standards of conduct and a best practice focus that assists the executive government to meet the needs of the community. The main objective and purpose of the proposed amendments is to ensure the ethical management of public funds where an overpayment has been identified. The community expects that the government manage public funds in an ethically sound, prudent and effective way.
The current overpayment provisions require any arrangement for repayment to be subject to the agreement of the public servant. The proposed amendment will authorise salary deductions where agreement cannot be reached. This new scheme applies to all debts in place at the time the legislation becomes active.
There is a need to refine these overpayment arrangements because there are a number of overpayments currently owed to the territory. In the majority of cases, employees are able to negotiate reasonable repayment arrangements without the need for intervention by the head of service.
An overpayment is defined as any payment in respect of pay, allowance or leave, whether by accident or otherwise, to which an employee is not entitled, and there is therefore a debt owed to the territory. The Financial Management Act 1996 requires that, as part of good financial practice, any debt be recovered.
The proposed changes to the current overpayment provision, section 246, allow for recovery action to proceed, consistent with the enterprise agreement provisions, if the employee and head of service cannot agree on a repayment arrangement. The Public Sector Management Act currently includes an overpayment provision but does not provide a direct power. Therefore there are concerns about the interpretation and application of the ACT public service enterprise agreements and their interaction with the provisions of the commonwealth Fair Work Act.
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