Statutory Rules

1976 No. 110

REGULATIONS UNDER THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA INDEPENDENCE ACT 1975.*

I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations under the Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975.

Dated this twenty-seventh day of May, 1976.

JOHN R. KERR

Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command,

ANDREW PEACOCK

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

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PAPUA NEW GUINEA INDEPENDENCE (PUBLIC SERVICE) REGULATIONS

Citation.

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Papua New Guinea Independence (Public Service) Regulations.

Commencement of modifications and adaptations.

2.  The modifications and adaptations effected by regulation 3 shall be deemed to have come into operation on Independence Day.

Modifications and adaptations or Public Service Act.

3.  The Public Service Act 1922-1975 is modified and adapted in accordance with the modifications and adaptations specified in the Schedule.

Arrangements for transfer of officers of Australian Public Service to Papua New Guinea Public Service.

4.  Where, on or after Independence Day and before the notification of these Regulations in the Gazette, an officer of the Australian Public Service purported to exercise a power or function, being a power or function conferred on the Public Service Board by section 47da of the Public Service Act 1922-1975 as modified and adapted in accordance with these Regulations, the purported exercise of that power or function by that officer shall be deemed to have been an exercise of that power and function by the Public Service Board under that section.

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SCHEDULE                                                             Regulation 3

Modifications and Adaptations of the Public Service Act 1922-1975

Insert after section 47d the following section:—

“ 47da. (1) The Board may make arrangements with the Public Services Commission, or other appropriate authority, of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea for the transfer, for a specified period, of an officer of the Australian Public Service to an office in the Public

Schedule—continued

Service of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea or of an officer of that last-mentioned Service to an office in the Australian Public Service, and may do such things as are necessary to carry out the arrangements.

“ (2) Where an officer of the Australian Public Service is transferred in accordance with any arrangements made under sub-section (1), the Board may declare his office to be vacant, and he shall thereupon be deemed to be an unattached officer.

“ (3) An officer of the Australian Public Service who has been transferred in accordance with any arrangements made under sub-section (1) and whose office has been declared vacant, is, upon completion of the period for which he was transferred, unless he has been dismissed for misconduct or has attained the maximum age for retirement fixed by this Act, entitled to be appointed to an office in the Australian Public Service of such status and salary as are determined by the Board, having regard to his former office and the period for which he was transferred.”.

Section 47e is amended by omitting sub-section (2) and substituting the following subsections:—

“ (2) Where a person to whom this sub-section applies was, during a period (in this sub-section referred to as the ‘ relevant period ’) that commenced on 16 September 1975, employed continuously in—

(a) a service referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of sub-section (4); or

(b) 2 or more of the services referred to in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of sub-section (4), in succession,

the person shall, for the purposes of sub-section (1), be deemed to have been continuously in the service of a public employer during the period, or during each of the periods, during which he was, during the relevant period, employed in a service referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of sub-section (4).

“ (3) Sub-section (2) applies to a person who is an officer of the Australian Public Service and was, immediately before 16 September 1975, employed in—

(a) the service of Papua New Guinea;

(b) the service of a body (not being an incorporated company, society or association) established for a public purpose by or under a law of Papua New Guinea; or

(c) the service of the Commonwealth as a member of the Australian Staffing Assistance Group.

“ (4) For the purposes of sub-section (2), the services are—

(a) the service of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea;

(b) the service of a body (not being an incorporated company, society or association) established for a public purpose by or under a law of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea; or

(c) the service of the Commonwealth as a member of the Australian Staffing Assistance Group.

“ (5) In this section—

‘ Australian Staffing Assistance Group ’ means the body established, under that name, by the Papua New Guinea (Staffing Assistance) Act 1973;

‘ authority of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory ’ means a body corporate (not being an incorporated company, society or association) incorporated for a public purpose by or under a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory;

‘ Papua New Guinea ’ has the same meaning as it had in the Papua New Guinea Act 1949-1975;

‘ public employer ’ means the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory or an authority of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory.”.

Insert in sub-section (13) of section 50, after the word “ Territory ” (first occurring), the words “ or the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ”

Omit from paragraph (a) of sub-section (14) of section 50 the word “ shall ”, substitute the words “ and the Independent State of Papua New Guinea shall each ”

Insert in sub-section (1) of section 53c, after the word “ Territory ” (first occurring), the words “ or in the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ”

Add at the end of sub-section (1) of section 53c, the words “, or in the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, as the case may be ”.