1998-1999-2000-2001

THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

SENATE

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH

EMPLOYMENT) AMENDMENT BILL 2000

SUPPLEMENTARY EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

Amendments to be moved on behalf of the Government

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations

and Small Business, the Honourable Tony Abbott MP)

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (COMMONWEALTH

EMPLOYMENT) AMENDMENT BILL 2000

(Amendments to be moved on behalf of the Government)

OUTLINE

These amendments:

§         provide for provisions in the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Amendment Bill 2000 (OHS(CE)A Bill) to take into account the possible passage of the Law and Justice Legislation Amendment (Application of Criminal Code) Act 2001; and

§         make other changes consequential to adjustments to the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 (OHS(CE) Act) which were made by Regulation under the Public Employment (Consequential and Transitional) Amendment Act 1999 (the PECTA Act). 

FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT

The amendments proposed to the Bill are not expected to have any impact on Commonwealth expenditure.

NOTES ON AMENDMENTS

Amendment No. 1 – Clause 2, page 2 (after line 2)

This amendment proposes the insertion of new subclauses 2(3) and 2(4), which would provide for commencement dates for items 16 and 16A of Schedule 1 dependent on the passage and commencement, or otherwise, of the Law and Justice Legislation Amendment (Application of Criminal Code) Act 2001 (the Law and Justice Act).

The effect of these clauses would be that if the relevant part of the Law and Justice Act commences before this Bill commences, then Item 16 will not commence, and Item 16A (proposed by Amendment No. 2) will commence instead.  Conversely, if the relevant part of the Law and Justice Act does not commence before this Bill commences, then Item 16 will commence and Item 16A (which would replace the amendments made by Item 16) will then only commence immediately after the Law and Justice Act has commenced.

Amendment No. 2 – Schedule 1, page 6 (after line 22)

This amendment proposes to insert a new item 16A.

New item 16A – Subsection 5(6)

Existing item 16 refers to provisions of the Crimes Act 1914 (the Crimes Act) which will be repealed by the Law and Justice Act.  The relevant references thereafter will be to provisions in the Criminal Code Act 1995 (the Criminal Code).

New item 16A will replace references to sections 7, 7A and 86(1) of the Crimes Act  with references to sections 11.1, 11.2 and 11.3 of the Criminal Code, respectively.

Amendment No. 3 – Schedule 1, item 135, page 31 (line 9)

Amendment No. 4 – Schedule 1, item 137, page 31 (line 16)

These two amendments, and the following amendment, are to align the provisions proposed by this Bill with changes to the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 (OHS(CE) Act) Act made by Regulations under the Public Employment (Consequential and Transitional) Amendment Act 1999 (the PECTA Act).  The PECTA Act, which allows for consequential amendments of other Acts by regulations, deals with consequential and transitional matters arising from the repeal of the Public Service Act 1922 and its replacement with the Public Service Act 1999 (the 1999 Act).

The 1999 Act significantly changed the meaning of the term ‘Department’.  The OHS(CE) Act originally had application to ‘Departments’ and ‘Commonwealth Departments' .  After the passage of the 1999 Act the definition of ‘Department’ specifically excluded an ‘Executive Agency’ and a ‘Statutory Agency’.  The effect of this was that agencies could not be treated as Departments and technically should lose their status as separate entities under the OHS(CE) Act.  This is not appropriate because being treated as separate agencies allows for the appropriate allocation for occupational health at the agency level.

To address these difficulties, the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991 Amendment Regulations 2001 (No. 1) (Statutory Rule No. 69 of 2001) removed references to ‘Department’ and ‘Secretary of a Department’ and replaced them with the new terms ‘Entity’ and ‘principal officer’ of an Entity.

Amendments Nos. 3 and 4 replace references to “Department” with references to “Entity”.

Amendment No. 5 – Schedule 1, item 161, page 39 (line 23)

This amendment omits a reference to “Commonwealth Department” and replaces it with a reference to “Entity”.