Public Sector Management Amendment Standards 2011 (No 4)

Explanatory Statement

Australian Capital Territory
Public Sector Management Amendment Standards 2011 (No 4)
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

    
    
Contents
	Page

BACKGROUND	1
DETAIL		2
1		Name of instrument	2
2		Commencement	2
3		Legislation amended	2
4		Clauses 4 - 92	2

BACKGROUND

This amendment is made in the context of the Public Sector Management (One ACT Public Service) Amendment Act 2011 (the One ACTPS Act).

The ‘Governing the City State: One ACT Government, One ACT Public Service’ report (the Report) by Dr Allan Hawke AC identifies a need for increased focus on whole-of-Government priorities and improved co-ordination across the work of individual agencies to better serve the interests of the ACT community.

The Report recommends a structure for the ACT Public Service (ACTPS) where ‘all existing Administrative Units in ACTPS be abolished and replaced by a single, unified ACTPS organisation ... reporting to a single Chief Executive who is Head of the ACTPS’ (p4).  Further, the Report states that ‘(u)nder the recommended structure, there would be a single agency responsible for supporting the government of the day across a number of service delivery lines’ (p74).  

The One ACTPS Act amends the Public Sector Management Act 1994 (PSM Act) to give effect to these recommendations.  Simultaneously, the Administrative (One ACT Public Service Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2011 (the Amendment Act) amends a further 178 pieces of legislation across the ACTPS statute book because of the enactment of the One ACTPS Act.  

This amendment is intended to complement the concurrent amendments made to the PSM Act (through the enactment of the One ACTPS Act) and other ACTPS legislation (through the Amendment Act) and is concerned with technical and consequential amendments arising from the enactment of the One ACTPS Act.

DETAIL

1	Name of instrument
This is a technical clause stating the name of this instrument as the Public Sector Management Amendment Standards 2011 (No 4).
2	Commencement
This is a technical clause stating that the instrument commences on the commencement of the Public Sector Management (One ACT Public Service) Amendment Act 2011, section 3. 
3	Legislation amended
This is a technical clause stating the name of the legislative instrument being amending as the Public Sector Management Standards 2006.
4	Clauses 4 - 92
Clauses 4 to 92 contain two types of minor or technical amendments.  
The first type of minor or technical amendments are those arising as a consequence of the One ACTPS Act.  Amendments of this nature include:
•	amending provisions to incorporate the new office of the head of service as appropriate;
•	substituting references to administering chief executive with head of service;
•	substituting references, in various singular or plural forms, to chief executive with director-general or head of service, dependent on the prescribed functions of the head of the service section 23B, PSM Act;
•	substituting references to the Commissioner with head of service, dependent on the prescribed functions of the head of the service section 23B, PSM Act;
•	substituting references, in various singular or plural forms, to department with directorate;
•	substituting the dictionary definition of chief executive with a new definition of director-general.

The second type of minor or technical amendments are initiated by the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office.  These amendments include the correction of minor errors, improving syntax, inserting or amending references to sections within the PSM Act and other minor editorial changes to update or improve the form of legislation. 
	
Endnotes
1	Notification
	Notified under the Legislation Act on	2011.
2	Republications of amended laws
	For the latest republication of amended laws, see www.legislation.act.gov.au.