Australian Capital Territory
Legislative Assembly (Members’ Staff) Code Of Conduct For Ministerial Staff And Staff Of Other Office-holders Determination 2015
Disallowable instrument DI2015-319

Legislative Assembly (Members’ Staff) Act 1989, s 5 (3) (Office-holders may employ staff) and s 17 (4) (Office-holders may engage consultants and contractors)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Legislative Context

The Legislative Assembly (Members’ Staff) Act 1989 (“the Act”) provides for the employment of staff, and the engagement of consultants or contractors, by office-holders (Ministers and “the Speaker”) of the Legislative Assembly.  

Subsection 5(1) of the Act gives office-holders the authority to employ staff. Subsection 5(3) provides for the Chief Minister to determine in writing the conditions and arrangements within which office-holders may exercise that authority. Such a determination is a disallowable instrument.

Outline

This determination formalises codes of conduct for staff of ministers and other office-holders. The code for ministerial staff recognises additional obligations associated with working in a minister’s office.

The codes satisfy the requirements contained in subclause I1.1 of the ACT Legislative Assembly Members’ Staff Enterprise Agreement 2013-2017, and clause 7.1(a) of the Employment Agreement for staff of office-holders. Previously, the Employment Agreement specified certain staff obligations which are now part of these codes of conduct.

Arrangements

Numbered clauses 1 to 4 of the determination contain technical provisions.

Numbered clause 5 specifies the purpose of the determination is to approve arrangements under which staff of ministers and other office-holders are employed under the Act.

Numbered clause 6 specifies the class of person to whom the determination applies as staff employed by ministers and other office-holders under subsection 5(1) of the Act.

Numbered clause 7 specifies the arrangements in respect of the code of conduct for ministerial staff as those set out in schedule 1 to the determination, and in respect of the code of conduct for staff of other office-holders as those set out in schedule 2 to the determination.