Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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AUSTRALIAN FILM, TELEVISION AND RADIO SCHOOL (ALLOWANCES) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1995 NO. 48

STATUTORY RULES 1995 No. 48

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Communications and the Arts

Australian Film, Television and Radio School Act 1973

Australian Film, Television and Radio School (Allowances) Regulations (Amendment)

Section 51 of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School Act 1973 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act to be prescribed or are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.

Subsection 27(2) of the Act provides that the Director of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) shall be paid such allowances as are prescribed in the regulations.

Before this amendment, regulation 4 of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (Allowances) Regulations provided:

"For the purposes of subsection 27(2) of the AFTRS Act, the allowances payable to the Director include the allowances set out in Public Service Board Determination 1984/46 as in force at the date of the commencement of this Regulation".

Clause 3.5 of the Public Service Board (PSB) Determination 1984/46 provides that the payment of rental assistance allowance depends upon the relevant Secretary approving a written application from the Director. The maximum period for the payment of this allowance may also be extended by the relevant Secretary.

This amendment corrected a drafting defect in Regulation 4 of the Australian Film and Television School (Allowances) Regulations so that the Council of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School can authorise the allowances to be paid to the Director of the School. This was necessary because the AFTRS does not have a position which could be regarded as a "relevant Secretary",

In order to empower the Council to approve rental assistance for the Director, the Regulations were amended so that the PSB Determination 1984146 is applied as if references to the "relevant Secretary" were references to the Council of the AFTRS.

Regulation 4 was Gazetted on 9 June 1992, but came into effect on 31 January 1989, so that the Director was taken to be entitled to the allowances from that date.

The amendment to the Regulations came into operation in January 1989 in order to validate a decision of the Council to approve rental assistance for the Director of the Council.

This amendment to the Regulations merely cured a drafting anomaly which prevented the Regulations from having any effective operation. The amendment is not prejudicial to any person apart from the Commonwealth and did not impose new liabilities or affect existing rights and obligations.

If the amendment was not made retrospective to the date of commencement of the original Regulation, the Director would presumably have been required, because of a technical defect in the drafting of Regulation 4 to reimburse the Commonwealth monies paid by way of rent assistance. This would be an unfair result.

The amendment to the Regulations has a commencement date of 31 January 1989.