EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2007 No. 112

 

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Finance and Administration

 

Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997

 

Financial Management and Accountability Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 2)

 

The Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act) provides a framework of rules for the proper management of public money and public property that applies to Chief Executives and officials of Agencies.

Subsection 65(1) of the FMA Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Section 5 of the Act provides in part that, for the purposes of the FMA Act, a prescribed Agency means a body, organisation or group of persons prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this definition. Agencies are prescribed for the purposes of the Act in Schedule 1 to the Financial Management and Accountability Regulations 1997 (the Principal Regulations).

The purpose of the Regulations is to:

·        amend the listed name of the Commonwealth Ombudsman Office; and

·        establish the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman (PHIO) under the Principal Regulations.

The Regulations change the name of the Commonwealth Ombudsman Office to the “Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman” in the Principal Regulations. This aligns with the current Appropriation Acts and is consistent with the naming of similar bodies in the Principal Regulations, such as the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General and the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

The PHIO was established in 1995 through amendments to the National Health Act 1953. An assessment of the governance of the PHIO, following a report on the corporate governance of Commonwealth statutory authorities and office holders by Mr John Uhrig AC, recommended that the governance of the PHIO be moved into alignment with executive management arrangements, consistent with the FMA Act.

Accordingly, the Regulations establish the PHIO in the Principal Regulations. The PHIO remains an independent statutory office holder. As a prescribed Agency, the PHIO is also financially autonomous from the Department of Health and Ageing (Health) under the FMA Act for the proper management of public money and public property within its control or custody.

Further details of the Regulations are in the Attachment.

 

 

The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

The Regulations commenced on the following dates:

·        the amendment concerning the Commonwealth Ombudsman Office commenced on the day after the Regulations were registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments; and

·        the amendment concerning the PHIO commences on the Ombudsman conversion time, defined in subsection 27(1) of the Private Health Insurance (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2007.

The amendment Regulation only affects Australian Government agencies, and consultation has therefore included relevant agencies such as the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Health, and the Office of Regulation Review has advised that a Regulation Impact Statement is not required.

Authority: Subsection 65(1) of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATTACHMENT

Details of the proposed Financial Management and Accountability Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 2)

Regulation 1 - Name of Regulations

This regulation provides that the title of the Regulations is the Financial Management and Accountability Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 2).

Regulation 2 - Commencement

This regulation provides for the Regulations to commence on the following dates:

 

·        the amendment concerning the Commonwealth Ombudsman Office commenced on the day after the Regulations were registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments; and

·        the amendment concerning the PHIO commences on the Ombudsman conversion time, defined in subsection 27(1) of the Private Health Insurance (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2007 (the Amendment Act), expected to be 1 July 2007.

Regulation 3 - Amendment of the Financial Management and Accountability Regulations 1997

This regulation provides that the Financial Management and Accountability Regulations 1997 (the Principal Regulations) are amended as set out in Schedules 1 and 2.

Schedule 1 – Amendment commenced on registration

Item [1] – Schedule 1, item 120

This amendment removes the Commonwealth Ombudsman Office from item 120 in the Principal Regulations.

Item [2] – Schedule 1, after item 137AA

This amendment inserts the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman into the Principal Regulations, after item 137AA.

 

 

 

 

Schedule 2 – Amendment commences on the Ombudsman conversion time, defined in subsection 27(1) of the Amendment Act.

Item [1] – Schedule 1, after item 140AB

This amendment inserts item 140AC to prescribe the PHIO as comprising:

 

·        the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman mentioned in section 238-1 of the Private Health Insurance Act 2007; and

·        the staff mentioned in section 253-45 of the Private Health Insurance Act 2007.

The Regulations insert a reference to Note B of Schedule 1 of the Principal Regulations. The reference indicates that the PHIO is also a Statutory Agency for the purposes of the Public Service Act 1999.