ASSEMBLY MEMBERS AND STATUTORY OFFICERS (REMUNERATION AND OTHER ENTITLEMENTS) LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2015 Explanatory Statement

Northern Territory Explanatory Statements

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ASSEMBLY MEMBERS AND STATUTORY OFFICERS (REMUNERATION AND OTHER ENTITLEMENTS) LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2015

ASSEMBLY MEMBERS AND STATUTORY OFFICERS
(REMUNERATION AND OTHER ENTITLEMENTS)
LEGISLATION BILL 2015
SERIAL NO. 141

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

CHIEF MINISTER

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

The purpose of this Bill is to amend the Assembly Members and Statutory Officers (Remuneration and Other Entitlements) Act and Regulations to provide a resettlement allowance to former Members of the Assembly when they retire to assist them to transition from political life to private life.

This Bill stems from a recommendation made by the Northern Territory Remuneration Tribunal in its 2015 Report on Salaries and Other Entitlements of Assembly Members that the existing allowance for an MLA who retires involuntarily, such as not being re-elected or not standing for re-election following a loss of party endorsement, be extended to include voluntary retirement, and that the Act be amended accordingly.

The Tribunal noted examples of former members who have experienced difficulties in re-entering the broader workforce and the time required for training to regain lost or outdated skills/knowledge, following their political career. The Tribunal expressed the view that there is a need to ensure members have sufficient paid time to transition back to the broader workforce after their time in politics, and the entitlement should also be designed to assist in attracting new members who are considering leaving their existing careers to become parliamentarians by offering this financial buffer at the end of their political career.

The legislation will not specify the monetary value of the resettlement allowance. The scheme of the legislation for setting member entitlements is that the Act provides the authority to determine an entitlement, and the Tribunal then determines the value of the entitlement (e.g. the monetary value of an allowance, the number of staff, type of vehicle, etc).

Section 5 of the Act in relation to the Minister’s power to make an interim determination of an entitlement for Assembly members has also been amended to enable the Minister to make an interim determination in respect of additional salary of office and non-salary entitlements, but not basic salary or former member entitlements.

NOTES ON CLAUSES

Clause 1. Short Title.

This is a formal clause which provides for the citation of the Bill. The Bill when passed will be cited as the Assembly Members and Statutory Officers (Remuneration and Other Entitlements) Legislation Amendment Act 2015.

Clause 2. Act Amended.

This clause identifies that Part 2 of the Bill amends the Assembly Members and Statutory Officers (Remuneration and Other Entitlements) Act.

Clause 3. Section 2 amended – Definitions.

This clauses inserts in the list of definitions for the Act the term former member. The definition is cross-referenced to section 4AA which defines former member to be a person who, after the commencement of section 4AA, ceases to hold office as an Assembly member.

Clause 4. Section 4 amended – Tribunal’s powers except for basic salary or additional salary of office.

This clause deletes section 4(1A) of the Act which provides for the Remuneration Tribunal to inquire into, or inquire into and determine, an entitlement for a former Assembly member who retires involuntarily as prescribed by regulation. This section of the Act is no longer required as it is to be replaced by new section 4AA “Tribunal’s power in relation to former Assembly member”.

Clause 5. New sections 4AA and 4AB inserted.

New Section 4AA - Tribunal’s power in relation to former Assembly member

This clause provides the power for the Administrator to request the Remuneration Tribunal to inquire into, or inquire into and determine, an entitlement for a former member who ceases to hold office as an Assembly member, providing the member:

(a) was first elected at the general election held in 2005 or a later election; and
(b) who is not, after ceasing to be an Assembly member, entitled to receive payment of a pension or superannuation benefit related to the former member’s office as an Assembly member.

These conditions are drawn from are existing eligibility criteria for the resettlement allowance (currently in the Regulations to the Act). This clause serves to exclude those members who were elected prior to the 2005 NT general election at which time a more generous superannuation scheme applied and who are not intended to be the recipients of the resettlement allowance.

Note that the current Regulations refer to “prescribed circumstances” as a further eligibility criteria for the resettlement allowance, being (in summary) a failure to be re-elected in the Assembly or a failure to be re-nominated as a candidate by the member’s party.
As these were criteria for the involuntary retirement entitlement, these conditions are no longer required for the new entitlement and have been removed from the legislation.

New Section 4AB – Circumstances of disentitlement

This clause sets out the circumstances where a member, who would otherwise be entitled to the resettlement allowance, is not eligible for the allowance. These circumstances are:

An member is not eligible for the entitlement if they are disqualified from continuing as a Member by virtue of section 21 of the

Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act

due to having been convicted of an offence against a law of the Commonwealth or of a state or territory resulting in imprisonment for 12 months or longer.

A member is not entitled to the allowance should they retire from their existing seat to stand for another seat in the Legislative Assembly or in any Australian parliament and are successful in being elected.

Clause 6. Section 4A amended.

Section 4A of the Act deals with the requirement for, and nature of, a report by the Remuneration Tribunal for each inquiry into member entitlements conducted under section 3A or 4. It provides for the preparation of a single report by the Tribunal in respect of inquiries for the different sections being conducted together.

This clause incorporates reference to new section 4AA so the requirements of this section of the Act apply to inquiries and reports in respect of entitlements for former members as well as inquiries and reports for other categories of entitlements.

Clause 7. Section 5 amended – Minister’s power

This clause contains the Minister’s power to determine entitlements for members if no determination in respect of that entitlement has been made by the Tribunal. The section currently provides that the Minister may determine any such entitlement for a member except for basic salary or additional salary of office.

The clause in the Bill removes the exception of additional salary of office (that is, the Minister will have the power to make an interim determination in respect of this category of entitlement) and inserts as an exception an entitlement of a former member (that is, the Minister will not have the power to make an interim determination in respect of this category of entitlement).

In summary, the Minister will have the power to make an interim determination in respect of office holder salaries and non-salary entitlements. The Minister will not have this power in respect of basic salary entitlements or entitlements for former members. This arrangement is considered to limit the power to those areas where interim determinations are most likely to be required and where on balance it is considered less desirable to have executive intervention.

Clause 8. Regulations amended.

This clause identifies that Part 3 of the Bill amends the Assembly Members and Statutory Officers (Remuneration and Other Entitlements) Regulations.

Clause 9. Regulation 2 repealed.

This clause repeals Regulation 2 of the Assembly Members and Statutory Officers (Remuneration and Other Entitlements) Regulations. This is required as all the provisions relating to retirement entitlements for MLAs will now be incorporated in the Act.

This will make the former member entitlement provisions easier to access as there will be one legislative reference point rather than two and increases the accountability framework for entitlement setting as it means that any change to the framework can only be made by way of an Act of Parliament.

Clause 10. Expiry of Act.

This is a standard clause which provides that this amendment Act will expire on the day after it commences. That is, the amendment Act will be removed from the statute book as a separate piece of legislation once it has commenced and its contents have been incorporated in the primary Act.

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