Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Definition of Employee-Defence Families of Australia) Notice 2015 [F2015L00602]-New matters [2015] AUSStaCSDLM 89 (17 June 2015)

• Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Definition of Employee – Defence Families of Australia) Notice 2015 [F2015L00602]

Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Definition of Employee – Defence Families of Australia) Notice 2015 [F2015L00602]

Purpose	Declares that certain representatives of Defence Families of Australia are employees for the purposes of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988
Last day to disallow	13 August 2015
Authorising legislation	Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988
Department	Employment

Issue:

Description of consultation

Section 17 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 directs a rule-maker to be satisfied that appropriate consultation, as is reasonably practicable, has been undertaken in relation to a proposed instrument, particularly where that instrument is likely to have an effect on business. Section 18, however, provides that in some circumstances such consultation may be unnecessary or inappropriate. The ES which must accompany an instrument is required to describe the nature of any consultation that has been carried out or, if there has been no consultation, to explain why none was undertaken (section 26). With reference to these requirements, the committee notes that the ES for this instrument states:

This declaration was made in consultation with the Department of Defence.
The Office of Best Practice Regulation was consulted regarding this declaration and indicated that a Regulation Impact Statement was not required for this declaration (OBPR ID 18835).

While the committee does not usually interpret section 26 as requiring a highly detailed description of consultation undertaken, it considers that an overly bare or general description is insufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

Further, the committee does not consider the process of ascertaining the necessity of a Regulatory Impact Statement for an instrument as strictly relevant to the question of consultation under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

The committee therefore requests further information from the minister; and requests that the ES be updated in accordance with the requirements of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.