Page 1745 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 May 1990
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"73_(1) I^ this sect-on: "of .ice" means any cf the follow=^g of .ices: ( a) Chief Minister; (b) Deputy Chief Minister; (c) Minister; (d) member; (e) Presiding Officer; ( f) Delout,,r Presiding Officer; (g) Head of Administration; (h) Associate Head of Administration.
"(2) A person shall, in respect of services in an
office, be paid such remuneration as is determined by
the Remuneration Tribunal ....
In my view, Executive Deputies could not be remunerated for such positions under section 73 as they are not Ministers and, further, any such remuneration could not be said to relate to their positions as members [see paragraph 73(1)(d)].
Although it could be argued that the duties of Executive Deputies are not "services rendered in the Assembly" I.e. they are performing Executive functions, in my view, such "positions" come within the provisions of paragraph 67(4)(x) of the Self-Government Act which discualif_4es a member from holding a seat if he is employed by the Commonwealth, a State or Territory and is entitled to any remuneration in respect of that employment. I believe the Courts would give "employment" in this context a wide meaning and would, in my view, encompass the situation of Executive beauties.
This disqualification could be removed by altering the SelfGovernment Act through an ACT enactment, since section 67 states that the qualifications of a person to be elected (of which paragraph 67(4)(x) is one) shall be as provided by enactment. Sub-section 67(2) also states that the following sub-sections have effect until provision is made. However, I would suggest that a number of policy matters would need to be carefully considered before making such an enactment.
Deputy Law Officer
Constitutional & Law Reform Branch
20 December 1989
1745
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