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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 1 Hansard (15 February) . . Page.. 50 ..

The Standard that applied to SES officers was applied to contract Executives (Standard 14, Chapter 6 - Temporary Accommodation). I have also attached a copy of that Standard, Attachment B , for the information of Members.

The special section of Standard 14 for SES officers covers barely two full pages, compared with the Determination which runs to some 42 pages. This reflects the attempt to shorten and simplify the rules.

Under Determination 46/84, there was discretion for the Secretaries of departments to:

� extend the period during which the allowance was payable beyond 3 years (clause 3.3 (4));

� increase the amount of temporary accommodation allowance (clause 3.6); and

� reduce the rate of officer contribution (clause 3.9).

I have attached the 1994 version of the TAA Standard and I draw members' attention to Rule B: 10, which deals with TAA for SES officers (as our Executives were still SES officers in 1994) and point out that the same discretion that the Secretary had under Determination 46/84 is a discretion of the Chief Executive in the ACTPS. Rule 10.2, extending the term of payment, refers.

Members will note that the discretion in Determination 46/84 to reduce the officer contribution or increase the allowance is not specifically stated in the SES section, but is contained in the body of Standard 14, Chapter 6 as Rules 2.4, 4.5 and 7.

The convention in administering entitlements is to return to the source document for guidance and in this situation the provisions of the body of the Standard, and ultimately Determination 46/84 apply.

I also draw Members' attention to Rule 11 which simply calls up Determination 46/84 in toto to provide for the application of conditions in relation to reimbursement of relocation expenses.

These existing rules, and in particular those relating to term employees, were applied to Executives recruited from other public services from 1996. The revitalising of the ACTPS relied on drawing in new skills through contract employment. This constituted special circumstances for the ACTPS as a whole.

The Commissioner for Public Administration's determination of 13 August 1996, which I have already tabled, did two things. It increased the rate of assistance and it extended the period of assistance up to a maximum of five years.

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