1999 Special Determination

NEW SOUTH WALES
REPORT
AND
SPECIAL DETERMINATION
Pursuant to sections 10 and 12 of the
PARLIAMENTARY REMUNERATION ACT 1989
26 July 1999

The Honourable F L Wright
President
The Industrial Relations Commission of NSW
50 Phillip Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000

26 July 1999 Dear Mr President The Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal has the honour to present to you, pursuant to sections 10 and 12 of the Parliamentary Remuneration Act 1989, this Report of its Special Determination to be effective on and from 27 March 1999.

The intent of this Determination is to ensure the electoral districts in the determination correspond with those established in the recent electoral redistribution, and thereby to ensure that the allowances payable are correlated to the current structure of electorates. The quantum of and conditions for additional entitlements for members have not been altered.

As required by section 13( 5) of the Parliamentary Remuneration Act 1989 I have appended the Secretary of the Treasury's Statement on the financial implications of the Determination.

Yours sincerely

The Hon (Justice) Michael Walton THE PARLIAMENTARY REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL

PARLIAMENTARY REMUNERATION ACT 1989 REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 10 and 12 OF THE ACT

1. By instrument of appointment made pursuant to the powers provided by clause 1 of schedule 2 of the Parliamentary Remuneration Act 1989 (" the Act") and dated 25 June 1999 the President of the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales appointed me as the Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal (" the Tribunal") for a term of office concluding on 31 December 1999.

2. The Act, which was assented to on 12 December 1989, constituted the Tribunal. The Act, inter alia, provides for the basic salaries of Members of Parliament to bear a fixed relationship to those of Members of the House of Representatives in the Commonwealth Parliament and for certain prescribed additional salaries and expense allowances to be at rates bearing a fixed percentage to the rate of basic salary.

3. Pursuant to s10( 2) of the Act, the Tribunal may, by determination, fix the classes, terms, and other incidents of additional entitlements. Section 9 (1)( a) specifies that a function of the Tribunal is to make determinations of additional entitlements that are to be available to members or recognised office holders.

4. The Act does not define the concept of additional entitlements; but sets out, in section 10 of the Act, the following general provisions:

10 (3) A Determination may provide for additional entitlements in any form, including but not limited to:

(a) the payment of additional allowances in terms of allowances, fees, and other emoluments payable in money (including for example electoral allowances, travel allowances, travel expenses, and committee allowances), and

(b) the provision of services, facilities and equipment (including for example electorate services, electorate staff, electorate offices, office equipment, travel, and communication equipment).

10(4) A Determination may:

(a) fix conditions on which an additional entitlement is to be provided, and may specify the form of substantiation (if any) that is required for particular kinds of additional entitlements, and

(b) involve the reimbursement of the whole or a part of actual expenses, and (c) identify an existing entitlement as an additional entitlement, and (d) withdraw or alter an additional entitlement.

6. The Act reserves to the Premier, as the Minister responsible for the Tribunal, a power to direct the Tribunal to make a special determination as to additional entitlements.

7. On 1 July 1999 the Premier of New South Wales directed the Tribunal, pursuant to section 12( 1) of the Act to make a special determination as to Members' additional allowances. The direction was in the following terms:

As you are aware the Tribunal is required, pursuant to section 3( 1) of the Parliamentary Remuneration Further Amendment Act 1998 to make its initial determination on Members' additional entitlements as soon as practicable after 27 March 1999.

Section 3( 4) of that Act provides that additional allowances continue to be payable at the rates previously payable until such time as the additional entitlements in the nature of additional allowances become payable under the initial determination.

My concern is that the allowances previously payable relate to the 1998 Determination of the Tribunal which was made when there were 99 electorates in place. As you are aware since 27 March 1999 there have been 93 new electorates proclaimed and there does not appear to be a definitive source of authority for members of the new electorates to receive additional allowances.

To give certainty to Members, I direct you, pursuant to section 12( 1) of the Parliamentary Remuneration Act 1989 to make a special determination on members additional allowances as soon as possible. This determination is for a specific purpose and in no way meant to represent the initial determination, the timetable for which is a matter for you.

8. Section 3( 1) of the Parliamentary Remuneration Further Amendment Act 1998, provides for the making by the Tribunal of an initial determination relating to additional entitlements. Section 3( 4) of the that Act provides that;

Additional allowances continue to be payable at the rates previously payable as if the Parliamentary Remuneration Amendment Act 1998 had not been enacted, until payment of additional entitlements in the nature of additional allowances can be effected under the initial determination, subject to any necessary adjustments.

10. In May 1999, the Tribunal issued a draft initial determination. This was forwarded to the NSW Treasury pursuant to section 13( 5) of the Act. In June 1999 an advice was received from the Secretary of the Treasury.

11. However, the Tribunal has not made a report to the President (or, as was appropriate at the time, to the Chief Justice – see s 5( 2) of the Parliamentary Remuneration Amendment Act 1998) pursuant to s13( 1) of the Act and a copy of the advice received from the Secretary of the Treasury has not been published as an annexure to the report under s13( 5) of the Act.

12. In consequence, an initial determination has not been made by the Tribunal pursuant to s 3 of the Parliamentary Remuneration Further Amendment Act 1998. The draft initial determination appears to be simply a draft determination prepared by the Honourable Mr Justice Sully who constituted the Tribunal until his resignation took effect on 25 June 1999. The Treasury advice is a document brought into existence in response to that draft determination but does not otherwise constitute an advice published as an annexure to a determination.

13. On 5 July 1999 the Tribunal issued a Statement which raised a number of issues concerning the draft determination and the Treasury advice which, in the opinion of the Tribunal, are required to be addressed before proceeding to consider and make an initial determination.

14. Historically the Tribunal has, for reasons of equity and administrative convenience, grouped electorates for the provision of various allowances. These groupings reflect geographic and demographic conditions as well as size and distance of each electorate from Sydney. While each electorate is different the Tribunal has consistently taken the view that there are sufficient similarities between electorates using the above criteria to allow groupings. In determining the various allowances the Tribunal has fixed particular allowances for each Group. However, the present form of the groupings originated from a Tribunal determination made on 29 May 1991 and was adopted in relation to the most recent determination of the Tribunal made in May 1998. That determination was made in circumstances when there existed 99 electorates in NSW.

15. A redistribution of electoral districts in accordance with the Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912 was proclaimed on 10 July 1998 (the redistribution). The result of this redistribution was to reduce the number of electorates from 99 to 93. The new electorates came into effect from the date of the most recent NSW general election, namely 27 March 1999.

16. Whilst the end result of the electoral redistribution of 1998 was the reduction of the number of electorates from 99 to 93, in doing so the Electoral Commissioners effectively altered every electorate through changes to boundaries. Hence, 93 new electorates have been proclaimed notwithstanding that most retain the names of the previous electorates.

17. In the result there has arisen a disconformity between electoral districts in the groupings appearing in the 1998 Determination of the Tribunal and the present system of electoral districts in NSW. This arises for three reasons:

(I) there has been a removal of 6 electorates in total. These former electoral districts continue to appear in the groupings, but are now redundant entries.

(II) A number of former electoral districts have been renamed and new electoral districts have been created. These newly named electorates do not appear in the groupings.

(III) Whilst the names of many electoral districts have been retained after the redistribution, the actual electoral districts (still bearing those names) are quite differently structured. Strictly speaking, the electoral districts appearing in the 1998 Determination do not correspond to the equivalently named electorates created under the redistribution.

18. It is necessary, therefore, for a new determination to be made so as to reflect the electoral districts created by the redistribution. This will, in part, have the effect of amending electoral districts in the 1998 Determination by removing redundant references and incorporating new electoral districts into groupings (by placement of the new electoral districts in the groupings at a point most closely approximating the position of counterpart former electoral districts).

19. Apart from providing an interim basis for rectifying the present anomalies in the determination, the making of a special determination corresponding to the electoral districts under the redistribution will give certainty to Members about the source of authority for their various additional allowances until such time as the initial determination is completed.

20. It should be noted that, the Tribunal has not at this time reassessed the quantum of and conditions for additional entitlements in the light of the restructuring of the electoral districts. Thus, the quantum of, and conditions for, allowances will remain unaltered. The direction for the making of a special determination does not require any substantial revisiting at this time of Members' additional allowance entitlements. The direction appropriately recognises that such an assessment should be undertaken as part of an initial determination.

21. Such a determination (reducing the number of electoral districts covered by the determination and maintaining at this stage the existing quantum of and conditions for additional entitlements) should result in an overall reduction in the costs of additional entitlements when compared to the costs associated with the determination made in 1998.

22. In these circumstances, the Tribunal has made a determination varying the electoral districts in the groupings appearing in the Appendices to the 1998 Determination so that the electoral districts (and allowances paid in relation to same) correspond to the electoral districts established by the redistribution.

23. It is appropriate that the special determination operates from 27 March 1999. This was the operative date of the redistribution. Furthermore this date of operation will have the effect of regularising the various allowance payments made since that time under the 1998 Determination.

24. Pursuant to sections 10 And 12 of the Act, the Tribunal makes a special determination in terms of the determination accompanying this Report.

25. Pursuant, therefore, to section 12 (3) of the Act the effective date of this special determination is on and from 27 March 1999.

PARLIAMENTARY REMUNERATION ACT 1989

DETERMINATION PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 10 and 12 OF THE ACT

For the reasons set forth in the above Report, the Parliamentary Remuneration Tribunal hereby makes the following determination of the additional entitlements which should be paid on and from 27 March 1999 to Members, including recognised office holders, in the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales, in lieu of the amounts presently payable, for each of the purposes indicated below, and not in addition thereto:

Bligh

Marrickville

Coogee

Port Jackson

North Shore

Vaucluse

Auburn

Liverpool

Bankstown

Macquarie Fields

Baulkham Hills

Manly

Blacktown

Maroubra

Cabramatta

Menai

Campbelltown

Miranda

Canterbury

Mount Druitt

Cronulla

Mulgoa

Davidson

Parramatta

Drummoyne

Penrith

East Hills

Pittwater

Epping

Riverstone

Fairfield

Rockdale

Georges River

Ryde

Granville

Smithfield

Heffron

Strathfield

Hornsby

The Hills

Kogarah

Wakehurst

Ku-ring-gai

Wentworthville

Lakemba

Willoughby

Lane Cove

Blue Mountains

Londonderry

Camden

Newcastle

Charlestown

Peats

Gosford

Swansea

Heathcote

The Entrance

Illawarra

Wallsend

Keira

Wollongong

Kiama

Wyong

Lake Macquarie

Group 4

Ballina

Myall Lakes

Cessnock

Port Macquarie

Coffs Harbour

Port Stephens

Hawkesbury

South Coast

Lismore

Southern Highlands

Maitland

Tweed

Group 5

Bathurst

Oxley

Bega

Tamworth

Orange

Wagga Wagga

Group 6

Albury

Dubbo

Burrinjuck

Monaro

Clarence

Northern Tablelands

Group 7

Barwon

Murrumbidgee

Lachlan

Upper Hunter

Special Group

Murray Darling