{"id":"F2013L01727","name":"Determination under subsection 24(3) – SES employees moved between APS agencies to give effect to the Administrative Arrangements Orders made by the Governor-General in Council on 18 September 2013","slug":"determination-under-subsection-24-3-ses-employees-moved-between-aps-agencies-to-give-effect-to-the-a","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":127779,"registerId":"commonwealth-F2013L01727-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"Application of Determination","sectionType":"section","heading":"Application of Determination","content":"#### Application of Determination\n\n1. This Determination applies to a Senior Executive Service employee who has been, or will be, moved from an APS Agency (Losing Agency) to another APS Agency (Gaining Agency) by determination in writing under section 72(1)(a) of the Public Service Act 1999 in order to give effect to the Administrative Arrangements Orders made by the Governor-General in Council on 18 September 2013 as amended on 3 October 2013 (Moving Employee).\n\n1A. This Determination applies to a Senior Executive Service employee who will be moved from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) by determination in writing under section 72(1)(a) of the Public Service Act 1999 to give effect to the order made by the Administrator of the Commonwealth of Australia acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council on 17 October 2013, pursuant to section 65 of the Public Service Act 1999, which has the effect of abolishing AusAID as an Executive Agency on 1 November 2013 (Moving Aid Employee).\n\n1B. For the purpose of this Determination, in relation to a Moving Aid Employee:\n\n    (a) AusAID is the employee’s Losing Agency; and\n    (b) DFAT is the employee’s Gaining Agency.\n\nPeriod of operation\n\n2. This Determination takes effect on and from 18 September 2013.\n\n3. This Determination will continue in force until:\n\n    (a) it is replaced in its entirety by another determination made under section 24(3) of the Public Service Act 1999; or\n    (b) it is revoked.\n\n4. This Determination ceases to apply to an employee if:\n\n    (a) an Agency Head makes a determination pursuant to section 24(1) of the Public Service Act 1999 setting out the terms and conditions of employment that apply to the employee, and that determination is expressed to replace this Determination in its entirety; or\n    (b) an Agency Head and the employee enter into a written common law agreement which sets out the terms and conditions of employment that apply to the employee, and that common law agreement is expressed to replace this Determination in its entirety; or\n    (c) an enterprise agreement that covers the employee commences operation; or\n    (d) the employee commences employment in an APS agency that is not a Gaining Agency to which the employee was moved by determination in writing under section 72(1)(a) of the Public Service Act 1999 (whether by engagement as an APS employee pursuant to section 22(1) of the Public Service Act 1999 or by movement from another APS agency pursuant to section 26 or 27 of the Public Service Act 1999).\n\nOperation of other instruments\n\n5. Employees to whom this Determination applies will not be covered by:\n\n    (a) any enterprise agreement (other than an enterprise agreement that commences operation after the date on which this Determination takes effect).\n\nTerms and conditions applying to employees\n\n6. The terms and conditions of employment (including remuneration) of:\n\n    (a) a Moving Employee shall be the same as they would have been if the Governor-General in Council had not made the Administrative Arrangements Orders on 18 September 2013;\n    (b) a Moving Aid Employee shall be the same as they would have been if the Administrator of the Commonwealth of Australia had not made the order on 17 October 2013 abolishing AusAID as an Executive Agency,\n    except that any reference in the terms and conditions to the relevant Losing Agency is substituted with a reference to the relevant Gaining Agency.\n\n7. It is not inconsistent with this Determination for an Agency Head to make a determination pursuant to section 24(1) of the Public Service Act 1999 supplementing the terms and conditions of employment that apply to an employee by operation of this Determination.\n\nPolicies, guidelines and procedures that applied to the employee in the Losing Agency\n\n8. This clause 8 applies where the terms and conditions of employment preserved by operation of clause 6 refer to various policies, guidelines and procedures (however described) which applied to the employee’s employment in the Losing Agency. Any such policies, guidelines and procedures:\n\n    (a) will continue to apply to the employee in their current form, except to the extent that a policy, guideline or procedure is not capable of meaningful operation because of the movement of the employee to the Gaining Agency; and\n    (b) do not form part of this Determination and this Determination prevails over any policies, guidelines or procedures to the extent of any inconsistency.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The instrument remains tightly scoped to its original purpose: protecting SES employees' terms and conditions during specific 2013 machinery-of-government changes. The addition of clauses 1A and 1B regarding AusAID/DFAT transfers (made in October 2013) was a logical extension to cover a related restructuring event occurring contemporaneously, rather than scope creep. The instrument has not expanded to cover other employee levels, other types of transfers, or later administrative rearrangements."},"complexity_factors":["Short document (8 clauses plus subclauses, approximately 500 words)","Only 4 defined concepts (Moving Employee, Moving Aid Employee, Losing Agency, Gaining Agency)","Limited cross-referencing — only references to specific sections of the Public Service Act 1999 (sections 22, 24, 26, 27, 65, 72)","Simple conditional structure — primarily 'if-then' preservation of existing terms rather than complex calculations or nested exceptions","Single purpose instrument with straightforward operation — preserve status quo during machinery-of-government changes","No mathematical formulas, tables, or technical methodologies"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a workplace determination that protects the pay and conditions of senior public servants (SES employees) who were forced to move between government departments due to machinery-of-government changes in 2013.\n\n**What it does:**\n- When the Abbott government reorganised departments in September 2013 (the \"Administrative Arrangements Orders\"), many senior executives were transferred from one agency to another against their will.\n- This determination ensures these employees keep their existing salaries, benefits, and employment terms exactly as they were before the move — just with the new department's name swapped in.\n- It also covers AusAID staff who were moved to DFAT when AusAID was abolished in late 2013.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- Senior Executive Service (SES) employees moved under section 72(1)(a) of the Public Service Act 1999 to implement the 2013 Administrative Arrangements Orders.\n- Senior executives transferred from AusAID to DFAT when AusAID was abolished.\n\n**Key protections:**\n- **Pay and conditions frozen** at pre-move levels (clause 6).\n- **Old workplace policies still apply** — the rules from their original department follow them to the new department, unless those rules simply can't work in the new context (clause 8).\n- **No coverage by enterprise agreements** — these senior executives are carved out from collective bargaining agreements (clause 5).\n- **Individual flexibility** — agency heads can add extra terms on top of these preserved conditions, but can't reduce them (clause 7).\n\n**When it stops applying:**\nThis protection lasts until one of four things happens: the agency head issues a new determination replacing it; the employee signs a new individual contract; an enterprise agreement starts covering them; or they move to yet another agency (clause 4).\n\n**Why it matters:**\nWithout this instrument, forced transfers between departments could have allowed agencies to cut senior executives' pay or change their conditions unilaterally. This ensures \"no disadvantage\" for executives caught up in government restructuring."},"summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This determination applies only to SES employees moved between agencies following the 2013 Administrative Arrangements Orders."},"complexity_factors":["preservation of employment conditions","specific transfers under administrative orders"],"plain_english_summary":"This determination preserves the existing terms and conditions (including remuneration) for Senior Executive Service employees moved between APS agencies to give effect to the Governor‑General’s Administrative Arrangements Orders of 18 September 2013 and the transfer of AusAID to DFAT. It ensures continuity of employment conditions for SES staff moved under section 72, started 18 September 2013, and remains until replaced or the employee is moved or covered by a new agreement."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Determination does not change substantive entitlements: it preserves the employee’s existing terms and conditions (including pay) as if the movement had not occurred (clause 6). It limits its coverage to SES employees moved under the specified Administrative Arrangements Orders (clauses 1, 1A) and temporarily excludes such employees from enterprise agreement coverage while the Determination operates (clause 5), but it does not broaden or materially reduce underlying entitlements except by replacing Losing Agency references with Gaining Agency references."},"complexity_factors":["Targeted application to SES employees moved under specific Administrative Arrangements Orders (clauses 1, 1A) creates narrow coverage rather than general rules.","Preservation of pre-move terms and conditions (including remuneration) but with substitution of Losing Agency for Gaining Agency in documents (clause 6) requires document-mapping and legal review.","Exclusion from enterprise agreement coverage while this Determination operates (clause 5) alters industrial instrument interplay and may require HR/IR coordination.","Multiple and specific cessation triggers (clause 4) — agency head determinations, common‑law agreements, commencement of enterprise agreements, or further movement — create administrative monitoring burdens.","Clause 7 permits Agency Heads to supplement preserved terms by s24(1) determinations, adding discretionary variation pathways that must be tracked.","Clause 8 preserves Losing Agency policies/guidelines where still workable but disclaims them as part of the Determination and establishes precedence rules, producing potential interpretive ambiguity.","Reliance on external statutory instruments and Public Service Act provisions (references to ss24(1), 24(3), 65, 72(1)(a)) adds legal cross-references to implement correctly."],"plain_english_summary":"This Determination preserves the existing employment terms (including pay) of Senior Executive Service employees who were moved between APS agencies to give effect to the Administrative Arrangements Orders of 18 September 2013 and the AusAID abolition on 17 October 2013. The employee’s new (Gaining) Agency must maintain the prior terms as if the move had not occurred, with only the agency name substituted. Agency Heads may later replace or supplement these terms by written determination, agreement or a subsequent enterprise agreement."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/determination-under-subsection-24-3-ses-employees-moved-between-aps-agencies-to-give-effect-to-the-a","history":"/api/acts/determination-under-subsection-24-3-ses-employees-moved-between-aps-agencies-to-give-effect-to-the-a/history","analysis":"/api/acts/determination-under-subsection-24-3-ses-employees-moved-between-aps-agencies-to-give-effect-to-the-a/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/determination-under-subsection-24-3-ses-employees-moved-between-aps-agencies-to-give-effect-to-the-a/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/determination-under-subsection-24-3-ses-employees-moved-between-aps-agencies-to-give-effect-to-the-a/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/determination-under-subsection-24-3-ses-employees-moved-between-aps-agencies-to-give-effect-to-the-a/documents"}}