{"id":"F2007L04274","name":"Public Service Act 1999 - Determination under subsection 24(3)","slug":"public-service-act-1999-determination-under-subsection-24-3","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":70511,"registerId":"commonwealth-F2007L04274-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-02","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Public Service Act 1999 - Determination under subsection 24(3)","content":"Public Service Act 1999\n\nDetermination under subsection 24(3)\n\n1.  I, John Howard, Prime Minister, being of the opinion that it is necessary to do so because of exceptional circumstances, hereby determine that the remuneration and other conditions of employment of the Mersey Hospital APS employees:\n\na) are not determined under the Department of Health and Ageing Collective Agreement 2007-2010, the preserved Australian Pay and Classification Scale derived from the Australian Public Service Award 1998 or the Australian Public Service Award 1998; and\n\nb) shall be the same remuneration and other conditions of employment that the employee enjoyed as a Tasmanian State Service employee performing duties at Mersey Campus of the North West Regional Hospital, Tasmania immediately before becoming an APS employee other than those terms and conditions to which the employees are entitled under Commonwealth law; or\n\nc) if the Mersey Hospital APS Employee was not previously employed in the Tasmanian State Service, shall be the remuneration and other conditions of employment that he or she would have enjoyed as a Tasmanian State Service employee performing the same duties at Mersey Campus of the North West Regional Hospital, Tasmania other than those terms and conditions to which the employee is entitled under Commonwealth law.\n\n2. In this Determination:\n\n“Mersey Hospital APS Employees” means those APS employees in the Department of Health and Ageing who perform duties in the Mersey Hospital, Tasmania.\n\n3. The reference in clause 1.b) of this Determination to ‘same remuneration and other conditions of employment that the employee enjoyed as a Tasmanian State Service employee performing duties at Mersey Campus of the North West Regional Hospital, Tasmania’ shall be taken as including a reference to any additional, increased or improved remuneration and other conditions of employment that the employee would otherwise be entitled to had the employee remained as an employee or been engaged as an employee any time up until and including 30 June 2008.\n\nDated this 30 day of October 2007\n\nJohn Howard\n\nPrime Minister","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"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"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This determination remains tightly scoped to its original purpose. It was always intended as a specific, time-limited arrangement for Mersey Hospital employees during the transition from state to federal control. The instrument has not expanded beyond this narrow factual scenario."},"complexity_factors":["Only 3 operative clauses plus definitions","Single defined term ('Mersey Hospital APS Employees')","No cross-references to other legislation beyond the enabling provision (Public Service Act 1999, subsection 24(3))","Simple conditional structure (if previously employed / if not previously employed)","Straightforward temporal limitation (reference date of 30 June 2008)","Narrow, fact-specific application to one workplace"],"plain_english_summary":"This determination is a one-off exception that requires Australian Public Service staff at Tasmania’s Mersey Hospital to receive the pay and conditions they would have had as Tasmanian state employees, rather than standard federal APS terms. It was used when the Howard government took over the hospital before the 2007 election to protect local staff and avoid industrial disruption."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The determination removes Mersey Hospital APS employees from the standard APS remuneration framework and instead preserves Tasmanian State Service pay and conditions (actual or hypothetical) up to 30 June 2008 (cl.1–3). Mechanically, decision-making about those employees’ terms shifts from award/collective instruments to this specific Prime Ministerial determination, imposing a targeted carve-out and imposing implementation and payroll responsibilities on the Commonwealth."},"complexity_factors":["Cross-jurisdictional preservation of state employment terms while employees become Commonwealth (requires mapping Tasmanian terms to APS payroll and HR systems)","Exclusion from standard APS instruments (cl.1.a) creates an administrative and legal divergence from typical award/collective arrangements","Two cohorts covered: actual prior Tasmanian employees and those who were not previously employed but are treated as if they had been (cl.1.b–c) — increases entitlement-assessment complexity","Temporal cap on restored improvements (up to 30 June 2008) requires retrospective entitlement calculations (cl.3)","Prime Ministerial determination based on 'exceptional circumstances' centralises discretion and limits routine review paths (instrument type and source)","Interaction with Commonwealth-mandated terms remains: preserved terms exclude those already required by Commonwealth law, creating potential conflicts to resolve","Payroll cost allocation and budgeting shift to Commonwealth/escalation risk for future improvements that were state-provided"],"plain_english_summary":"This determination says Mersey Hospital APS employees’ pay and employment conditions are not set by the normal APS awards or the Departmental collective agreement but instead continue the Tasmanian State Service terms they had (or would have had) immediately before transfer (cl.1). It applies to APS staff in the Department of Health and Ageing at Mersey Hospital, preserves any pay increases they would have received up to 30 June 2008, and is made by the Prime Minister under a finding of ‘exceptional circumstances’ (cl.1,3)."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/public-service-act-1999-determination-under-subsection-24-3","history":"/api/acts/public-service-act-1999-determination-under-subsection-24-3/history","analysis":"/api/acts/public-service-act-1999-determination-under-subsection-24-3/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/public-service-act-1999-determination-under-subsection-24-3/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/public-service-act-1999-determination-under-subsection-24-3/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/public-service-act-1999-determination-under-subsection-24-3/documents"}}