{"id":"BILL-s1444","name":"Remuneration Tribunal Amendment (There For Public Service, Not Profit) Bill 2025","slug":"remuneration-tribunal-amendment-there-for-public-service-not-profit-bill-2025","collection":"bill","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":445961,"registerId":"commonwealth-BILL-s1444-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-05-05","status":"introduced","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[],"analysis":{"summary":{"status_summary":"The bill was introduced in the Senate on 5 February 2025, lapsed at the end of Parliament on 21 July 2025, restored on 23 July 2025, and received a committee report on 18 March 2026.","complexity_score":3,"likely_questions":["What specific limit on remuneration is set by the bill?","Which public office holders are subject to the new statutory limit?"],"complexity_factors":["Amends the Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973","Sets statutory limit on remuneration for public office holders"],"plain_english_summary":"The bill would amend the Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973 to impose a statutory cap on pay and benefits for departmental secretaries and other public office holders whose remuneration the Tribunal sets. It limits the Tribunal’s discretion, aiming to align senior public service pay with public service values rather than commercial benchmarks.\n\nThe measure affects senior officials who oversee departments and could reshape future appointments, pay structures and accountability in public sector remuneration."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This amendment stays within the original subject matter of the Remuneration Tribunal Act — the setting of pay for specified Commonwealth office holders — but it changes the Tribunal's remit by imposing a statutory ceiling. It does not expand into unrelated policy areas; it narrows the Tribunal's discretion rather than growing the Act's substantive scope beyond its original purpose."},"complexity_factors":["Amends an existing statute (Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973) rather than creating a standalone, self-contained regime — requires reading the Act and the Bill together.","Effect depends on the Bill's definitions (e.g. what counts as \"remuneration\") — narrow definition creates workarounds, broad definition raises drafting complexity.","Cross‑institutional interactions: interfaces with agency hiring practices, Public Service Act practices, and other statutes governing particular office holders.","Transitional arrangements and exceptions (likely in the Bill or Explanatory Memorandum) that create conditional rules and phased compliance.","Potential for legal challenge and judicial review where the Tribunal's statutory discretion is constrained — adds interpretive uncertainty.","Operational complexity for the Tribunal and agencies to reclassify and convert existing packages and to monitor compliance."],"plain_english_summary":"**What this bill changes, in plain English**\n\n- The bill changes the Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973 so that certain senior public office holders — including departmental secretaries and other positions whose pay is determined by the Remuneration Tribunal — are subject to a statutory limit on how much they can be paid. In practical terms the Tribunal will still set pay, but its freedom to set pay above the new statutory ceiling will be removed or constrained.\n\n- Who it affects\n  - Primarily senior Commonwealth public servants (for example, departmental secretaries) and other office holders whose remuneration is set by the Remuneration Tribunal. It does not directly change pay-setting for employees in the private sector or for most general public service employees whose pay is determined under enterprise agreements.\n  - Employers (the Commonwealth and relevant agencies) who budget for and pay those remuneration packages; ultimately taxpayers fund the payments.\n\n- How it works mechanically\n  - The Remuneration Tribunal will remain the body that determines and administers pay for named office holders, but it must operate within the statutory cap inserted by this bill. Any definitions of what counts as \"remuneration\" (for example, base salary, allowances, bonuses or non-cash benefits) included or clarified by the bill will determine what the cap covers.\n  - The bill will typically include transitional and compliance provisions to bring existing packages into line with the new cap over time (if a transitional period is provided) and may create offences or review rights if the cap is breached.\n\n- Official stated purpose (as described by the Bill's sponsors)\n  - The stated objective is to limit excessively high pay outcomes for senior public office holders by creating a clear, statutory ceiling.\n\n- Testing that purpose against costs, incentives and trade‑offs\n  - Who pays: taxpayers via agency budgets. If the cap reduces headline salaries, agencies may spend less on salaries; if recruitment or retention worsens they may pay more in other ways (e.g. signing payments, contractors) not covered by the cap unless the bill defines those payments as \"remuneration.\" (See the bill's definitions for what is included in the cap.)\n  - Who decides: the Remuneration Tribunal retains procedural control over setting pay but will be legally constrained by the cap. Agency heads and Ministers retain operational hiring decisions subject to the cap.\n  - Behaviour changes: the cap changes incentives for prospective and current senior appointees (may reduce willingness to accept public roles), for agencies (may alter hiring, rely more on fixed-term contracts, contractors, or non-cash benefits), and for the Tribunal (it must balance statutory factors while respecting the cap). If certain payments are excluded from the definition, there is an incentive to re‑structure remuneration into excluded categories.\n  - Trade-offs and opportunity costs: reducing headline remuneration reduces direct fiscal outlays on wages but could raise indirect costs — for example, higher contractor fees, greater turnover, or reduced candidate quality for specialist roles. The exact trade-offs depend on how broadly \"remuneration\" is defined and whether there are carve-outs for certain offices or circumstances.\n  - Implementation and compliance risk: practical problems can arise from drafting the definition of remuneration (does it include bonuses, allowances, superannuation, in‑kind benefits?), transitional arrangements for sitting appointees, and legal challenges if the Tribunal or agencies consider the cap incompatible with statutory duties.\n  - Rent‑seeking and substitution effects: if the cap is set on narrow components of pay, affected parties have an incentive to shift compensation into uncapped forms (contractor arrangements, consultancies, or other benefits). Concentrated benefits flow to incumbents or firms that win consultancy work; costs are diffuse (taxpayers) and may be less visible.\n\n- Immediate administrative effects to watch for\n  - Changes to job advertisements, offer letters and employment contracts for senior public servants.\n  - Possible increases in use of contractors or statutory office classifications that fall outside the Tribunal’s remit.\n  - Additional workload for the Tribunal and agencies to re‑classify packages and ensure compliance.\n\n- Bottom line\n  - Mechanically, the bill inserts a statutory ceiling into the Remuneration Tribunal Act that limits how much specified senior public office holders can be paid. The effect is to constrain the Tribunal’s discretion and to change incentives for hiring and compensation design by agencies and candidates. The practical outcome will depend heavily on how the bill defines \"remuneration,\" who is captured by the cap, and the design of any transitional or carve‑out provisions.**\n"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/remuneration-tribunal-amendment-there-for-public-service-not-profit-bill-2025","history":"/api/acts/remuneration-tribunal-amendment-there-for-public-service-not-profit-bill-2025/history","analysis":"/api/acts/remuneration-tribunal-amendment-there-for-public-service-not-profit-bill-2025/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/remuneration-tribunal-amendment-there-for-public-service-not-profit-bill-2025/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/remuneration-tribunal-amendment-there-for-public-service-not-profit-bill-2025/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/remuneration-tribunal-amendment-there-for-public-service-not-profit-bill-2025/documents"}}