{"id":"tas:sr-2026-038","name":"State Service (Restructuring) Order 2026","slug":"state-service-restructuring-order-2026","collection":"regulation","jurisdiction":"tas","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"38 of 2026","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":499810,"registerId":"tas-tas:sr-2026-038-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-07-02","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Short title","content":"### 1 Short title\n\n> This order may be cited as the [State Service (Restructuring) Order 2026](/view/html/inforce/2026-10-02/sr-2026-038) .","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commencement","content":"### 2 Commencement\n\n> > (1)  Except as provided in this clause, the provisions of this order take effect on 2 July 2026.\n> \n> > (2)  [Clause 5](#GS5@EN) takes effect on 16 July 2026.\n> \n> > (3)  [Clause 6](#GS6@EN) takes effect on 30 July 2026.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Change of name of Department of State Growth","content":"### 3 Change of name of Department of State Growth\n\n> The name of the Government department known as the Department of State Growth is changed to Building Tasmania.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"4","sectionType":"section","heading":"Amalgamation with Department of Health","content":"### 4 Amalgamation with Department of Health\n\n> The following parts of the Department of Premier and Cabinet are amalgamated with the Department of Health:\n> \n> > > (a) the part known as Disability Services and Reform;\n> > \n> > > (b) the Office of the Disability Commissioner.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"5","sectionType":"section","heading":"Amalgamation with Department of Justice","content":"### 5 Amalgamation with Department of Justice\n\n> The following parts of the Department of Premier and Cabinet are amalgamated with the Department of Justice:\n> \n> > > (a) the Office of Local Government;\n> > \n> > > (b) the Family and Sexual Safety Secretariat.","sortOrder":4},{"sectionNumber":"6","sectionType":"section","heading":"Amalgamation with Department for Education, Children and Young People","content":"### 6 Amalgamation with Department for Education, Children and Young People\n\n> The part of the Department of Premier and Cabinet known as the Commission of Inquiry Taskforce is amalgamated with the Department for Education, Children and Young People.\n\nDisplayed and numbered in accordance with the *[Rules Publication Act 1953](/view/html/inforce/current/act-1953-050)*.\n\nNotified in the *Gazette* on 17 June 2026\n\nThis order is administered in the Department of Premier and Cabinet.","sortOrder":5}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"I cannot determine whether the 2026 Order materially changes the scope of Tasmanian State Service restructuring from the original intent because the operative text of the Order and any earlier instrument it replaces were not provided. From the title and usual practice, such Orders are instruments for carrying out administrative reorganisations rather than creating new policy programs; to establish whether the scope has grown beyond the original purpose requires a comparison of the 2026 Order’s schedules and provisions with the predecessor instrument(s). Supply the operative clauses or the prior Order and I will compare them and identify any scope expansion (for example, transfers of new functions, broader delegations, or changed employee protections)."},"complexity_factors":["Typical heavy cross-references to the State Service Act and industrial/employment law (creates dependency on external Acts and industrial instruments).","Multiple schedules are commonly used (listing agencies, functions, and specific positions), increasing reading and verification work.","Transitional and savings clauses with conditional language (\"unless otherwise provided\", staged commencement) add nested exceptions.","Potentially different rules for ordinary staff, statutory office-holders, temporary employees and contractors (multiple categories increase branching logic).","Interaction with superannuation, payroll and contract novation processes requires coordination with administrative systems (operational complexity).","Discretionary powers for Ministers or Secretaries to make further determinations or delegations — introduces open-ended administrative choices to monitor."],"plain_english_summary":"**What this Order does (mechanically)**\n\n- Changes the organisational structure of Tasmania's State Service by moving, combining, creating or abolishing agencies, divisions or functions.  \n- Transfers functions, assets, liabilities and records from one agency or head of service to another.  \n- Moves public servants between agencies or positions and sets rules for continuity of employment (pay, leave, service entitlements) when that happens.  \n- Sets transitional rules (including savings clauses) to preserve ongoing matters, contracts and statutory duties while the new structure takes effect.  \n- Often revokes or amends earlier restructuring orders or administrative instruments to reflect the new arrangements.\n\n**Who it affects**\n\n- Tasmanian public servants (their employer, reporting lines and sometimes their day-to-day duties).  \n- Agency heads, the Secretary/Director of State Service and the responsible Minister(s) who make and implement restructuring decisions.  \n- Unions and employee representatives involved in consultation and industrial processes.  \n- Suppliers and third parties with existing contracts or regulatory relationships with affected agencies.  \n- Tasmanian Government budget and service recipients where functions are consolidated, split or outsourced.\n\n**Why this matters (stated purpose and practical trade-offs)**\n\n- The likely stated aim is to improve how government delivers services (for example, by reducing duplication or aligning functions). That is a claim about intended benefits — efficiency, clarity of responsibility, or better service delivery. The Order achieves that mechanically by changing which agency is responsible for particular functions and how staff are assigned.  \n\n- Costs and trade-offs to weigh against the stated aim: implementation costs (IT, records, physical move, contract novation), redundancy or severance payouts if roles are abolished, disruption to frontline service delivery during transition, and time spent on consultation and bargaining with employees. Those are real fiscal and operational costs that accompany any restructuring.  \n\n- Incentives and discretion: the Order centralises decision-making about organisational design with Ministers and central public service management. That gives the executive flexibility to reallocate functions quickly but also concentrates discretion about staff transfers, delegations and the timing of changes. The instrument will normally specify limits on that discretion (for example, consultation obligations or protections for specified officers); the precise limits determine how much choice employees and agencies retain.\n\n- Effect on private enterprise and markets: where functions are consolidated there is potential for the Government to reprocure services from the private sector (outsourcing) or to change the market for suppliers. Conversely, transferring regulatory functions can temporarily increase uncertainty for regulated businesses until roles and lines of accountability are clear.\n\n- Compliance burden and implementation risk: HR, payroll, legal and procurement teams must execute transfers, novate contracts, preserve entitlements (including superannuation and long service leave), and update delegations. Failure to get these mechanics right creates legal and industrial risk (unfair dismissal, breaches of employment law, contract disputes).\n\n**Concentrated benefits, diffuse costs and capture risk (how benefits and costs fall)**\n\n- Benefits (if any savings or efficiencies arise) are likely to be concentrated in central budget lines or in newly created management teams.  \n- Costs (disruption, individual employment impacts, temporary productivity loss) are typically dispersed across many employees and service users.  \n- There is a risk of rent-seeking or capture at the margins if functions are reallocated in ways that favour particular contractors or stakeholders; the instrument’s transparency provisions and procurement steps shape that risk.\n\n**Key practical provisions to check in the Order (what to read carefully)**\n\n- How the Order treats existing employment terms: does it guarantee \"no less favourable\" conditions, or only continuity of service?  \n- The definition of a \"corresponding position\" (used to decide whether an employee is transferred into a like role).  \n- Provisions about redundancy, severance pay and consultation/notice periods.  \n- Treatment of statutory office-holders and positions established by other Acts (often excluded from automatic transfer).  \n- How contracts, grants and licences are novated or continued; who bears liabilities that arise before the transfer.  \n- Transitional and savings clauses (how ongoing proceedings, appeals or awards are to be handled).  \n- Delegations and powers to make further regulations or orders (degree of delegated legislative/administrative power).  \n- Effective date and staged commencement for different parts of the Order.\n\n**Analyst’s proviso**\n\nThis summary is based on the instrument title and usual contents of State Service restructuring orders. The published header material supplied does not include the Order’s operative text or schedules, so the precise mechanics (for example, whether particular employee protections or special exceptions are present) cannot be determined here. To give a definitive, clause-by-clause read I will need the full text or the schedules showing which agencies, functions and positions are affected."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/state-service-restructuring-order-2026","history":"/api/acts/state-service-restructuring-order-2026/history","analysis":"/api/acts/state-service-restructuring-order-2026/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/state-service-restructuring-order-2026/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/state-service-restructuring-order-2026/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/state-service-restructuring-order-2026/documents"}}