(1) Where judgment has been given by a court against an officer for the payment of a sum of money, the person in whose favour judgment was given (in this section called the “judgment creditor”) may serve on the paying officer of the component of the Service in which the officer is employed:
(a) a copy of the judgment, certified under the hand of the Registrar or other appropriate officer of the court; and
(b) a statutory declaration that:
(i) states that the judgment has not been satisfied by the officer; and
(ii) sets out the amount due by the officer under the judgment.
(2) The paying officer shall, as soon as practicable after service of the copy of the judgment and the statutory declaration, by notice in writing given to the officer:
(a) inform the officer of the service on the paying officer of the copy of the judgment and the statutory declaration; and
(b) require the officer:
(i) to inform the paying officer, in writing, within such time as is specified in the notice, whether the judgment has been satisfied; and
(ii) to furnish to the paying officer:
(A) if the officer claims that the judgment has been satisfied‑evidence in support of the claim; or
(B) if the officer admits that the judgment has not been satisfied‑a statement of the amount then due under the judgment.
(3) If the officer:
(a) fails, within the time specified for the purpose in the notice, to satisfy the paying officer that the judgment has been satisfied; or
(b) admits that the judgment has not been satisfied;
the paying officer shall, subject to subsection (12), cause to be deducted from the salary payable to the officer on each pay‑day in relation to the officer:
(c) an amount equal to the normal deduction in relation to the officer in relation to the pay‑day; or
(d) such lesser amount as is, in the opinion of the paying officer, sufficient to satisfy the amount then due under the judgment.
(4) The paying officer shall, subject to subsection (6), cause an amount equal to each amount deducted under subsection (3) to be paid to the judgment creditor.
(5) There is payable to the Commonwealth by the judgment creditor an administration fee, calculated at the prescribed rate, in respect of the making of deductions under subsection (3) in relation to the judgment debt.
(6) Where an amount is deducted under subsection (3) and the whole or a part of the administration fee payable in respect of the making of deductions in relation to the judgment debt has not been paid by the judgment creditor, the paying officer shall:
Section 34D - Commonwealth Teaching Service Act 1972 - Attachment of salaries of officers | Zoe
(a) apply, in or towards payment of the administration fee or the part of the administration fee that remains unpaid, the amount of the deduction or so much of the amount of the deduction as is equal to the administration fee or that part of the administration fee; and
(b) if the whole of the amount of the deduction is not applied in accordance with paragraph (a), pay an amount equal to the balance to the judgment creditor.
(7) Where an amount (in this subsection called “the relevant amount”), being the whole or a part of an amount deducted under subsection (3) from the salary of the officer on a pay‑day, is applied in accordance with subsection (6) in or towards payment of the dministration fee payable by the judgment creditor:
(a) the judgment creditor shall be deemed to have paid the relevant amount to the Commonwealth in satisfaction or partial satisfaction, as the case requires, of the administration fee;
(b) an amount equal to the relevant amount shall be deemed to have been paid by the Commonwealth to the officer on account of the salary of the officer on that pay‑day; and
(c) an amount equal to the relevant amount shall also be deemed to have been paid by the officer to the judgment creditor in respect of the judgment debt.
(8) Upon payment being made to the judgment creditor under subsection (4) or (6) of an amount (in this subsection called the “relevant amount”) that is equal to the whole or a part of the amount deducted under subsection (3) from the salary of the officer on a pay‑day:
(a) an amount equal to the relevant amount shall be deemed to have been paid by the Commonwealth to the officer on account of the salary of the officer on that pay‑day; and
(b) an amount equal to the relevant amount shall also be deemed to have been paid by the officer to the judgment creditor in respect of the judgment debt.
(9) If the amounts deemed, by virtue of paragraphs (7)(c) and (8)(b), to have been paid by the officer to the judgment creditor exceed, in the aggregate, the amount due under the judgment, the excess is repayable by the judgment creditor to the officer, and, in default of repayment, may be recovered, by action in a court of competent jurisdiction, as a debt due by the judgment creditor to the officer.
(10) When the judgment debt has been satisfied, the judgment creditor shall forthwith notify the paying officer accordingly.
Penalty: $1,000 or imprisonment for 6 months, or both.
(11) Where a paying officer has been served under subsection (1) with copies of 2 or more judgments given against an officer, the paying officershall take such action as is necessary under this section to satisfy the judgment debts payable by the officer in the order in which the copies of the judgment debts were served on the paying officer.
(12) Where an officer ceases to be employed in a component of the Service after a copy of a judgment given against the officer has been served on the paying officer of that component or has been forwarded to the paying officer under a previous application of this subsection and before the paying officer of that component has been notified that the judgment debt has been satisfied:
(a) the paying officer shall forthwith inform the judgment creditor, in writing, of the fact that the officer has ceased to be so employed and the date on which the officer ceased to be so employed; and
(b) if the officer, upon ceasing to be employed in that component of the Service, becomes employed in another component of the Service:
(i) the paying officer shall also inform the judgment creditor of the component in which the officer has become employed, of the fact that deductions will be made, in respect of the judgment debt, by the paying officer of that component, and of the address of the paying officer in order that the judgment creditor may comply with any obligation imposed by subsection (10); and
(ii) the paying officer of the first‑mentioned component shall forward to the paying officer of the other component all documents held by him or her in relation to the judgment debt, together with a statement containing particulars of the deductions (if any) made in relation to the judgment debt.
(13) Where documents relating to a judgment given against an officer are forwarded to the paying officer of a component (in this subsection called the “relevant paying officer”) in accordance with subsection (12):
(a) if the time specified in the notice given to the officer under subsection (2) in respect of the judgment had expired before the documents were so forwarded and the officer had failed, within that time, to satisfy the paying officer concerned at that time that the judgment debt had been satisfied:
(i) the relevant paying officer shall, subject to subsection (14), cause to be deducted from the salary payable to the officer on each pay‑day in relation to the officer an amount equal to the normal deduction in respect of the officer and the pay‑day or such lesser amount as is, in the opinion of the relevant paying officer, sufficient to satisfy the balance of the judgment debt; and
(ii) subsections (4), (5), (6), (7) and (8) apply to those deductions in the same manner as they apply to deductions made in accordance with subsection (3); or
(b) in any other case‑subsections (3), (4), (5), (6), (7) and (8) apply as if the copy of the judgment and the statutory declaration concerned had been served on the relevant paying officer and any notice given to the officer in relation to that judgment under subsection (2) had been given by the relevant paying officer.
(14) If, under subsection (12), copies of 2 or more judgments given against an officer are, together with the relevant statutory declarations, forwarded to the paying officer of a component of the Service, the paying officer forwarding them shall indicate to the paying officer to whom they are forwarded the order in which they were served under this section, and, for the purposes of subsection (9), they shall be treated as if they had been served upon the first‑mentioned paying officer in that order.
(15) If the paying officer is satisfied that the deduction of the amount that the paying officer would, but for this subsection, be required to deduct from the salary payable to the officer on a pay‑day would cause severe hardship to the officer, the paying officer may deduct a lesser amount in relation to the pay‑day.
(16) Subsections (1) to (15) (inclusive) do not apply to an officer:
(a) who is a bankrupt; or
(b) in relation to whom a deed of assignment, a deed of arrangement or a composition is in force under the Bankruptcy Act 1966.
(17) In this section, unless the contrary intention appears:
judgment does not include an order made under the Family Law Act 1975;
net salary, in relation to an officer and to a pay‑day, means the amount of salary payable by the Commonwealth to the officer on the pay‑day after deductions have been made from his or her salary:
(a) under Division 2 of Part VI of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936;
(b) under Part IV of the Superannuation Act 1976; and
(c) for any prescribed purposes;
normal deduction, in relation to an officer and to a pay‑day, means an amount equal to 20% of the net salary of the officer on that pay‑day or such greater amount as the officer has, by instrument in writing delivered to the paying officer, specified as the normal deduction for the purposes of this section;
officer includes a temporary employee engaged under section 23;
pay‑day, in relation to an officer, means a day on which salary becomes payable to the officer;
paying officer, in relation to a component of the Service, means such officer as the relevant authority of that component appoints as paying officerfor the purposes of this section;
salary, in relation to an officer, means any money payable by the Commonwealth to the officer by way of salary or wages, and includes any money payable by the Commonwealth to the officer by way of an allowance that is a prescribed allowance for the purposes of this definition, but does not include any money payable to the officer by way of a weekly payment of compensation under the Compensation (Commonwealth Government Employees) Act 1971.