13Modifications of sections 11 and 12 in relation to service in the Independent State of Papua New Guinea

13 Modifications of sections 11 and 12 in relation to service in the Independent State of Papua New Guinea

(1) In this section:

Australian Staffing Assistance Group means the body formerly established under that name by the Papua New Guinea (Staffing Assistance) Act 1973.

Papua New Guinea has the same meaning as it had in the Papua New Guinea Act 1949 as in force on 15 September 1975.

relevant service means:

(a) the service of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea;
(b) the service of a body (not being an incorporated company, society or association) established for a public purpose by or under a law of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea; or
(c) the service of the Commonwealth in respect of the Australian Staffing Assistance Group.

(2) This section applies in relation to a person, being an employee, who was, immediately before 16 September 1975, employed in: (a) the service of Papua New Guinea; (b) the service of a body (not being an incorporated company, society or association) established for a public purpose by or under a law of Papua New Guinea; or (c) the service of the Commonwealth as a member of the Australian Staffing Assistance Group. (3) Where, during a period (in this section referred to as the period of his or her relevant employment) that commenced on 16 September 1975: (a) a person to whom this section applies was employed continuously in a service referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of the definition of relevant service in subsection (1); or (b) a person to whom this section applies was employed continuously in 2 or more of the services referred to in that definition and the periods for which he or she was so employed were continuous with one another; the person: (c) shall, for the purposes of subsection 11(2), be deemed to have been continuously employed in other relevant service during the period of his or her relevant employment; and (d) shall, for the purposes of the provisions of this Act other than sections 11, 12 and 14, be deemed to have been continuously employed in a qualifying service during the period of his or her relevant employment. (4) For the purposes of subsection (3): (a) a period of employment of a person after 15 September 1975 in the service of the Commonwealth as a member of the Australian Staffing Assistance Group shall not be included in his or her period of relevant employment unless it was continuous with, and immediately preceded, a period during which he or she was employed in a service referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of the definition of relevant service in subsection (1); and (b) a person shall be taken not to have been employed in the service of a body, being the Commonwealth, the Independent State of Papua New Guinea or a body referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of relevant service in subsection (1), during a period: (i) during which he or she was employed by that body in an honorary capacity only; or (ii) in respect of which he or she was remunerated for his or her services to that body by fees, allowances or commission only. (5) For the purposes of subsection (3), subsections 12(1), (2), (3) and (10) apply to and in relation to any employment of a person to whom this section applies after 15 September 1975 in a relevant service as if it were employment in a qualifying service. (6) Where a continuous period of employment of a person to whom this section applies in a qualifying service has commenced after, but not more than 12 months after, the expiration of the period of his or her relevant employment, those periods of employment shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be continuous with one another. (7) For the purposes of subsection (6), where a person to whom this section applies has undertaken a course of full‑time training: (a) under a scheme established by the Commonwealth for the training of persons who have served in the Defence Force; or (b) under a training scheme that is a prescribed training scheme for the purposes of paragraph 12(6)(b); after the expiration of the period of his or her relevant employment and before he or she has become employed in a qualifying service, he or she shall be deemed to have become employed in the qualifying service not more than 12 months after the expiration of the period of his or her relevant employment if the period between the date of expiration of the period of his or her relevant employment and the date on which he or she became employed in the qualifying service, less the period of his or her course of full‑time training under that scheme, does not exceed 12 months. (8) Where a continuous period of employment of a person to whom this section applies in a service of a kind referred to in paragraph 11(2)(c), (d) or (f) has commenced after, but not immediately after, the expiration of the period of his or her relevant employment, those periods of employment shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be continuous with one another if the approving authority is satisfied that: (a) the termination of his or her employment at the expiration of the period of his or her relevant employment was due to his or her ill‑health; and (b) the commencement of that first‑mentioned period of employment occurred not more than 12 months after his or her health became so restored as to enable him or her to perform duties of a kind that were suitable to be performed by him or her having regard to the duties performed by him or her immediately before the expiration of the period of his or her relevant employment. (9) Where a continuous period of employment of a person to whom this section applies in a service of a kind referred to in paragraph 11(2)(a) or (b) has commenced after, but not immediately after, the termination of the period of his or her relevant employment, those periods of employment shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be continuous with one another if the approving authority is satisfied that: (a) the termination of his or her employment at the expiration of his or her period of relevant employment was due to his or her ill‑health; (b) he or she was, due to his or her ill‑health, unemployed for a period immediately following the expiration of the period of his or her relevant employment; and (c) he or she became employed in that first‑mentioned employment not more than 12 months after the expiration of the period of unemployment referred to in paragraph (b). (10) Where, by virtue of subsection (6), (7), (8) or (9), 2 periods of employment of a person to whom this section applies are to be deemed to be continuous with one another although they are separated by another period, the person shall not, by virtue of that subsection, be deemed to be employed in a qualifying service during that other period. (11) A person employed in the service of the Commonwealth as a member of the Australian Staffing Assistance Group who is not so employed on transfer from the Australian Public Service under an arrangement made under section 47D of the Public Service Act 1922 shall not be taken, by reason only of being employed as a member of that Group, to be, or to have been, employed in Government Service for the purposes of this Act while employed as a member of that Group. (12) Notwithstanding subsection (11), where a person who is employed in the service of the Commonwealth otherwise than as a member of the Australian Staffing Assistance Group has, at any time prior to his or her current period of employment, been employed by the Commonwealth as a member of that Group, the period or periods during which he or she was employed as a member of that Group prior to his or her current period of employment shall be treated as a period or periods of employment in Government Service for the purposes of this Act.