115Review by Merit Protection Commissioner if former Parliamentary Service employee is entitled to review

115  Review by Merit Protection Commissioner if former Parliamentary Service employee is entitled to review

 (1) This section applies in relation to a person (the affected former employee) if:

 (a) a person is a former Parliamentary service employee; and

 (b) at the time the person’s Parliamentary Service employment ceased, the person was not an SES employee; and

 (c) after the person’s Parliamentary Service employment ceased, a Secretary determined that the person breached the Code of Conduct.

 (2) The Merit Protection Commissioner may conduct a de novo review of the Secretary’s determination if the affected former employee is entitled review of the determination under this section.

 (3) The affected former employee is not, or ceases to be, entitled to review of the determination if:

 (a) the affected former employee has applied to have the determination reviewed or dealt with by a court or tribunal, and the court or tribunal has jurisdiction to review or deal with the determination; or

 (b) the Merit Protection Commissioner considers that the determination should not be reviewable for any of the following reasons:

 (i) the affected former employee has previously applied for review of the determination under this Subdivision;

 (ii) the affected former employee has applied, or could apply, to have the determination reviewed by an external review body, and review by the external review body would be more appropriate than review under this Subdivision;

 (iii) review, or further review, of the determination is not otherwise justified in all the circumstances.

Note: For the purposes of subparagraph (b)(ii), examples of external review bodies include the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Human Rights Commission.

 (4) The affected former employee is not, or ceases to be, entitled to review of the determination if an application for review of the determination is not made under section 116 within 60 days after the determination was made.

 (5) However, an affected former employee is entitled to review of the determination if the Merit Protection Commissioner considers that there are exceptional circumstances explaining the failure to make an application within the period mentioned in subsection (4).