64Attachment of salaries of officers

##### 64 Attachment of salaries of officers (1) Where judgment has been given for the payment of a sum of money, the person in whose favour the judgment is given (in this section referred to as the judgment creditor) may serve on the Paying Officer of the Department in which the officer against whom the judgment was given is employed a copy of the judgment, certified under the hand of the Registrar or other appropriate officer of the Court by which the judgment was delivered, and a statutory declaration stating that the judgment has not been satisfied by the officer, and setting out the amount due by the officer under the judgment. (2) Upon the service on him of a copy of a judgment and a statutory declaration in pursuance of this section, the Paying Officer shall, as soon as practicable, notify the officer against whom the judgment was given, in writing, of the service of the copy of the judgment and statutory declaration, and require him to state, in writing, within a time to be specified by the Paying Officer, whether the judgment has been satisfied, and, if so, to furnish evidence in support thereof, and, if the judgment has not been satisfied, to state the amount then due under the judgment. (3) If an officer fails, within the time specified in the notice given to him under subsection (2), to satisfy the Paying Officer of his Department that the judgment debt has been satisfied, the Paying Officer shall, subject to subsection (15), in respect of each pay‑day, cause to be deducted from the salary becoming payable to the officer on that pay‑day 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 Paying Officer, sufficient to satisfy the balance of the judgment debt. (4) There is payable to the Commonwealth, by a judgment creditor who causes a copy of a judgment to be served on a Paying Officer under this section, an administration fee, at the prescribed rate, in respect of the making of such deduction as is, or such deductions as are, made under this section in relation to the judgment debt. (5) Where an amount is deducted in respect of a judgment debt, under subsection (3), from the salary becoming payable to an officer on a pay‑day, the Paying Officer shall, subject to subsection (6), cause the amount so deducted to be paid to the judgment creditor. (6) Where an amount is deducted in respect of a judgment debt under subsection (3) and the whole or part of the administration fee payable in relation to the debt has not been paid, the Paying Officer shall: (a) apply, in or towards payment of that fee, the amount of the deduction or so much of the amount of the deduction as is equal to the amount payable by way of, or in respect of, that 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) Upon the application, in or towards payment of the administration fee payable in relation to that judgment debt, of an amount deducted in respect of a judgment debt from the salary becoming payable to an officer on a pay‑day: (a) the judgment creditor shall be deemed to have paid the amount so applied to the Commonwealth in satisfaction, or partial satisfaction, as the case requires, of the administration fee; (b) an amount equal to the amount so applied shall be deemed to have been paid by the Commonwealth to the officer on account of salary payable to the officer on that pay‑day; and (c) an amount equal to the amount so applied 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, in relation to a deduction from the salary becoming payable to an officer on a pay‑day, of an amount to a judgment creditor under subsection (5) or (6): (a) an amount equal to the amount so paid shall be deemed to have been paid by the Commonwealth to the officer on account of salary payable to the officer on that pay‑day; and (b) an amount equal to the amount so paid shall also be deemed to have been paid by the officer to the judgment creditor in respect of the judgment debt. (9) Where more than one judgment and statutory declaration are served on a Paying Officer in respect of the one officer, the judgments shall be satisfied in the order in which copies of the judgments are served on the Paying Officer. (10) A person to whom any payment has been made in pursuance of this section shall notify the Paying Officer immediately a judgment debt in respect of which payment was made is satisfied. Penalty: 10 penalty units. (11) If any payment deemed to have been made to a judgment creditor under paragraph (7)(c) or (8)(b) by an officer in respect of a judgment debt exceeds the amount due under the judgment, the excess shall be repayable by the judgment creditor to the officer, and, in default of payment, may be recovered by the officer from the judgment creditor in any Court of competent jurisdiction. (12) Where an amount is deemed to have been paid by an officer to a judgment creditor in respect of a judgment debt under paragraph (7)(c) in relation to a deduction made from the salary becoming payable to the officer on a pay‑day and an amount is also deemed to have been paid by the officer to the judgment creditor in respect of the judgment debt under paragraph (8)(b) in relation to that deduction, for the purposes of subsection (11), the second‑mentioned payment shall be deemed to have been made after the first‑mentioned payment. (13) Where an officer ceases to be employed in a Department after a copy of a judgment given against the officer has been served on the Paying Officer of the Department or has been forwarded to him under a previous application of this subsection and before the Paying Officer of the Department has been notified that the judgment debt has been satisfied: (a) the Paying Officer shall forthwith after the officer ceases to be employed in the Department inform the judgment creditor, in writing, that the officer has ceased to be so employed and of the date on which he has ceased to be so employed; and (b) if the officer, upon ceasing to be employed in that Department, becomes employed in another Department: (i) the Paying Officer shall also inform the judgment creditor of the name of the Department 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 Department, and of the address of that Paying Officer in order that the judgment creditor may comply with any obligation imposed upon him by subsection (10); and (ii) the Paying Officer of the first‑mentioned Department shall forward to the Paying Officer of the other Department all documents held by him in relation to the judgment debt, together with a statement containing particulars of the deductions (if any) made in relation to the judgment debt. (14) Where documents relating to a judgment given against an officer are forwarded to the Paying Officer of a Department (in this subsection referred to as the relevant Paying Officer) in accordance with subsection (13): (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 (15), in respect of each pay‑day, cause to be deducted from the salary becoming payable to the officer on that pay‑day 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 and in relation to those deductions in like manner as they apply to and in relation 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. (15) Where a Paying Officer is satisfied that the deduction of the amount that he would, but for this subsection, be required to deduct from the salary of an officer under subsection (3) or (14), as the case requires, would cause severe hardship to that officer, he may deduct a lesser amount. (16) If, under subsection (13), more than one judgment and statutory declaration are forwarded to the Paying Officer of a Department in respect of the one officer, 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. (17) The foregoing provisions of this section shall not apply in relation to any officer whose estate the Paying Officer is satisfied has been sequestrated either voluntarily or compulsorily for the benefit of his creditors, and who has not yet obtained a certificate of discharge. (17A) Where the judgment creditor is the Commonwealth, this section has effect as if: (a) subsections (4), (6), (7), (10) and (12) and subparagraph (13)(b)(i) were omitted; and (b) “, subject to subsection (6),” were omitted from subsection (5); and (c) “or (6)” were omitted from subsection (8); and (d) “(7)(c) or” were omitted from subsection (11); and (e) “, (6), (7)” were omitted from subparagraph (14)(a)(ii) and paragraph (14)(b). (18) In this section, unless the contrary intention appears: > net salary, in relation to an officer and to a pay‑day, means the amount of salary becoming payable by the Commonwealth to the officer on the pay‑day after deduction from that salary of: (a) any sum deducted from that salary under Division 2 of Part VI of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936; (b) any sum deducted from that salary under Part IV of the Superannuation Act 1976 or under Part 4 of the Superannuation Act 1990; and (c) any other sum deducted from that salary for a prescribed purpose. > 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 in respect of that pay‑day or such greater amount as the officer has, by instrument in writing delivered to his Paying Officer, specified as the normal deduction for the purposes of this section. > officer includes employee. > pay‑day means a day on which salary becomes payable to an officer. > Paying Officer, in relation to a Department, means such officer as the Secretary of that Department appoints as Paying Officer for the purposes of this section. > salary, in relation to an officer, means any moneys payable by the Commonwealth to the officer by way of salary or wages, and includes any moneys payable by the Commonwealth to the officer by way of an allowance that is a prescribed allowance for the purposes of this section but does not include any moneys payable to the officer by way of a weekly payment of compensation under the Commonwealth Employees’ Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988.