87Interpretation [see Note 3]

##### 87 Interpretation \[see Note 3\] (1) In this Part, unless the contrary intention appears: > commencing day means the day on which this Part comes into operation. > Commonwealth authority means: (a) a body, whether incorporated or not, established for a public purpose by a law of the Commonwealth or of a Territory (not being the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory) other than such a body that is declared by the regulations not to be a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of this Part; or (b) a body corporate incorporated under a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory, being a body corporate in which the Commonwealth has a controlling interest and which is declared by the regulations to be a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of this Part. > Commonwealth office means: (a) an office or appointment the holder of which is appointed by the Governor‑General or by a Minister under a law of the Commonwealth (including this Act) or a law of a Territory other than the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory; or (b) any other office or appointment the holder of which is appointed by the Governor‑General, or by a Minister, being an office or appointment declared by the regulations to be a Commonwealth office, or included in a class of offices or appointments declared by the regulations to be a class of Commonwealth offices, for the purposes of this Part; but does not include: (c) an office of Justice or Judge of a federal court or of a court of a Territory; (d) an office the holder of which has, by virtue of an Act, the status of a Justice or Judge of a court referred to in paragraph (c); (e) the office of Auditor‑General; (f) an office or appointment in the Service or in the public service of a Territory; (g) an office or appointment the duties of which are performed by the holder of an office in the Service the designation of which is the same as the designation of that first‑mentioned office or appointment; (h) an office or appointment in the Australian Federal Police (other than the office of Commissioner of Police) or in the Police Force of a Territory; (j) an office or appointment connected with an undertaking established, or declared to have been established, in pursuance of the Supply and Development Act 1939; (k) an office or appointment in the Defence Force; (m) the office of Chief Magistrate, or an office of Magistrate, in the Australian Capital Territory or in the Northern Territory; or (n) an office or appointment declared by the regulations not to be a Commonwealth office, or included in a class of offices or appointments declared by the regulations not to be a class of Commonwealth offices, for the purposes of this Part, > eligible Commonwealth employment means: (a) employment as the holder of a Commonwealth office; or (b) employment by a Commonwealth authority. > eligible public employment means: (a) employment as the holder of a public office; or (b) employment by a public authority. > employment means: (a) employment in a full‑time capacity; or (b) employment in a part‑time capacity where: (i) the person employed does not also perform duties in the Service; (ii) the number of ordinary hours of duty per week applicable to the person in respect of the employment is greater than the number of hours prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subparagraph; and (iii) the employment is not employment of a kind that the Board has declared, in writing, to be non‑qualifying part‑time employment for the purposes of this subparagraph. > promotion has the same meaning as it has in Division 4 of Part III. > public authority means: (a) a Commonwealth authority; (b) a body corporate, other than a Commonwealth authority, in which the Commonwealth or a Commonwealth authority has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest, being a body corporate prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph; (c) a body corporate established for a public purpose by a law of a State, of the Australian Capital Territory, of the Northern Territory, of a country other than Australia or of a part of such a country, being a body corporate prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph; (d) any other body corporate prescribed, or included in a class of bodies corporate prescribed, by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph; or (e) an unincorporated body prescribed, or included in a class of unincorporated bodies prescribed, by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph. > public office means: (a) a Commonwealth office; (b) an office or appointment the holder of which is appointed: (i) by the Governor of a State or by a Minister of a State; or (ia) by the Australian Capital Territory Executive or by the Chief Minister or a Minister for the Australian Capital Territory; or (ii) by the Administrator of the Northern Territory or by an Executive Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Northern Territory; being an office or appointment prescribed, or included in a class of offices or appointments prescribed, by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph; or (c) any other office or appointment prescribed, or included in a class of other offices or appointments prescribed, by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph; but does not include an office or appointment in the public service of a State, of the Australian Capital Territory or of the Northern Territory. > Public Service Redundancy Award means the Australian Public Service Redeployment and Retirement (Redundancy) Award 1987 as amended and in force from time to time. > retention period, in relation to a person’s employment, means a period during which the employing authority is not entitled, without the consent of the person, to retire or retrench the person from that employment on the ground that the person is excess to the requirements of that authority. (1A) In this Part: (a) a reference to a person electing to be retired from his or her employment is a reference to a person notifying the employing authority (whether pursuant to a right conferred by an industrial award or otherwise) to the effect (however the notification is expressed) that the person is willing to be voluntarily retired or voluntarily retrenched from his or her employment; and (b) a reference to an employing authority accepting an election by a person to be retired from the person’s employment is a reference to an employing authority notifying a person to the effect (however the notification is expressed) that the person is to be voluntarily retired or voluntarily retrenched from his or her employment. (1B) In this Part: (a) a reference to a person becoming excess in relation to his or her employment is a reference to a retention period beginning to apply to the person in respect of that employment and a reference to the date on which the person became excess in relation to that employment is a reference to the date of commencement of that retention period; and (b) a reference to a person ceasing to be excess in relation to his or her employment is a reference to a retention period ceasing to apply to the person in respect of that employment. (2) A reference in this Part to employment by a Commonwealth authority shall be read as including a reference to: (a) employment as the holder of an office the holder of which has, by virtue of an Act, the status of a Justice or Judge of a federal court or of a court of a Territory other than the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory; (b) employment as the holder of the office of Auditor‑General; (d) service as a member (other than as Commissioner of Police) or staff member of the Australian Federal Police; (e) employment as a member of the Police Force of a Territory other than the Northern Territory; (f) employment under the Naval Defence Act 1910, other than employment in an office or appointment in, or as a member of, the Australian Navy; (g) employment in the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, other than employment in the office of Director‑General of Security; (h) employment under section 10 of the Supply and Development Act 1939; (j) employment in the Public Service of a Territory other than the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory; (ja) employment as a member of, or as the holder of an office or appointment in the service of, the Joint Coal Board; (jb) employment as a member of the staff of the Australian Defence Force Academy; or (m) employment as the holder of an office or appointment (not being an office or appointment referred to in a preceding paragraph or a public office) in the service of the Commonwealth, being an office or appointment prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph. (3) A reference in this Part to employment by a public authority shall be read as including a reference to: (a) employment as the holder of an office or appointment in the Public Service of a State, being an office or appointment prescribed, or included in a class of offices or appointments prescribed, by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph; or (b) employment as the holder of an office or appointment (not being an office or appointment referred to in paragraph (a), an office or appointment in the Australian Capital Territory Government Service or the Public Service of the Northern Territory or a public office) the holder of which is appointed: (i) by the Governor of a State or by a Minister of a State; or (ia) by the Australian Capital Territory Executive or by the Chief Minister or a Minister for the Australian Capital Territory; or (ii) by the Administrator of that Territory or by an Executive Member of the Legislative Assembly for that Territory; being an office or appointment prescribed, or included in a class of offices or appointments prescribed, by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph. (4) The regulations may declare that this Part shall apply to and in relation to employment as the holder of an office or appointment in the Public Service of the Northern Territory as if that employment were employment by a public authority. (5) Notwithstanding that regulations have not been made for the purposes of subsection (4), where a person becomes a person to whom Division 3 applies by virtue of subsection 87K(3) or (4), this Part applies to and in relation to him, while he continues to be employed in the Public Service of the Northern Territory, as if employment in that Service were employment in eligible public employment. (6) Where a person becomes a person to whom Division 3 applies by virtue of subsection 87K(9) or (10), this Part applies to and in relation to him while he continues to be employed by an approved legal aid commission, or as the holder of an approved statutory office, within the meaning of the Commonwealth Legal Aid Act 1977 as if any employment by such a commission or in such an office that is not eligible public employment were eligible public employment in relation to him. (6AA) Subsection (6) continues to apply despite the repeal of the Commonwealth Legal Aid Act 1977 as if: (a) section 3 and Part IV of that Act had not been repealed; and (b) any arrangement under subsection 21(1) of that Act that ceased to be in force only because of that repeal had not ceased to be in force because of that repeal. (6A) Where: (a) at any time (whether before, on or after the commencing day), in pursuance of an arrangement under subsection 21(1) of the Commonwealth Legal Aid Act 1977, a person who was an officer employed in the Australian Legal Aid Office has become a member of the staff of an approved legal aid commission; and (b) at a later time, the person has become the holder of a statutory office within the meaning of that Act; then, for the purposes of this Part, the person shall be deemed to have become, at that later time, the holder of an approved statutory office within the meaning of that Act. (7) Regulations made for the purposes of paragraph (b) of the definition of Commonwealth authority in subsection (1) may be expressed to have effect in respect only of employment by a specified body on or after, or before, a particular date, which may be a date before the commencing day, or during a particular period, which may be, or may include, a period before the commencing day. (8) Regulations made for the purposes of the definition of Commonwealth office in subsection (1) may be expressed to have effect in respect only of employment in: (a) a specified office or appointment; or (b) in an office or appointment included in a specified class of offices or appointments; on or after, or before, a particular date, which may be a date before the commencing day, or during a particular period, which may be, or may include, a period before the commencing day. (10) For the purposes of this Part, a person shall be deemed to have been dismissed from eligible public employment for misconduct if he was dismissed from that employment on grounds similar to the grounds on which an officer may be dismissed from the Service under Division 6 of Part III. (11) For the purposes of this Part, a finding of a court in relation to a criminal offence shall be regarded as having been nullified: (a) where a person has been convicted on the basis of that finding—if the conviction has subsequently been quashed or otherwise nullified or the person convicted has received a pardon or has been released from prison as a result of an inquiry into the conviction; or (b) in any other case—if the finding has been set aside. (12) This Part does not apply to a person in relation to his or her employment in an office or position specified in the regulations for the purpose of this subsection. (13) An office or position may only be specified in the regulations for the purpose of subsection (12) if the relevant salary rate in respect of the office or position is equal to or greater than the minimum rate at which salary is payable to the occupant of an office having a classification of Senior Executive Band 2. (14) The reference in subsection (13) to the relevant salary rate in respect of an office or position is to be read as follows: (a) in the case of an office or position to which a range of salary is applicable, the reference is a reference to the minimum rate at which salary is payable to a holder of the office or position; (b) in any other case, the reference is a reference to the rate at which salary is payable to a holder of the office or position. (15) Subsection (12) has effect in spite of any other provision of this Part.