Public Service Act (No. 3) 1973

What This Law Does

This is a very short piece of legislation with a single, surgical purpose: it deletes one section — Section 54B — from the Public Service Act 1922, which was the main law governing Australia's federal public service at the time.

What was Section 54B about? The heading of the repealing section in this Act is titled "Absence from duty in relation to childbirth" — meaning Section 54B dealt with public servants taking leave related to childbirth.

What does this Act actually do?

• It removes (repeals) Section 54B from the Public Service Act 1922, which had only recently been inserted by earlier 1973 amendments
• It also makes a minor housekeeping change to the Public Service Act (No. 2) 1973 by removing a subsection that is no longer needed once Section 54B is gone
• It takes effect immediately upon receiving Royal Assent (the Governor-General's formal approval)

Who does this affect? Primarily federal public servants — the people employed by the Australian Commonwealth Government — and the rules governing their entitlements around childbirth-related leave.

Why does it matter? This Act is a rare example of legislation that takes rights or provisions away almost as soon as they were created. Section 54B had been introduced just months earlier in 1973, and this Act wipes it out. The political or policy reasons are not stated in the text itself, but the speed of the repeal — with separate Public Service Acts passed in the same year — suggests a significant and fast-moving policy dispute about childbirth-related leave entitlements in the federal public service.