Public Service (Terms and Conditions of Employment) (Parliamentary Workplace Support Service) Determination 2024

The instrument introduces and relies on a small set of legal concepts and textual mappings. These determine what document applies, to whom it applies, and how internal dispute handling is to be treated under federal workplace law. The main concepts in the instrument are:

• "Employee" and scope. "Employee" is defined to mean a non‑SES employee employed in the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service to whom the instrument applies (Definitions). Section 5 states the device applies to all non‑SES Employees employed in the PWSS under the Public Service Act 1999. The instrument therefore targets a particular organisational cohort within the Commonwealth service.

• Importation of an enterprise agreement. The Enterprise Agreement is defined as the Department of Finance Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027 as in operation immediately before commencement (definitions). Section 7(1) makes those terms and conditions of employment applicable to the defined Employees by force of the instrument. The phrase "by force of this instrument" indicates statutory application rather than negotiation or release by the Department of Finance.

• Textual substitution and contextual adaptation. Section 7(2) performs explicit textual substitutions so the Enterprise Agreement reads as if it were made for the PWSS: Department/Finance becomes Parliamentary Workplace Support Service; Secretary becomes Agency Head; coverage references are read as references to the Employees covered by this instrument. The instrument therefore does not create a new enterprise agreement but adapts an existing one to a different employing agency through specified reference changes.

• Dispute procedure integration. Clause 8(1) identifies clauses 496-505 of the Enterprise Agreement (described as the term providing the dispute resolution procedure) and states those clauses are a term or condition of employment for Employees under this instrument and, for the purposes of s 738(d) of the Fair Work Act 2009, provide a procedure for dealing with disputes arising under the instrument. This concept integrates internal dispute resolution with the Fair Work Act framework insofar as the instrument specifies.

• Interaction with other statutory instruments. Sections 6 and 9 articulate when the instrument ceases or operates with other determinations: it ceases to apply where a new enterprise agreement or a workplace determination under the FW Act covers the employee (s 6); it is to operate concurrently with determinations made under s 24(1) of the PS Act as far as possible and does not prevent s 24(1) determinations increasing monetary entitlements (s 9(1)-(2)). Section 10(1) confirms that the instrument cannot exclude the NES; s 10(2) says that while the instrument is in force, the APS Award does not apply to the covered non‑SES employees.

• Temporal mechanics. The instrument commences the day after registration (s 2) and may be revoked or altered by further determination under the same subsection of the PS Act that authorised it (s 6 note). The instrument also contains a note explaining a workplace determination operates from the day it is made (referring to s 276 of the FW Act).

These concepts create a legal mechanism that transplants an enterprise agreement’s terms to a distinct agency workforce and ties the enterprise agreement’s dispute procedure into the statutory frame. The instrument leaves in place the NES, excludes the APS Award while operative, and anticipates coexistence with other PS Act determinations concerning pay levels.

The instrument defines its coverage and therefore the set of legal and practical stakeholders it affects.

• Directly affected employees. Section 5 states the instrument applies to "all non‑SES Employees employed in the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service under the Public Service Act 1999." The definition of Employee in the instrument mirrors that scope. Therefore the primary population affected is non‑Senior Executive Service public servants employed in PWSS at the time the instrument is operative. Their written terms and conditions of employment are replaced, by force of the instrument, with the adapted Department of Finance Enterprise Agreement (s 7(1)-(2)).

• Employer/agency decision‑maker. The Agency Head is defined as the Chief Executive Officer of the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service (definitions). The instrument substitutes references to the Secretary of the Department of Finance with the Agency Head for the purposes of applying the enterprise agreement (s 7(2)(4)). That places responsibility for operational application and decision‑making under the Agency Head, who will act in the role the Department of Finance Secretary is given in the original Enterprise Agreement text.

• Industrial relations bodies and the Fair Work Commission. The Enterprise Agreement that is imported was approved by the Fair Work Commission on 8 February 2024 (definitions). The instrument also engages the Fair Work Act by identifying that the Enterprise Agreement’s dispute procedure clauses are recognised for the purposes of s 738(d) of the Fair Work Act (s 8(1)(2)). While the instrument itself is made under the PS Act (s 3), it creates a cross‑reference with federal industrial relations processes.

• Department of Finance (original agreement party). The instrument re‑reads references in the Enterprise Agreement that previously applied to the Department of Finance so that they apply to the PWSS (s 7(2)). The Department of Finance ceases to be the textual addressee for the employees covered by this instrument; the effect is to detach those employees from the original departmental context and attach them to PWSS.

• APS Award and NES stakeholders. The instrument states that while it is in force the APS Award does not apply to non‑SES employees in PWSS (s 10(2)), and it has no effect to the extent it would exclude the NES (s 10(1)). Thus unions, employee representatives, and human resources officers must treat the APS Award as displaced for these employees while retaining the NES protections.

• Potential future agreement parties. Section 6 indicates the instrument will cease to apply where a new enterprise agreement under the FW Act comes into operation for an Employee, or a workplace determination under the FW Act covers the Employee (s 6(a)-(b)). That creates a pathway by which bargaining parties in the FW Act system, or the Fair Work Commission via workplace determinations, can alter who is affected by this instrument.

• Executive government. The instrument was made by the Minister for the Public Service under s 24(3) of the PS Act (s 3). The Minister’s signature is the legal instrument that effects the mapping; accordingly, central executive decision‑makers control the instrument’s existence and potential revocation (s 6 note).

The instrument changes who decides employment terms for this cohort. Where previously the Department of Finance’s enterprise agreement would apply to Department staff, this instrument transposes those terms to PWSS staff and places the Agency Head in the position of decision‑maker for reference points in the agreement. It does not, on its face, alter coverage for SES employees or persons outside PWSS.

The instrument sets out how duties and rights attached to employment are established and exercised for the covered Employees. The practical effect is that rights and obligations are those contained in the specified Enterprise Agreement, subject to the textual amendments and statutory floors.

• Terms and conditions derived from the Enterprise Agreement. Section 7(1) makes clear that the rights and duties of Employees under their employment are the terms and conditions of the Enterprise Agreement as adapted by the instrument. Rights such as pay rates, allowances, classifications, working arrangements and leave entitlements that are in the Enterprise Agreement become the operative rights and duties for the covered Employees by statutory determinative force.

• Textual reassignments for decision‑making points. The instrument replaces references to Department of Finance offices and officers with PWSS equivalents (s 7(2) items 1-4). Specifically, where the Enterprise Agreement gives a function or discretion to the Secretary of the Department of Finance, that function or discretion will, in the PWSS context created by the instrument, be exercised by the Agency Head (s 7(2)(4)). This assignment creates a locus of administrative duty within the PWSS for actions that the agreement requires or permits.

• Dispute resolution and procedural rights. Clause 8 makes the Enterprise Agreement’s dispute resolution clauses (496-505) a contractual term and, for Fair Work Act purposes, a term providing a disputes procedure (s 8(1) items 1-2). That gives Employees a clear internal mechanism to raise and resolve employment disputes under the instrument. The instrument thereby creates an expectation that disputes will be processed in accordance with those clauses before or as part of any Fair Work Act engagement envisaged by s 738(d).

• Retention of the National Employment Standards. Section 10(1) explicitly provides that the instrument has no effect to the extent it would exclude the NES. In practice this means the NES remains the statutory minimum for entitlements that fall within Part 2‑2 of the Fair Work Act. The Enterprise Agreement as applied cannot lawfully detract from NES minimums.

• Exclusion of the APS Award while in force. Section 10(2) states that while the instrument is in force the APS Award does not apply to non‑SES employees in PWSS. This alters the secondary regulatory backdrop for these employees: the APS Award will not supplement or operate concurrently as it would absent the instrument, and rights under the Enterprise Agreement take primacy (subject to the NES).

• Temporal and replacement rights. Section 6 provides that an employee’s rights under this instrument cease if an enterprise agreement under the FW Act that covers the employee commences operation, or a workplace determination under the FW Act covers the employee. That creates a mechanism by which rights can be replaced through the FW Act bargaining or determination processes.

• Ministerial and agency power to vary monetary entitlements. Section 9(2) states that this instrument does not prevent a determination made under s 24(1) of the PS Act increasing salaries, allowances or other monetary entitlements provided under this instrument. Accordingly, executive determinations under the PS Act can increase monetary entitlements without being blocked by this instrument.

Those are the primary duties and rights established and how they are assigned and safeguarded. The instrument does not itself list individual pay rates or specific leave dimensions; rather it imports those specifics from the named Enterprise Agreement and modifies reference points so the agreement operates in a different employing agency context.

The instrument itself does not create new criminal or civil penalties, nor does it prescribe a separate enforcement regime. Instead it operates within two existing regulatory frameworks and explicitly aligns internal dispute procedures with the Fair Work Act dispute mechanism.

• No standalone penalty regime. The text contains no provisions imposing fines, criminal sanctions, or administrative penalties (review of the instrument shows only operative employment terms and process mappings). Enforcement of the terms and conditions therefore depends on the remedies and compliance mechanisms available under employment law and the instruments invoked, rather than penalties specified in this determination.

• Compliance and internal enforcement via the Enterprise Agreement. By making the Enterprise Agreement the source of terms and conditions of employment for covered Employees (s 7(1)), the instrument places enforcement primarily within the Enterprise Agreement’s compliance architecture. That typically encompasses internal grievance and dispute procedures (now expressly applied , s 8(1)), managerial decisions by the Agency Head (s 7(2)(4)), and any contractual or industrial remedies available when an agreement term is breached.

• Integration with the Fair Work Act processes. Section 8(1) specifically identifies clauses 496-505 of the Enterprise Agreement as a term that provides a procedure for dealing with disputes for the purposes of s 738(d) of the Fair Work Act 2009. While the instrument does not recite the content of s 738(d), it signals that the Enterprise Agreement dispute procedure is intended to be the procedural step recognized under the Fair Work Act’s framework. Consequently, if the Fair Work Act contemplates applications or orders contingent on an enterprise agreement’s dispute procedure, those pathways remain available insofar as the instrument applies.

• Interaction with workplace determinations. Section 6(b) contemplates that a workplace determination under the FW Act that covers an Employee will terminate the instrument’s application to that Employee. The note to s 6 refers to s 276 of the FW Act stating that a workplace determination operates from the day it is made. That mechanism gives the Fair Work Commission (or the statutory determination process under the FW Act) the power to alter which regulatory instrument applies, and thereby affects enforcement and remedies available to Employees.

• Agency responsibility for application. The Agency Head, substituted into the Enterprise Agreement’s textual roles (s 7(2)(4)), will be the official responsible for carrying out duties that may give rise to enforcement actions, including administering pay, allowances, classification decisions and internal dispute outcomes. Any failure by the Agency Head or PWSS to apply the agreement terms correctly would be actionable under the normal employment remedies, though the instrument does not set a bespoke enforcement penalty.

• Retention of NES as enforceable minimums. Section 10(1) preserves the NES: the instrument has "no effect to the extent that it would exclude the NES." Enforcement of NES entitlements remains through the mechanisms that enforce those statutory minimums. The instrument cannot reduce NES rights, and any attempt to do so would be ineffective under its own terms.

In short, enforcement flows from the Enterprise Agreement’s content, from the Fair Work Act processes that the instrument invokes, and from statutory protections such as the NES. The determination itself is procedural and adaptive rather than punitive.

The instrument is a statutory determination made under the Public Service Act 1999 and it deliberately cross‑references and aligns with provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 and established industrial instruments. The interactions can be summarised in several specific respects contained within the instrument.

• Made under the Public Service Act 1999. The instrument is expressly made under subsection 24(3) of the PS Act (s 3). That subsection is the legal basis for the Minister’s power to determine terms and conditions of employment for public servants. The instrument notes it may be revoked or altered by a further determination made under subsection 24(3) (s 6 note). The PS Act thus supplies the authorising power for the instrument and the route for ministerial variation or revocation.

• Relationship with the Fair Work Act 2009. The instrument imports the Enterprise Agreement that was approved under the Fair Work Act (defined as the Enterprise Agreement approved by the Fair Work Commission on 8 February 2024) and it uses the Fair Work Act’s vocabulary when appropriate. Section 8(1) explicitly states that clauses 496-505 of the Enterprise Agreement provide a dispute procedure "for the purposes of section 738(d) of the Fair Work Act 2009." Section 6(b) and its note reference the operation of workplace determinations under the FW Act, noting a workplace determination operates from the day it is made (note referencing s 276 of the FW Act). Section 10 contains a note referencing s 57 of the FW Act to explain the instrument’s interaction with the APS Award.

• National Employment Standards (NES). Section 10(1) states the instrument "has no effect to the extent that it would exclude the NES." This sets the NES as a statutory floor that cannot be displaced by the instrument. The instrument therefore operates subject to statutory minimums in the FW Act.

• APS Award. Section 10(2) states that while this instrument is in force, the APS Award does not apply to non‑SES employees in the PWSS. The instrument treats the Enterprise Agreement as the primary regulatory instrument for the covered employees in the same way an enterprise agreement would, as noted in the instrument’s own explanatory note invoking s 57 of the FW Act.

• Concurrent operation with other PS Act determinations. Section 9(1) directs that "to the extent possible" the instrument is to operate concurrently with any determination made under subsection 24(1) of the PS Act. Section 9(2) adds that the instrument "does not prevent a determination made under subsection 24(1) of the PS Act increasing the amount of salaries, allowances or other monetary entitlements provided under this instrument." This preserves the ability of other ministerial or departmental determinations under the PS Act to supplement pay and allowances.

• Temporal supersession by FW Act instruments. Section 6 provides the instrument ceases to apply if a new enterprise agreement under the FW Act covering the Employee commences operation or a workplace determination under the FW Act covers the Employee (s 6(a)-(b)). That means FW Act bargaining and determination outcomes can displace the PS Act determination as the operative source of terms for those employees.

The instrument thus operates as a point of overlap between the PS Act and the FW Act regimes, using the PS Act power to deploy an FW Act enterprise agreement in a different employing context while preserving the primacy of statutory NES minima and the capacity of FW Act instruments to alter coverage. It does not attempt to operate outside those statutory boundaries, and the text retains multiple cross‑references to avoid exclusion of higher‑order protections.

The determination itself contains only its own creation data and internal provisions; it does not list earlier versions of this determination or prior amendments. The instrument provides the following temporal and amendment‑related details:

• Date and commencement. The instrument is dated 26 February 2024 and states that it "commences on the day after it is registered" (s 2). That fixes the effective date relative to registration, not to the date of signature.

• Source Enterprise Agreement date. The Enterprise Agreement which the instrument adopts is identified as the enterprise agreement "approved by the Fair Work Commission on 8 February 2024 and known as the Department of Finance Enterprise Agreement 2024‑2027, as in operation immediately before the commencement of this instrument" (definitions). That captures the exact enterprise agreement version and approval date that is being applied to PWSS employees.

• Revocation and further determinations. The instrument expressly states it "may also be revoked or have its operation affected by a further determination made under subsection 24(3) of the PS Act" (s 6 note), and section 3 states the instrument is made under subsection 24(3) of the PS Act. Thus the power to alter or revoke the instrument lies with the Minister under the same PS Act provision used to make it.

• Ceasing application on replacement instruments. Section 6 specifies two statutory events which will end the instrument’s application to an Employee: the commencement of an enterprise agreement under the FW Act that covers the Employee; or the making of a workplace determination under the FW Act that covers the Employee (s 6(a)-(b)). The instrument thereby anticipates common industrial processes will be the normal method for changing or replacing the instrument’s coverage.

• Concurrent operation with s 24(1) determinations. Section 9(1) states the instrument is to operate "to the extent possible" concurrently with determinations under subsection 24(1) of the PS Act, and s 9(2) reserves the ability of such 24(1) determinations to increase monetary entitlements. This creates an ongoing amendment pathway for increases in salary or allowances without requiring revocation of the instrument.

There are no recorded prior versions, amendment schedules, or a legislative history within the text of the instrument itself. The instrument’s own amendment mechanics are therefore entirely executive in nature: either a new FW Act enterprise agreement or workplace determination, or further determinations under the PS Act, will alter its operation.

The instrument contains no references to litigation or judicial decisions. It does not record any judicial or arbitral challenges, nor does it mention past cases or outcomes. The only adjudicative body referenced by name in the instrument is the Fair Work Commission in respect of the approval date of the Enterprise Agreement (definitions).

Practical legal contestation pathways that the instrument itself makes available or engages are:

• Internal dispute procedure. By making clauses 496-505 of the Enterprise Agreement into a term of employment for these Employees (s 8(1) item 1) and stating those clauses provide a procedure for dealing with disputes for the purposes of s 738(d) of the FW Act (s 8(1) item 2), the instrument creates an internal procedural pathway that is likely to be the first forum for disputes. The instrument therefore channels employment disputes through those clauses in the Enterprise Agreement.

• Engagement with Fair Work Act processes. The instrument references the FW Act in two respects that bear on dispute and enforcement outcomes. First, the Enterprise Agreement was approved by the Fair Work Commission (definitions). Second, the instrument’s recognition of the dispute procedure under the Fair Work Act terminology (s 8(1)) indicates that functions or interventions under the FW Act that are contingent upon an enterprise agreement dispute procedure will be engaged. The instrument also flags that a workplace determination under the FW Act will operate to replace it for covered Employees (s 6 note referencing s 276 of the FW Act). Those cross‑references mean that disputes or coverage questions may ultimately be brought before Fair Work arbitral mechanisms if statutory thresholds and prerequisites are met.

• Ministerial determinations and administrative review. The instrument is made under s 24(3) of the PS Act (s 3) and references that determinations under s 24(1) may operate concurrently or increase monetary entitlements (s 9). While the instrument states such determinations can change entitlements, it does not itself provide a judicial review clause. In practice, a person affected by how a determination is made or implemented would rely on administrative law remedies (judicial review) available in the Australian federal courts for decisions made under the PS Act, but the instrument contains no procedural guidance on that process.

Because the instrument contains no litigation record, there is no domestic case law cited or embedded within it. Any actual litigation arising from its application would be recorded outside the instrument. The instrument’s text shows it anticipates disputes and statutory interactions that could give rise to litigation or arbitration, but it neither predicts nor records such outcomes.

This instrument contains a number of drafting features and operational consequences that practitioners, HR officers, and compliance professionals should note as potential traps or points requiring careful attention.

• Textual substitution mechanics. Section 7(2) instructs multiple substitutions: Department of Finance → Parliamentary Workplace Support Service; Finance → Parliamentary Workplace Support Service; Secretary of the Department of Finance → Agency Head; references to agreements and employees redefined. These substitutions operate "unless context provides otherwise." The saving clause "unless context provides otherwise" creates scope for interpretative uncertainty when a passage of the Enterprise Agreement refers to typified Departmental functions that might not match PWSS realities. Practitioners should audit every clause of the Enterprise Agreement to identify where contextual mismatch may cause application problems.

• Reference to "as modified by operation of subsection (1)" in clause 8(1). Clause 8(1) states clauses 496-505 of the Enterprise Agreement (as modified by operation of subsection (1)) are the dispute procedure. That parenthetical cross‑reference could be read as circular or ambiguous because clause 8(1) is itself subsection (1) of s 8. The instrument elsewhere modifies the Enterprise Agreement by operation of s 7(1) and s 7(2). It is therefore unclear on the face of the text whether "subsection (1)" in clause 8(1) is intended to refer to s 7(1) or to s 8(1) itself. That ambiguity may generate implementation questions about whether the dispute clauses require further textual change under s 7(2) or whether they are to be read verbatim. The instrument does not clarify this point.

• Displacement of the APS Award while preserving NES. Section 10(2) removes the APS Award from applying to non‑SES employees in PWSS "while this instrument is in force." At the same time, s 10(1) preserves the NES. Practitioners should therefore not assume that entitlements available under the APS Award will continue to apply; any rights outside the Enterprise Agreement must be assessed against NES minima. This can be a source of compliance missteps where payroll and HR systems still reference APS Award entitlements.

• Temporal fragility and coverage turnover. Section 6 provides that coverage ceases when a new enterprise agreement under the FW Act covering the Employee commences, or when a workplace determination covers the Employee. Employers and employees moving between bargaining units or subject to bargaining changes should be alert that the instrument may cease to apply at short notice. The note points out that workplace determinations operate from the day they are made (referring to s 276 of the FW Act), which can lead to retroactive coverage shifts if a determination is made that covers prior periods.

• Ministerial discretion and further determinations. The instrument is made under s 24(3) of the PS Act (s 3) and may be revoked by a further determination under that power (s 6 note). Section 9(2) expressly allows determinations under s 24(1) to increase monetary entitlements. This means monetary terms could be increased by other ministerial action without conventional enterprise bargaining. Agencies should track ministerial determinations and how they interact with enterprise agreement terms.

• Dependence on the underlying Enterprise Agreement text. The instrument does not itself set precise monetary rates, classification descriptors, or operational rules; all such specifics remain in the Enterprise Agreement. Any lacunae, outdated references, cross‑department procedures or explicit departmental programs referenced in the Enterprise Agreement may not map cleanly to PWSS. Users must therefore perform a line‑by‑line review of the Enterprise Agreement for incompatibilities.

• No separate enforcement or penalty regime described. Because the instrument does not create new penalties or enforcement mechanisms, remedy routes depend on the Enterprise Agreement, the NES, and the Fair Work Act procedural hooks. Parties should be cautious where the Enterprise Agreement provides for internal processes only, as the instrument itself does not create external enforcement teeth.

These "gotchas" are not doctrinal objections but practical flags: the instrument’s approach of mapping another agency’s enterprise agreement into a new employing agency is administratively efficient but requires careful textual and operational reconciliation to avoid misapplication, ambiguity, and unintended gaps in employee entitlements.

Compliance with this instrument requires coordinated action by the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service, the Agency Head, HR and payroll units, and affected Employees. The following steps translate the instrument’s operative provisions into a practical compliance checklist, each step grounded in the instrument’s sections.

1. Establish the effective date and register the instrument. The instrument commences the day after registration (s 2). Compliance begins from that date. Administrations should record the registration and ascertain the exact commencement date to align payroll, rostering and administrative actions.

2. Identify covered staff. Section 5 applies the instrument to "all non‑SES Employees employed in the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service." HR must generate a roster/list of all non‑SES staff to whom the instrument applies and remove SES staff from the scope.

3. Import the Enterprise Agreement terms and map references. Section 7(1) brings the Department of Finance Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027 into force for covered Employees. Section 7(2) requires textual substitutions (Department of Finance → PWSS; Finance → PWSS; Secretary → Agency Head; coverage references redefined). HR and legal teams should perform a clause‑by‑clause mapping exercise: produce a version of the Enterprise Agreement showing each substitution and annotate clauses where "unless context provides otherwise" may require different treatment.

4. Update contracts, position descriptions and employment records. Once the Enterprise Agreement is mapped, standard contracts and personnel records should be updated to reflect that the Agreement (as applied) is the operative terms and conditions for coverees (s 7(1)-(2)). Ensure employment contracts reflect the Agency Head as the decision‑maker where the Enterprise Agreement references the Secretary (s 7(2)(4)).

5. Adjust payroll and entitlements. Pay, allowances and classified duties in payroll systems must be set in accordance with the Enterprise Agreement’s rates and formulae as applied. Where s 9(2) permits determinations under s 24(1) to increase monetary entitlements, payroll should be prepared to handle updated rates if ministerial determinations are issued.

6. Replace APS Award references and preserve NES minima. Section 10(2) displaces the APS Award while the instrument is in force. Remove reliance on APS Award entitlements for these staff and ensure any entitlements less than NES minima are not applied (s 10(1)). Payroll and HR must ensure statutory minimum entitlements remain met.

7. Implement the dispute procedure. Clause 8(1) makes clauses 496-505 of the Enterprise Agreement the dispute procedure for the purposes of the Fair Work Act (s 8(1) items 1-2). HR must publish the dispute procedure internally, train managers and employee representatives on its steps, and ensure mechanisms for recording, escalating and resolving disputes operate as required.

8. Monitor for replacement instruments. Section 6 provides that the instrument ceases to apply if an enterprise agreement under the FW Act that covers an Employee commences, or a workplace determination under the FW Act covers the Employee. HR and legal should track bargaining activity, enterprise agreements and any Fair Work Commission determinations that could change coverage, and implement automated triggers to switch entitlements where required.

9. Audit for contextual mismatches. The "unless context provides otherwise" qualification in s 7(2) means some provisions may not map perfectly. Conduct a risk assessment of Enterprise Agreement clauses involving department‑specific programs, allowances linked to departmental facilities or offices, or administrative processes where PWSS structures differ. Document decisions and rationales for any context‑based departures.

10. Record ministerial determinations and administrative changes. Because further determinations under the PS Act can increase entitlements (s 9(2)) or revoke/modify the instrument (s 6 note), maintain an administrative register of ministerial determinations under s 24(1) and s 24(3) of the PS Act and their effects on employee entitlements.

11. Communicate clearly to employees. Provide written notices to all covered Employees explaining that their terms and conditions now derive from the Enterprise Agreement as applied by this instrument, identify the dispute resolution procedure, clarify that the APS Award no longer applies while the instrument is in force, and confirm NES protections remain.

12. Legal review and contingency planning. Given textual ambiguities (for example in s 8(1) cross‑reference) and potential contextual mismatches, secure a legal review of the applied Agreement text. Prepare contingency plans for handling disputes that may require engagement with the Fair Work Act processes or administrative review of ministerial determinations.

Following these steps aligns operational practice with the instrument’s requirements. The core compliance obligations are administrative and contractual: ensure the Enterprise Agreement is accurately applied, ensure internal procedures are functional, and monitor for higher‑order statutory instruments that may displace the determination.