Remuneration Tribunal Determination 2012/12 - Remuneration and Allowances for Holders of Full-Time Public Office

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REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL

Determination 2012/12:

Remuneration and Allowances for Holders of Full-Time Public Office

As amended.

Made under sub-sections 7(3) and 7(4) of the Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973

Consolidated as at 21 November 2012 and incorporates amending determinations up to and including 2012/23 – Remuneration and Allowances for Holders of Public Office

This Determination governs remuneration and allowances for the full-time Public Offices specified in Table 2A.

This Determination specifies the total value an Office Holder is to receive by way of salary and other benefits in respect of carrying out the functions and exercising the powers of his or her office. The salary and benefits provided for in this Determination must not be supplemented.

The Determination comprises:

• Part 1 – General;
• Part 2 – Remuneration and related matters;
• Part 3 – Allowances;
• Part 4 – Official travel;
• Part 5 – Recreation leave; and
• Part 6 – Compensation for early loss of office.

PART 1 – GENERAL

1.1 Authority: This Determination is issued pursuant to sub-sections 7(3) and 7(4) of the Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973.

1.2 Effective Date: This Determination takes effect on and from 1 July 2012.

1.3 Effect on Earlier Determinations: This Determination supersedes and revokes in full Determination 2011/08 (as amended) – Remuneration and Allowances for Holders of Full-Time Public Office and also supersedes and revokes the following Determinations (that amended 2011/08): 2011/13; 2011/14; 2011/17; 2011/21; 2011/23; 2012/01; 2012/07; 2012/08.

1.4 Definitions: For the purposes of this Determination, the following definitions apply.

‘Agency’ means the agency to which the Office Holder is attached, or the portfolio department, if the office holder is not attached to an agency.

‘Base Salary’ means the applicable amount specified in Column 2 of Table 2A of this Determination.

‘Benefits’ means all non-monetary benefits provided at the employer’s expense to or on behalf of an Office Holder as a personal benefit, including a vehicle (where provided – refer clause 2.6), the value attributed by the Remuneration Tribunal to the Employer Superannuation Contribution (refer clause 2.5) and any other benefits received by way of remuneration packaging (refer clause 2.4).

‘Employer’ means the Commonwealth and includes any person authorised to exercise powers, perform acts, grant approvals or give directions for, or on behalf of, the Commonwealth.

'Employer's Superannuation Contribution' in respect of an Office Holder means payments made by the Commonwealth in respect of the Office Holder to:

(a) a Commonwealth defined benefit scheme (including the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme or the Public Sector Superannuation Scheme); or

(b) another superannuation fund.

‘Office Holder’ means the holder of an office listed in Column 1 of Table 2A of this Determination.

‘Total Remuneration’ is the amount shown in Column 3 of Table 2A plus any additional amount shown in Column 4. It represents the value, calculated at the total cost to the employer (including Fringe Benefits Tax), of:

• salary (including Base Salary), allowances or lump sum payments;
• Benefits; and
• the Employer’s Superannuation Contribution

but does not include:

• facilities provided as business support as referred to in Part 2;
• allowances specified in Part 3;
• reimbursement of expenses incurred on geographic relocation following appointment as an Office Holder, in accordance with agency policies and practices where approved by the employer;
• travelling allowances and expenditure referred to in Part 4;
• any payment in lieu of recreation leave in accordance with Part 5; and
• any compensation for early loss of office in accordance with Part 6.

PART 2 –REMUNERATION AND RELATED MATTERS

2.1 Total Remuneration: Office Holders are eligible for the annual amounts of Base Salary and Total Remuneration (including any additional amount shown in Column 4), as set out in Table 2A below with effect from 1 July 2012, unless otherwise specified.

TABLE 2A – FULL-TIME OFFICE HOLDERS – TOTAL REMUNERATION AND OTHER BENEFITS

2.2 Additional Provisions: Where an additional annual amount is specified in Column 4 of Table 2A in relation to an Office Holder, payment will be subject to the provisions of the sub-clause shown in Column 5. The amount will be added to the figure in Column 3 to provide Total Remuneration for that Office Holder.

2.2.1 Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate, Director: The Director will receive an additional loading as shown in Column 4 of Table 2A from 1 July 2012 until 31 May 2013. Base salary for superannuation purposes will be $266,040 until 31 May 2013.

2.2.2 Administrator, Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands: Mr Jon Stanhope will receive $158,438 base salary and $226,340 Total Remuneration while he occupies the office shown in Column 1.

2.2.3 Migration Review Tribunal and Refugee Review Tribunal, Principal Member: A dual appointee as Principal Member of the Migration Review Tribunal and Refugee Review Tribunal is entitled to Tier 1 travel and will receive an additional loading as shown in Column 4 of Table 2A. This loading is included in superannuation salary.

2.2.4 Refugee Review Tribunal: Where a person held an appointment as a Full-time Member of the Refugee Review Tribunal on 17 April 2004, that person will be eligible for a personal loading of $5,630 per annum while continuing to hold an appointment (including re-appointment) as a Member. The loading does not count towards superannuation salary.

2.2.5 Refugee Review Tribunal and Migration Review Tribunal: An office holder who holds dual appointments as Deputy Principal Member of the RRT and of the MRT will be entitled to the remuneration determined for one of those offices, including the additional Total Remuneration figure in Column 4. Of the Column 4 figure, $15,290 will count towards salary for superannuation.

2.2.6 Murray-Darling Basin Authority: The Chief Executive, Dr Rhondda Dickson, will receive an additional $6,925 total remuneration loading per annum and Base Salary loading of $36,079 per annum from 1 October 2011, while she occupies the office.

2.2.7 Australian Electoral Commissioner: Mr Ed Killesteyn will receive $263,890 Base Salary and $375,130 Total Remuneration while he occupies the office shown in Column 1.

2.2.8 Norfolk Island, Administrator: Mr Neil Pope will receive $109,704 base salary and $150,280 Total Remuneration from 1 April to 30 June 2012. From 1 July 2012 he will receive base salary of $113,895 and Total Remuneration of $156,020 while he occupies the office shown in Column 1.

2.2.9 Gene Technology Regulator: Dr Joe Smith will receive $229,120 Base Salary and $301,470 Total Remuneration while he occupies the office shown in Column 1.

2.2.10 APRA: Notwithstanding the above provisions, the Base Salary of Dr John Laker will be $640,000 from 10 August 2011, while he occupies the office of Chair, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority

2.2.11 Health Workforce Australia, Chief Executive Officer: Mr Mark Cormack will receive a personal loading as shown in Column 4 of Table 2A from 1 July 2011 to 26 January 2015.

2.2.12 Australian Sports Anti Doping Authority, Chief Executive Officer: Ms Aurora Andruska will receive a personal loading as shown in Column 4 of Table 2A from

1 July 2011 until 9 May 2013.

2.2.13 Aboriginal Hostels Limited (AHL), Chief Executive Officer: Ms Joy Savage will receive a personal loading as shown in Column 4 of Table 2A from 11 October 2011 until 31 March 2013.

2.2.14 Deputy Commonwealth Ombudsman: Ms Alison Larkins will receive a personal loading as shown in Column 4 of Table 2A with effect from 1 July 2011, Base Salary (salary for superannuation purposes) of $215,377 from 1 July 2012.

2.2.15 Productivity Commission: Mr Michael Woods will receive $339,970 Total Remuneration with $261,777 Base Salary while he occupies the office of Deputy Chair.

2.2.16 Fair Work Australia: Where an appointee as Deputy President or Commissioner of Fair Work Australia is a Judge, the comparative salary for the purposes of s.637(6) of the Fair Work Act 2009 is the amount in Column 2.

2.2.17 Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care: Professor Debora Picone AM will receive an additional loading of $350 per annum until close of business on 5 March 2013.

2.2.18 Productivity Commission: Ms Patricia Scott will receive $519,960 Total Remuneration with $415,968 Base Salary, and Tier 1 travel entitlements while she occupies the office of Commissioner.

2.2.19 National Archives of Australia, Director General: Mr David Fricker will receive a personal loading as shown in Column 4 of Table 2A and Base Salary of $271,360 while he occupies the office shown in Column 1.

2.2.20 Clean Energy Regulator, Chair/Chief Executive Officer: Ms Chloe Munro will receive an additional $85,000 total remuneration loading per annum to cease on 31 December 2013 including a Base Salary (salary for superannuation purposes) loading of $59,500 per annum.

2.2.21 Deleted

2.2.22 Parliamentary Budget Officer: The Parliamentary Budget Officer will receive an additional amount as shown in Column 4 for the first term of his or her office.

2.2.23 Temporary Classifier: Where a person is appointed to the Classification Board as a Temporary Classifier, a daily fee of $490 is payable from 1 July 2012, in lieu of other provisions in this Part. The provisions of Part 3 (Allowances), Part 5 (Recreation leave) and Part 6 (Compensation for early loss of office) do not apply.

2.2.24 Classification Board: On any occasion when the Deputy Director acts as Director, he or she will be entitled to the remuneration and other conditions determined for the Director.

2.2.25 National Water Commission: The remuneration determined for the Chief Executive Officer expires on 31 December 2012.

2.2.26 Tuition Protection Service: Mr Vipan Mahajan will receive a loading of $22,348 in addition to Total Remuneration, and a Base Salary of $182,842 while he holds appointment to the office of Director.

2.2.27 Climate Change Authority: the Base Salary for Ms Anthea Harris will be $250,000 while she occupies the office as shown in Column 1.

2.3 Part-time work: Where approval is given by the employer for an Office Holder to perform the duties of an Office on a part-time basis, the Base Salary and Total Remuneration contained in Table 2A will be payable on a pro-rata basis in accordance with the proportion of full-time hours worked. Where proposed hours are less than 60 per cent of the full-time rate, prior agreement of the Remuneration Tribunal is required to the remuneration level.

2.4 Remuneration packaging: Subject to this Part, an Office Holder may elect to receive the benefit of the Total Remuneration, other than the value of the Employer’s Superannuation Contribution, in cash as salary or as a combination of salary and Benefits. The Office Holder must take at least 50 per cent of Superannuation Salary as salary, except where agency policies and procedures on salary packaging allow otherwise. Any election must be consistent with relevant taxation laws and rulings or guidelines applicable to salary packaging schemes issued by the Australian Taxation Office. Any election must not result in a cost to the employer (including in relation to any fringe benefits taxation) additional to the cost which would be incurred if all of the Total Remuneration elements able to be taken as salary were taken as salary.

2.5 Superannuation Salary

2.5.1 For an Office Holder who is a member of the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme:

(a) the Officer Holder’s annual rate of salary for the purposes of the scheme is the Officer Holder’s Base Salary; and

(b) the value attributed to the Employer’s Superannuation Contribution is taken to be 15.4% of the Office Holder’s Base Salary.

2.5.2 For an Office Holder who is a member of the Public Sector Superannuation Scheme:

(a) the Office Holder’s basic salary for the purposes of the scheme is the Office Holder’s Base Salary; and

(b) the amount of the Officer Holder’s recognised allowances for the purpose of the scheme is zero; and

(c) the value attributed to the Employer’s Superannuation Contribution is taken to be 15.4% of the Officer Holder’s Base Salary.

2.5.3 For an Office Holder who is a member of the Public Sector Superannuation Accumulation Plan, the Office Holder’s superannuation salary for the purposes of the scheme is the Office Holder’s ordinary time earnings (OTE).

2.5.4 For an Office Holder who is a member of the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Scheme:

(a) the Office Holder’s annual rate of salary for the purposes of the scheme is the Office Holder’s Base Salary; and

(b) the value attributed to the Employer’s Superannuation Contribution is taken to be 15.4% of the Office Holder’s Base Salary.

2.5.5 For an Office Holder who is a member of the Military Superannuation and Benefits Scheme:

(a) the Office Holder‘s annual rate of salary for the purposes of the scheme is the Office Holder’s Base Salary; and

(b) the value attributed to the Employer's Superannuation Contribution is taken to be 15.4% of the Office Holder's Base Salary.

2.5.6 For an Office Holder who is a member of any other superannuation fund, the Employer's Superannuation Contribution is to be made at the rate elected by the Office Holder, which must not be less than a rate that would, under section 23 of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992, reduce the charge percentage in relation to that Office Holder to zero.

2.5.7 No cash in lieu: The value attributable by virtue of this clause to the Employer’s Superannuation Contribution is referable to a non-salary component of Total Remuneration and may not be the subject of an election to take an equivalent amount of salary instead.

2.6 Vehicles: Where an Office Holder accepts an offer of an agency owned or leased vehicle for private use, the Office Holder’s Total Remuneration will be reduced by the actual cost of the vehicle to the agency plus parking and fringe benefits taxation, less a reasonable amount (if any) reflecting business usage patterns. Where an Office Holder has access to an agency owned or leased vehicle for private use, the Office Holder will be considered to have accepted an offer of a vehicle for the purposes of this provision. Any business usage amount is to be assessed on log book records for at least a 12 week representative period. Where the annual business kilometres are less than 5,000 it will be based on the ‘cents per kilometre’ method. Where business kilometres are 5,000 kilometres or more, the percentage of business use to total kilometres travelled per annum will be applied to the total cost of the vehicle.

2.7 Business Support: Where an Office Holder is provided with communications, information technology and other office facilities necessary for the efficient conduct of his or her office, incidental private use of those facilities by the Office Holder does not necessitate the value of the facilities being included in Total Remuneration.

PART 3 – ALLOWANCES

3.1 Accommodation Allowance: The Office Holders listed in Column 1 of Table 3A will be eligible to receive an accommodation allowance (subject to expenditure) as shown in Column 3 of Table 3A whilst they occupy the office shown in Column 2. This amount is to assist the Office Holder in meeting settling-in and commercial rental accommodation costs (including one-off utility connection costs) in the office location:

(a) while they also continue to have a property other than in the office location, as their principal place of residence; and

(b) it will not be paid for such periods that they live in premises owned by them at the office location.

An Office Holder will not be eligible to access travel allowance entitlements in the home locality or the office locality whilst they remain eligible to receive the accommodation allowance. However, where in terms of the ongoing arrangement it would clearly be more cost effective for the agency to provide travel allowance entitlements in the office locality, the agency should decide at the earliest practical opportunity to pay travel allowance rather than the accommodation allowance.

Where the commercial accommodation does not include cooking facilities, the cost of meals may form part of the payment, within the accommodation cap set for an Office Holder.

TABLE 3A – ACCOMMODATION ALLOWANCES

3.1.1 Classification Board: Subject to individual qualification for this allowance, to be decided by the employer in accordance with agency guidelines, Members who have, or had, to relocate to Sydney to take up their appointment will be paid an accommodation allowance of $13,500 per annum. The allowance does not represent salary for superannuation.

3.1.2 Defence Chiefs: The employer may approve housing assistance in accordance with agency policy and practices for the Vice-Chief of the Defence Force, the Chief of Navy, the Chief of Air Force, the Chief of Army and the Director of Military Prosecutions.

3.1.3 Official residence: Where residing in an official residence is a requirement of an office, total remuneration does not include the value of accommodation in the official residence, or the running costs of the premises.

3.1.4 Non-commercial accommodation: Where an Office Holder listed in Column 1 of Table 3A elects to be accommodated in private, non-commercial accommodation, such as the home of a family member or friend, a rate of one third of the accommodation allowance in Column 3 of Table 3A is payable in lieu of the amount specified in Column 3.

3.2 Reunion Travel: The Office Holders shown in Column 1 of Table 3B may receive travel costs of up to the amount shown in Column 3 from their employer for travel back to their principal place of residence for the purposes of family reunion while they continue to occupy the office shown in Column 2. Where the agency decides, as provided in Clause 3.1 of this Determination, to pay an office holder travel allowance instead of accommodation allowance, any reunion travel allowance in Table 3B for that Office Holder will cease to apply at the same time.

TABLE 3B – REUNION TRAVEL

PART 4 – OFFICIAL TRAVEL

General Travel Provisions

4.1 The provisions of Determination 2004/03 (as amended) – Official Travel by Office Holders – apply to offices covered by this Determination, subject to any exclusions or limitations in this Determination. In establishing entitlements, the Travel Tier identified in this Determination for an office will apply under Determination 2004/03.

4.1.1 ACCC: the ACCC may put in place arrangements for Members’ travel to Canberra that are more cost effective than the travel entitlements they are otherwise entitled to under this Determination.

4.1.2 Administrator, Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands: The Administrator, and any immediate family members normally resident with him/her on Christmas Island shall be entitled to two return economy class fares per annum each between their home and work base.

4.1.3 Administrator, Norfolk Island: For the period of his appointment, Mr Neil Pope and his immediate family members normally resident with him on Norfolk Island shall be entitled to two return economy class fares per annum each between Melbourne and his work base.

4.1.4 Commonwealth Financial Officer for Norfolk Island: For the period of her appointment, Ms Alison Savary and any immediate family members normally resident with her on Norfolk Island shall be entitled to one return economy class fare each between Norfolk Island and Canberra.

PART 5 – RECREATION LEAVE

5.1 Recreation Leave entitlements: The provisions of Determination 2012/11 (as amended) – Recreation Leave for Full-Time Holders of Relevant Offices apply to full-time[1] Offices listed in Column 1 of Table 2A in this Determination to the extent specified in that Determination.

5.1.1 Commonwealth Financial Officer for Norfolk Island: For the period of her appointment, Ms Alison Savary is entitled to three days recreation leave per annum, additional to any entitlements in Clause 5.1.

5.1.2 Administrator, Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands: The Administrator is entitled to seven days recreation leave per annum additional to any entitlement in Clause 5.1.

5.1.3 Administrator, Norfolk Island: For the period of his appointment, Mr Neil Pope is entitled to three days recreation leave per annum, additional to any entitlement in Clause 5.1

PART 6 – COMPENSATION FOR EARLY LOSS OF OFFICE

6.1 Compensation for early loss of office for an Office Holder will be in accordance with the provisions of Determination 2012/10: Compensation for Loss of Office for Holders of Public Office.

6.2 Where an Office Holder serves the full term of appointment, no entitlement to payment under this part arises.

Notes to Remuneration Tribunal Determination 2012/12:

Remuneration and Allowances for Holders of Full-Time Public Office

This determination as shown in this compilation is amended as indicated in the tables below. Under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003, which came into force on 1 January 2005, it is a requirement for all non-exempt legislative instruments to be registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

Table of Instruments

Notes to Remuneration Tribunal Determination 2012/12:

Remuneration and Allowances for Holders of Full-Time Public Office

Table of Amendments

ad. = added or inserted am. = amended rs. = repealed and substituted rep. = repealed

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[1] Note that the Remuneration Tribunal may only determine recreation leave in respect of full-time office holders – refer s7(3AA) of RT Act. Leave (if any) for Part-time Office Holders is determined by the relevant Minister or the Governor-General.