Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) This section describes the role of parliamentarians, office - holders and the Prime Minister under this Act.
Parliamentarians and office - holders
(2) Parliamentarians and office - holders have powers to employ people on behalf of the Commonwealth, to assist them in carrying out their duties (see section 11).
(3) Parliamentarians and office - holders are responsible for the day - to - day management of their employees. Among other things they:
(a) make decisions about who to employ and enter into employment agreements (see section 11); and
(b) have powers to terminate or suspend employment or take other employment actions (see sections 16, 18 and 20).
The Prime Minister
(4) The Prime Minister can:
(a) make determinations that affect what kind of employees a parliamentarian may employ (see section 4); and
(b) approve arrangements and determine conditions that affect how parliamentarians and office - holders can exercise their powers to employ (including determining how many employees parliamentarians and office - holders may have) (see section 12); and
(c) make determinations that vary some terms and conditions of employment (see section 13).
Note: The Parliamentary Workplace Support Service Act 2023 establishes the PWSS and the IPSC, which also have functions in relation to employment under this Act.
The PWSS:
(a) provides human resources support to parliamentarians, office - holders and their employees and has functions in the areas of policy development, training, advice, and education; and
(b) can exercise the powers of an employer in relation to persons employed under this Act in certain circumstances; and
(c) has some powers to suspend employees.
A Commissioner of the IPSC can, in certain circumstances, recommend that a parliamentarian or office - holder:
(a) terminate or suspend employees; and
(b) take other employment actions in relation to employees.