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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-10-18 Daily Xml
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PREMIER STAFF PAYOUTS

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (16:14): I seek leave to make a brief explanation prior to directing a question to the minister representing the soon to be departed Premier on the issue of payouts for spin doctors and ministerial staffers.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: There was a story in The Advertiser on Monday under the heading 'Second Payout to Rann Adviser', which referred to a second termination payout to a ministerial adviser to the Premier, Ms Rowan Roberts. It indicates that Ms Roberts had left her position as economic adviser to the Premier early last year and accepted a payout of about $38,000. The job was kept open. She returned to the job earlier this year, she is now understood to have secured employment with the Gillard government and was in line for another taxpayer-funded 16-week or four-month termination payment.

On 8 June of this year, I also asked a question of the Leader of the Government, representing the soon to be departed Premier, about the Chief of Staff to the Premier, Mr Nick Alexandrides, and whether he had made an application to have leave entitlements cashed out and, if so, what was the estimated cost of the application to cash out leave entitlements, was the application approved and, if it was approved, who approved it, and a range of other questions in relation to that particular issue. Unsurprisingly, the soon to be departed Premier has not responded—and neither has the Leader of the Government—to that particular question asked in June of this year.

One of the issues that has been raised with me by observers of these questions and of the Public Service entitlements is: if a ministerial staffer who has a substantive position in the Public Service returns to the Public Service after a job in a minister's office cashes out their long service leave entitlement in the minister's office, is it cashed out at the higher ministerial staffer rate, or is it cashed out at the rate which applies in their substantive position which they held prior to going into the minister's office and which they returned to in the event that they leave the minister's office in the coming days? My questions are:

1. Will the minister—the soon to be departed Premier—actually provide a reply to the question I asked on 8 June of this year about his Chief of Staff Mr Nick Alexandrides' entitlements?

2. How many ministerial staffers since June of this year have cashed out any of their leave entitlements? If there are any, what are the names of those ministerial staffers, the cash payment that was made, and who authorised the payments in each case?

3. Will Ms Roberts be receiving a second payout when she leaves her position to join the Gillard government, and, if so, how much will that termination payout be?

4. If a ministerial staffer returns to a lower paid substantive position they hold in the Public Service, is the cashed-out long service leave paid out at the higher ministerial staff rate, rather than the lower level rate which is associated with their substantive position in the Public Service?

5. How many other ministerial staffers and spin doctors will receive termination payouts in the period between 20 October of this year and 30 November of this year; if there are any, what are the names of those ministerial staffers and/or spin doctors and the level of payout in each case?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for Gambling) (16:18): Again, this is just so typical of the Hon. Rob Lucas—the snide innuendo that we just know and expect of him now. He continually comes into this place and seeks to discredit the names and reputations of really hardworking, committed and dedicated public servants. It is absolutely outrageous.

I am happy to take the details of the questions on notice and bring back a response, but I have been advised that, in relation to Ms Rowan Roberts, in 1996 a new contract was prepared in consultation with crown law to enable the Premier to appoint a person or staff pursuant to section 69 of the new Public Sector Management Act 1995. I remind members that that was 1996, so it was the former Liberal government that was responsible for that.

Prior to that date, the Governor confirmed such contract appointments made by the Premier, pursuant to the Constitution Act 1934. The new contracts were modelled on provisions contained in those documents and updated and added to. I am advised that both the old arrangements and the new contracts drawn up in 1996 contained provisions for a payout of the contract if proper notice was not given. Pre-1996 the payout was 12 weeks and the then government increased it to 16 weeks, so the former Liberal government increased it from 12 weeks' payout to 16 weeks.

At the change of government in 2002, the new Liberal Leader of the Opposition also requested contract arrangements for appointments to his office that specifically provided for a payout similar to that given to ministerial staff. So what is good for the goose, Mr President—it was a standard that he actually adopted himself. Contracts were prepared in consultation with crown law and exactly the same provision is included in contracts used by the Leader of the Opposition.

A person appointed by the Premier pursuant to section 71 of the Public Sector Act is entitled to a 16-week payout if the term expires and the Premier has not given at least three calendar months prior notice of the expiation date. On 20 October 2011, contracts for ministerial staff employed in the Premier's office will expire when the Premier is no longer Premier or a minister, and contractually those staff will be entitled to a 16-week payout in lieu of proper notice. All contracts stipulate that any such payment received in lieu of notice in the case of the 16 weeks must be paid in full or such part if, during that period, the person is in receipt of remuneration arising either from election to the parliament of the state or appointment or employment of any office of profit under the Crown whether in the Public Service or otherwise.

So that is some advice that I have at hand. As I said, in relation to other detailed questions I will take them on notice and bring back a response.

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