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REVIEWS OF BREACHES OF THE CODE OF CONDUCT

The PS Regulations provide non-SES APS employees with a specific review right in relation to a determination that they breached the Code and/or the sanction imposed for a breach. Applications for review of this nature are required to be lodged directly with the Merit Protection Commissioner.

During 2003—04, the Merit Protection Commissioner received 58 requests for review, compared with 43 in 2002—03. It would appear that employees seek external review of decisions in about five per cent of cases– broadly the same rate as last year.

Table 6.5: Reviews related to breaches of the Code of Conduct

Note: The data for 2001—02 includes one matter dealt with under the Public Employment (Consequential and Transitional) Amendment Act 1999. The data for years prior to this also include a number of applications dealt with under that Act or the Merit Protection (Australian Government Employees) Act 1984.

Source: Merit Protection Commissioner

During 2003—04, the Merit Protection Commissioner made a formal recommendation to an agency head in 46 cases. In 20 (43%) of those the Merit Protection Commissioner recommended that the decision of the agency head be confirmed. In nine other cases, the Merit Protection Commissioner recommended that the agency head set aside the decision, and in a further 14 cases he recommended that the decision be varied. A total of 11 cases included a recommendation to vary the sanction imposed. No systemic issues emerged from an analysis of these cases.

While the Merit Protection Commissioner received more requests for review in 2003—04 than in the previous year, there was also an increase, from 34% to 43%, in the proportion of cases where the recommendation of the Commissioner was that the decision under review be confirmed. This sits with data from earlier years where the percentage of cases that resulted in original decisions being confirmed is quite dynamic from year to year, and may reflect the small number of requests for review.