2002-03
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATISTICS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2003
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of the Treasurer,
the Hon Peter Costello, MP)

Table of Contents
Outline	1
Financial Impact Statement	3
Notes on Clauses	4
Statistics Regulations	7

1	
Outline
1.1	The main purpose of this Bill is to rectify a number of technical deficiencies in statistics legislation, which arose as an unintended consequence of previous amendments to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975 (ABS Act).
1.2	Prior to 18 December 1987, section 16 of the ABS Act made specific provision for the Statistician to engage, by means of the Statistics Regulations, supplementary staff for irregular collection activities, such as the population census.  However following amendment of the ABS Act in 1987, to enable the employment of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) staff for specific supplementary collection tasks outside their normal duties, there is some doubt that the power to engage under the regulations still exists.  One of the main purposes of this Bill is to put beyond doubt the Statistician’s power to engage supplementary staff under regulations.
1.3	A further purpose of this Bill is to ensure that officer status is recovered for all purposes, for those persons the ABS has engaged under the regulations since 1987.  The Bill will remove any doubt that those staff meet the definition of an ABS ‘officer’ and are subject to the secrecy provisions and other obligations of the Census and Statistics Act 1905 (CSA).  The transitional provisions of the Bill ensure that all acts and practices of the staff affected by any technical deficiency in the law, are valid.
1.4	The secrecy provisions of the CSA extend beyond the time of an ABS officer’s employment with the ABS.  In 1999, the ABS Act was amended to update the reference to the Public Service Act from 1922 to 1999.  The unintended consequence of that amendment was that persons who retired or resigned from the ABS prior to 1999 were no longer covered by the CSA definition of an ABS ‘officer’ and consequently are not subject to the obligations imposed on officers under the CSA.  A further purpose of this Bill is to ensure, as Parliament intended, that persons in this category continue to be subject to the secrecy provision of the CSA.
1.5	The Bill also makes provision for the Statistician to make arrangements to second persons from both Australian and foreign authorities to assist in carrying out the functions of the Statistician.  The Bill ensures that seconded persons cannot exercise any of the powers of compulsion available to the Statistician.

2	
Financial Impact Statement
2.1	This Bill has no financial impacts.

3	
Notes on Clauses
Clause 1:  Short Title
3.1	Clause 1 is a formal provision specifying the short title of the Bill.
Clause 2:  Commencement
3.2	The Act will commence on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Clause 3:  Schedule(s)
3.3	A machinery provision to provide a schedule to give effect to the legislation.  Subsection (1) of the schedule gives effect to each Act and Regulation in accordance with the applicable items as set out in the schedule.  Subsection (2) of the schedule ensures that any regulation amended under subsection (1) is still subject to amendment or repeal by the Governor-General.
Schedule 1 — Amendments
Part 1 — Amendments
Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975
Item 1
3.4	Item 1 rectifies the unintended consequence of an amendment to section 16 of the ABS Act by the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1987.  This placed in doubt the Statistician’s power to engage staff under the Statistics Regulations.  Item 1 puts beyond doubt the Statistician’s power to engage staff under the Statistics Regulations.
Item 2
3.55	Item 2 revises an expression in accordance with current drafting style.
Item 3
3.6	Item 3 inserts a new provision to allow the Statistician to make arrangements for the secondment of employees  from other organisations (not including consultants to these organisations)  to assist him in carrying out his functions.  The provision restricts the organisations from which these persons may be seconded to agencies and authorities of Australian Commonwealth, State and Territory governments, the agencies and authorities of foreign governments including ABS counterpart agencies in other countries, and international organisations of an inter-governmental character such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.  Arrangements made under this section are in addition to any arrangement which may be provided for under the Public Service Act 1999.  The arrangements may or may not include financial terms. They allow for the secondment of persons without remuneration.
Census and Statistics Act 1905
Item 4
3.7	Item 4 provides for the conjunction of a new paragraph.
Item 5
3.8	Item 5 extends the definition of an ABS officer to include persons seconded under the new section 16A of the ABS Act.  This will allow such persons to work with information collected under the CSA and ensure that they are subject to the stringent secrecy provisions of that Act.
Item 6
3.9	Item 6 inserts a new provision, which precludes persons, seconded to the ABS from being appointed as ‘authorised’ officers of the ABS.  This will ensure that seconded persons have none of the entitlements of authorised officers which include the authority to request that forms be filled up or questions answered, or the authority to enter prescribed classes of premises, such as hotels, motels and hostels.  Authorised officers have no authority to enter private dwellings.
Item 7
3.10	Item 7 inserts a new provision to ensure that persons seconded to the ABS cannot be delegated any of the powers of compulsion available to the Statistician under the CSA.  The powers that cannot be delegated included the powers to direct that forms be filled up or questions answered or the power of entry into premises such as hotels, motels and hostels.  The Statistician has no power to enter private dwellings.
Item 8
3.11	The secrecy provisions of the CSA extend beyond the time of an ABS officer’s employment with the ABS.  The definition of officer in the CSA refers to persons engaged in accordance with subsection 16(1) of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975.  Subsection 16(1) was amended in 1999 by the Public Employment (Consequential and Transitional) Amendment Act 1999, which amended the reference to the Public Service Act from 1922 to 1999.  An unintended consequence of that amendment was that officers of the ABS who resigned or retired prior to 1999 were no longer covered by the secrecy provisions of the CSA.  Item 8 inserts a new provision which ensures that former officers of the ABS who left the ABS prior to 1999 are still subject to the secrecy provisions of the CSA as the legislation intended.

4	
Statistics Regulations
Item 9
4.1	Item 9 amends subregulation 3(1) of the Statistics Regulations to allow the staff of the Bureau who are engaged under the Public Service Act 1999 to be also engaged under the Regulations.  This will allow ABS staff to be employed along with other supplementary staff who are recruited to meet the collection requirements of the population census and other collections.
Item 10
4.2	Item 10 revises an expression in accordance with current drafting style.
Part 2 — Transitional 
Item 11
4.3	As noted at item 1 there is some doubt as to the Statistician’s power to engage supplementary staff under the regulations.  Item I puts the Statistician’s power to engage staff under the regulations beyond doubt.  Item 11 validates all purported engagements under regulation 3 of the Statistics Regulations in force under the CSA, regulation 3 itself, and all related instruments, acts and things, from the commencement of the 1987 amendments (18 December 1987).