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Last updated: July 2006
Employment framework
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The Public Service Act 1999 and the Workplace Relations Act 1996 provide the primary legislative framework for APS employment.
Under section 6 of the Public Service Act all persons engaged as employees to perform functions in a department or executive agency must be engaged under either the Public Service Act or the authority of another Act.
The policy underlying the Public Service Act is that the APS should operate, as far as possible, and consistent with its public responsibilities, under the same workplace relations and employment arrangements as the broader Australian workforce. Accordingly, section 8 of the Public Service Act provides that the Public Service Act has effect subject to the Workplace Relations Act . The Public Service Act and the Workplace Relations Act provide a number of obligations in relation to agency heads.
Agency heads also have a range of employment-related responsibilities under other legislation and the common law.
This section covers:
- Agency head employment-related obligations under the Public Service Act, the Public Service Regulations, the Commissioner’s Directions, the Prime Minister's Public Service Directions and the Public Service Classification Rules
- Agency head responsibilities in relation to the Workplace Relations Act
- A workplace based on respect and valuing diversity
- Other agency head responsibilities
