Commonwealth Teaching Service Act 1972

The promotion under section 27 of an officer to a vacant position:

is provisional and without increased salary pending confirmation of the promotion;

shall be made known to the officers as prescribed; and

is subject to appeal as provided by this section.

Subject to subsection (3), an officer who considers that he or she should have been promoted to a vacant position in preference to the officer provisionally promoted may appeal against the provisional promotion.

Except in prescribed circumstances, an officer is not entitled to appeal against the promotion of another officer to a particular position unless the officer applied for promotion to that position.

The only ground of appeal under subsection (2) shall be the greater efficiency of the officer making the appeal.

Where an appeal or appeals are made under subsection (2) in respect of a promotion, a Promotions Appeal Board specified by the relevant authority shall make such inquiries as it considers necessary to enable it to form an opinion as to the more or most efficient of the officers concerned, namely the officer promoted and the officer or officers who have appealed.

For the purpose of forming an opinion as to the more or most efficient of the officers concerned, the Promotions Appeal Board shall have regard to:

the abilities, qualifications, experience, standard of work performance and personal qualities of each officer, to the extent that the Board considers that those matters are relevant to the performance of the duties of the position; and

if and only if the relevant authority who made the promotion has indicated that, for the purpose of forming an opinion under section 28, the relevant authority had regard to the potential of officers for further career development in the Service, or the ability of officers to perform the duties of other positions of the same or equal classification in the component of the Service in relation to which the authority is the relevant authority‑that matter.

For the purposes of subsection (3C), an officer who is a returned soldier or who is or has been absent on specified defence service shall be treated as having the abilities, qualifications, experience, standard of work performance, personal qualities, potential for future career development in the Service, or ability to perform the duties of the positions concerned that, in the opinion of the Promotions Appeal Board, the officer would have had but for the absence of the officer on active service or on specified defence service.

Where the Promotions Appeal Board has formed an opinion as to the more or most efficient of the officers concerned, the Board shall:

unless paragraph (b) applies‑allow or disallow the appeal or appeals so as to give effect to its opinion; or

if the Board has formed the opinion that none of the officers concerned is capable of efficiently performing the duties of the office‑disallow the appeal or appeals and the relevant authority shall cancel the promotion.

A Promotions Appeal Board shall refuse to consider or further consider an appeal if each member of the Board is satisfied that the appeal is frivolous or vexatious or was not made in good faith.

Where a Promotions Appeal Board refuses to consider or further consider an appeal, the appeal shall thereupon be deemed to have been withdrawn.

Where an appeal is allowed, the relevant authority shall cancel the provisional promotion and promote the appellant to the vacant position.

Where, in respect of a provisional promotion, no appeal is duly made or an appeal has, or appeals have, been duly made but the appeal, or each of the appeals, has been disallowed or has become inoperative, the relevant authority shall confirm the provisional promotion.

If, after notification has been made of a provisional promotion to a vacant position but before the promotion has been confirmed, the relevant authority is satisfied that the position is unnecessary or can be filled by the transfer of an excess officer, or that the notification or further notification of the vacancy in the position is desirable, the relevant authority may cancel the provisional promotion.

The relevant authority may cancel a provisional promotion in accordance with the last preceding subsection whether or not there has been an appeal against the provisional promotion, and, where the relevant authority so cancels a provisional promotion, any appeal proceedings in respect of the promotion shall be discontinued.

For the purposes of this section, an appeal shall be taken to become inoperative if:

the appeal is withdrawn;

the appellant ceases to be an officer; or

the appellant ceases, by reason of the confirmation of his promotion to another position or for any other reason, to be eligible for promotion to the position concerned.