Public Sector Regulations 2025

These regulations may be cited as the

Public Sector

Regulations 2025.

These regulations come into operation on the day on which they are made.

In these regulations—

Act means the Public Sector Act 2009;

effective service has the same meaning as in

Schedule 1 clause 7 of the Act.

An employee's substantive remuneration level is—

if the employee is currently a term employee or casual employee of a public sector agency but has a right to return to duties as an ongoing employee of a public sector agency (whether the same or a different agency)—the remuneration level applicable to the employee as an ongoing employee under the right of return; or

if the employee is currently a term or casual employee of a public sector agency but has a right of return to duties as a term employee of a public sector agency (whether the same or a different agency)—the remuneration level applicable to the employee as a term employee under the right of return; or

in any other case—the remuneration level currently applicable to the employee.

If there is no determination of the Commissioner under the Act that is applicable to an employee, the remuneration level of the employee is to be determined according to any applicable award or agreement under an industrial relations law.

This regulation applies to the movement of employees within the public sector in cases where—

an ongoing employee of a public sector agency (the home agency) accepts an offer of, or is transferred to, term or casual employment in another public sector agency (the receiving agency); or

a term employee of a public sector agency (the home agency) accepts an offer of, or is transferred to, term or casual employment in another public sector agency (the receiving agency) for a period that is shorter than the term of engagement with the home agency.

The employee is to transfer to the receiving agency with a right to return to the home agency (a temporary transfer).

An employee may not exercise the right to return to the home agency earlier than the end of a term of engagement with a receiving agency except with the agreement of the home agency.

If an employee has been absent from a home agency for more than

2 years (or, instead, such other period agreed by the home agency and receiving agency) under a temporary transfer, the home agency may, by notice in writing, require the employee to make an election to return to the employment of the home agency on or before a specified date, or a date agreed to by the home agency, or lose the right to return to the home agency.

If the employee does not make an election within a period (of at least 28 days) allowed in the notice or does not return to the home agency in accordance with an election, the employee will be taken to have lost the right to return to the home agency.

If the employee makes an election within the period allowed in the notice to return to the home agency, the temporary transfer will end on the date specified or agreed to by the home agency with the result that the employee returns then to the employment of the home agency.

A receiving agency must notify the home agency in writing (or in some other form approved by the home agency) if—

the employee ceases to be employed by the agency; or

the term of engagement of the employee by the agency is extended;

or

the basis of engagement of the employee by the agency is changed;

or

there is any other change in the employee's employment or circumstances that might affect the employee's return to the home agency.

When an employee returns to the employment of a home agency—

the basis on which the employee is engaged by the home agency is to be the same as before the temporary transfer; and

the employee is to be assigned duties by the home agency (although, subject to any agreement with the employee to the contrary, the duties may be different to the duties of the employee before the temporary transfer).

The chief executive or principal officer of a public sector agency—

may determine that this regulation is not to apply in relation to a specified area of the agency's operations (as a home agency) if satisfied that the determination is warranted in the circumstances having regard to the urgency or significance of the operations; and

may vary or revoke such a determination; and

must ensure that employees affected by a determination are aware of the determination and its effect.

The chief executive or principal officer may not delegate the power to make, vary or revoke a determination under subregulation (9).

A public sector agency must report to the Commissioner the making, variation or revocation of any determinations under subregulation (9) (providing details of the circumstances warranting the determinations) within 1 month after the end of the financial year in which they were made, varied or revoked.

A public sector agency's annual report to the agency's Minister must contain information (including relevant statistics) with respect to the following:

the functions and objectives of the agency;

the legislation administered by the agency;

the organisation of the agency;

the agency's relationship to other agencies within the Minister's area of responsibility;

the agency's operations and initiatives (including an assessment of their effectiveness and efficiency);

the agency's strategic plans and the relationship of the plans to

Government objectives;

executive employment in the agency;

employment opportunity programs;

the agency's performance management and development systems (including an assessment of their effectiveness and efficiency);

the number of instances and nature of fraud detected in the agency and the strategies implemented to control and prevent fraud;

the number of occasions on which public interest information has been disclosed to a responsible officer of the agency under the

Public Interest Disclosure

Act 2018;

the financial performance of the agency including—

audited financial statements prepared in accordance with the

Treasurer's instructions and the report of the Auditor‑General on the financial statements; and

any other financial information in respect of the agency's operations required to be reported to Parliament under another

Act;

the work health, safety and rehabilitation programs of the agency (including an evaluation of the programs and their effectiveness);

the extent to which external consultants have been engaged by the agency, the nature of the work undertaken by the consultants and the total cost to the agency of the consultancies.

For the purposes of section 12B(8) of the Act, a report prepared under that section must be in writing.

The Commissioner must cause the public sector code of conduct, and each variation of the code, to be published on the Internet and in the Gazette and must cause a consolidated copy of the code to be published on the Internet and made available for inspection at the Commissioner's office.

In this regulation, a reference to an enterprise agreement includes a reference to all industrial instruments made in substitution for that agreement.

For the purposes of subregulation (1), an industrial instrument will be taken to have been made in substitution for an enterprise agreement irrespective of whether the later instrument covers all employees bound by the earlier instrument.

Subject to subregulation (4) and without limiting the operation of subregulation (5), public sector employment outside the Public Service to which Part 7 of the Act applies is employment to which section 16 of the Act applies.

A determination of the Commissioner applies to employment by virtue of the operation of subregulation (3) only to the extent that the determination is relevant to the application of the provisions of Part 7 of the Act that apply to the employment and, if those provisions are modified in their application to the employment, to the extent that the determination is relevant to the application of those provisions as so modified.

In addition to the operation of subregulations (3) and (4), public sector employment outside the Public Service that is covered by the South Australian Public Sector Enterprise Agreement: Salaried 2021 is employment to which section 16 of the Act applies.

A determination of the Commissioner applies to employment by virtue of the operation of subregulation (5) only to the extent that the determination is relevant to—

the management of excess employees; or

special leave with pay.

In addition to the operation of subregulations (3) and (4), public sector employment outside the Public Service that is covered by the ForestrySA Enterprise Agreement 2023 is employment to which section 16 of the Act applies.

A determination of the Commissioner applies to employment by virtue of the operation of subregulation (7) only to the extent that the determination is relevant to the management of excess employees.

In addition to the operation of the other provisions of this regulation, but subject to subregulation (10), all public sector employment outside the Public Service is employment to which section 16 of the Act applies.

A determination of the Commissioner applies to employment by virtue of the operation of subregulation (9) only to the extent that the determination relates to special leave with pay and is relevant to domestic/family violence leave.

A determination of the Commissioner under section 16 of the

Act must be published as follows:

the Commissioner must distribute copies of the determination to the public sector agencies that the Commissioner considers may be affected by the determination;

the public sector agency must, on receipt of a determination, take reasonable steps to—

make the contents of the determination known to all employees of the agency who are affected by the determination; and

keep copies of the determination readily available for inspection by any such employee.

The Commissioner's annual report to the Minister must include information with respect to the following:

the issuing by the Commissioner of—

variations or substitutions of the public sector code of conduct;

and

public sector employment determinations; and

guidelines relating to public sector employment matters, during the financial year to which the report relates;

the number of occasions on which public interest information has been disclosed to the Commissioner under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2018 during the financial year to which the report relates.