Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1973

Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1973

This Act may be cited as the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1973.

This Act shall commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears –

accumulation scheme means the default fund, within the meaning of the Public Sector Superannuation Reform Act 2016, in relation to which the Director is a relevant employee within the meaning of section 21 of that Act;

complying superannuation scheme means a complying superannuation fund as provided by the law of the Commonwealth;

contributory scheme has the same meaning as in the Public Sector Superannuation Reform Act 2016;

Director means the person for the time being holding, or acting in, the office of Director of Public Prosecutions established by section 3(1);

practitioner means an Australian legal practitioner;

RSA means a Retirement Savings Account within the meaning of the Retirement Savings Accounts Act 1997 of the Commonwealth;

Secretary means the Secretary of the Department;

spouse includes the person with whom a person is, or was at the time of his or her death, in a significant relationship, within the meaning of the Relationships Act 2003;

There shall be a Director of Public Prosecutions in and for the State.

The Director is a Crown Law Officer for the purposes of the Criminal Code.

The Governor may appoint a person as Director.

A person is not eligible for appointment as Director unless he or she is an Australian lawyer of not less than 7 years' standing as a practitioner and either – he or she has not previously been appointed under subsection (1) as Director; or he or she has previously been appointed under subsection (1) as Director and section 5(2) applies in relation to his or her appointment.

The State Service Act 2000 does not apply to the office of Director of Public Prosecutions or to a person holding that office.

Subject to this Act, a person appointed as Director holds office for a period of 10 years.

Despite subsection (1), a person who has previously been appointed as Director may be appointed as Director for a further period, of not more than 10 years, that is specified in the instrument of appointment and is to begin immediately after the term of his or her previous appointment ends.

A person appointed as Director holds office on the terms and conditions, not inconsistent with this Act, that the Governor from time to time determines.

For the period 26 June 1995 to 30 September 1996, both days inclusive, the Director is to be paid a salary at the rate of 90% of the salary payable to a puisne judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania for the same period.

After 30 September 1996, the Director is to be paid a salary equivalent to the salary payable to a puisne judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania.

Notwithstanding subsection (2), the Director may elect, in writing to the Secretary, at any time but not more than once in a period of one year, that the salary determined in accordance with subsection (2) may be provided – in part by the payment of salary to the Director; and in part by the payment of employer superannuation contributions to an RSA or a complying superannuation scheme, which may include the accumulation scheme.

If the Director elects to sacrifice some or all of his or her salary under subsection (2A) – the election has effect from the date of the election or from a later date specified in the election for that purpose; and the Director is taken, for any purpose related to superannuation, to have received the salary determined in accordance with subsection (2), notwithstanding the salary sacrifice.

The Director is entitled to be paid out of the Public Account.

The Public Account is appropriated to the extent necessary for the purposes of subsection (3).

In addition to the salary prescribed in this Act, the Director is entitled to be paid such travelling allowances and other allowances as the Governor determines, and, until the Governor makes a determination under this subsection, is entitled to be paid the same travelling allowances and other allowances as are applicable to the Head of a State Service Agency.

An allowance that is payable to the Director by virtue of subsection (1) is payable out of the Public Account (which, to the necessary extent, is appropriated accordingly).

The Director is a worker for the purposes of the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 and the Asbestos-Related Diseases (Occupational Exposure) Compensation Act 2011.

The Director is entitled to the same leave of absence for recreation or on account of sickness as if he were a State Service officer or State Service employee.

The Director is an employee for the purposes of the Long Service Leave (State Employees) Act 1994.

This section applies only to the person who was the Director on 1 July 1999.

Subject to this section, the Judges' Contributory Pensions Act 1968 applies to the Director and, if he predeceases his spouse, his widow as if he were, or had been, a judge to whom that Act applies and as if his service as Director were service as such a judge.

In its application to the Director and to his widow– subsection (2) of section 5 of the Judges' Contributory Pensions Act 1968 has effect as if the reference therein to the appropriate judicial salary were a reference to the salary payable to the Director at the time of his or her retirement or death; and section 7 of that Act has effect as if subsection (3) were omitted and the following subsection were substituted:In this section, a reference to the appropriate judicial salary, in relation to a pension payable in respect of contributions paid by a person who, immediately before that person became entitled to a pension under this Act or at that person's death, was the Director of Public Prosecutions, is a reference to the salary for the time being required by law to be paid to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The application of sections 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D of the Judges' Contributory Pensions Act 1968 extends to the commutation of a pension payable under this Act by the Director or, if he predeceases his spouse, his widow, as if references in those sections to a person to whom that Act applies were read as references to the Director.

A person appointed as Director after 1 July 1999 is an employee for the purposes of the Public Sector Superannuation Reform Act 2016.

A person holding the office of Director vacates the office – at the end of the term of his or her appointment; or on his or her resignation from that office under subsection (2); or on the revocation of his or her appointment to the office under section 9F(2)(b).

A person holding the office of Director may at any time resign his or her office by notice in writing delivered to the Governor.