Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003

i Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 S.R. No. 12/2003 TABLE OF PROVISIONS Regulation Page 1. Objective 1 2. Authorising provision 1 3. Commencement 1 4. Revocation 1 5. Definitions 2 6. Residential allowance—second residence in Melbourne 3 7. Travelling allowances—general conditions of eligibility to apply to regulations 8 to 12 5 8. Travelling allowance for an overnight stay in Melbourne 5 9. Travelling allowance for an overnight stay outside Melbourne 5 10. Travelling allowance for 6 hour attendance in Melbourne 6 11. Travelling allowance for 6 hour attendance outside Melbourne 7 12. Travelling allowance for spouse 8 13. Travelling allowance—taxi from Parliament to home base 9 14. Travelling allowance for an overnight stay within a Member's electorate 9 15. Electorate allowance 9 16. Allowance for use of transport for the service of an electorate 10 17. Additional electorate allowance 11 __________________ SCHEDULES 12 SCHEDULE 1—Electorates of less than 500 square kilometres 12 SCHEDULE 2—Electorates of 500 square kilometres or more but less than 5000 square kilometres 14 SCHEDULE 3—Electorates of 5000 square kilometres or more but less than 10 000 square kilometres 15 -- 1 of 20 -- Regulation Page ii SCHEDULE 4—Electorates of 10 000 square kilometres or more but less than 20 000 square kilometres 16 SCHEDULE 5—Electorates of 20 000 square kilometres or more 17 ═══════════════ ENDNOTES 18 -- 2 of 20 -- 1 STATUTORY RULES 2003 S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Salaries and Superannuation Act 1968 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 The Governor in Council makes the following Regulations: Dated: 29 January 2003 Responsible Minister: STEVE BRACKS Premier HELEN DOYE Clerk of the Executive Council 1. Objective The objective of these Regulations is to provide for residential, travelling and electorate allowances payable to members of Parliament. 2. Authorising provision These Regulations are made under section 8 of the Parliamentary Salaries and Superannuation Act 1968. 3. Commencement These Regulations come into operation on 1 February 2003. 4. Revocation The Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 19921 are revoked. -- 3 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 2 5. Definitions In these Regulations— "capital city" means Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart; "home base" means the principal place of residence of a member; "Melbourne" means the area lying within a radius of 28 kilometres from the Melbourne Post Office; "Melbourne housing group index number" means the Melbourne housing group index for Melbourne contained in the Consumer Price Index published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and based on the 1989–90 reference base; "Melbourne Post Office" means the post office at, or near to, the corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets, Melbourne; "member" means member of the Parliament of Victoria; "office-holder" means the President, Speaker, Chairman of Committees in the Legislative Council, Chairman of Committees in the Legislative Assembly, Parliamentary Secretary of the Cabinet, Leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council and Leader of the Third Party; "official government function" means a State Reception attended by formal invitation issued by the Protocol and Special Events Branch of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet; r. 5 -- 4 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 3 "Parliamentary function" means a function attended by formal invitation issued by the President or Speaker, or jointly by the President and Speaker, and paid for from funds appropriated by the Parliament; "vice-regal function" means a function attended by formal invitation of the Governor of Victoria; "Rate A" means the daily rate of $168.60; "Rate B" means the daily rate of $107.25; "Rate C" means the daily rate of $107.90; "second residence" means a house or flat wholly maintained by the Premier, Deputy Premier, a Minister of the Crown, an office-holder or a member for a period not less than the sum of the number of sitting days of his or her House of Parliament in a calendar year, and in respect of which an allowance is paid under regulation 6. 6. Residential allowance—second residence in Melbourne (1) A member is entitled to a residential allowance if a second residence is maintained by the member in Melbourne and— (a) the member's home base is outside a radius of 80 kilometres from the Melbourne Post Office; or (b) the member's home base is outside a radius of 28 kilometres and within a radius of 80 kilometres from the Melbourne Post Office and the member satisfies the Clerk of his or her House that the shortest route by road between the member's home base and the Melbourne Post Office exceeds 80 kilometres. r. 6 -- 5 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 4 (2) The residential allowance is to be— (a) at the rate of $25 537 per annum for the Premier; or (b) at the rate of $22 344 per annum for the Deputy Premier; or (c) at the rate of $19 151 per annum for a Minister of the Crown or an office-holder; or (d) at the rate of $12 768 per annum for a member not referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c). (3) The level of the residential allowance is to be varied in accordance with the formula R × A/B but can only be varied— (a) in the first year beginning 1 July following the end of the designated quarter; and (b) in each subsequent year beginning 1 July. (4) In this regulation— "quarter" refers to that 3 month period of a year as designated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and used for the purpose of publishing statistical information; "designated quarter" means the quarter at the end of which the Melbourne housing group index number is equal to or exceeds 130.04; "R" means the relevant prescribed residential allowance specified in sub-regulation (2); "A" is the Melbourne housing group index number for the quarter ending on the preceding 30 June; "B" is 130.04. r. 6 -- 6 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 5 7. Travelling allowances—general conditions of eligibility to apply to regulations 8 to 12 (1) A member is entitled to the travelling allowances set out in regulations 8 to 12 for attendances occasioned by sittings of the member's House of Parliament or official government, Parliamentary or vice-regal functions. (2) In addition to any entitlement under sub- regulation (1), a member who is the Premier, Deputy Premier, Minister of the Crown, office- holder, Deputy Leader of the Third Party or Leader of the Third Party in the Legislative Council is entitled to the allowances under regulations 8, 9, 11 and 12 for official business resulting from the office held. 8. Travelling allowance for an overnight stay in Melbourne (1) Subject to regulation 7, a member whose home base is outside Melbourne is entitled to a travelling allowance for an overnight stay in Melbourne if the member does not receive a residential allowance under regulation 6. (2) The level of the allowance referred to in sub-regulation (1) is Rate C for each overnight stay. 9. Travelling allowance for an overnight stay outside Melbourne (1) Subject to regulation 7, a member is entitled to a travelling allowance for each overnight stay within Australia other than in Melbourne. (2) The level of the travelling allowance referred to in sub-regulation (1) for each overnight stay varies according to the location of the stay and the office held by the member as shown in Table B. r. 7 -- 7 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 6 Table B—Travelling allowance for an overnight stay outside Melbourne Office Location of Stay Level of Allowance Premier Capital City 1⋅75 × Rate A Deputy Premier, Minister Capital City 1⋅5 × Rate A Office- holder Capital City 1⋅5 × Rate A Member Capital City Rate A Premier Outside Melbourne but not a Capital City 1⋅75 × Rate B Deputy Premier, Minister Outside Melbourne but not a Capital City 1⋅5 × Rate B Office- holder Outside Melbourne but not a Capital City 1⋅5 × Rate B Member Outside Melbourne but not a Capital City Rate B 10. Travelling allowance for 6 hour attendance in Melbourne Subject to regulation 7, a member (other than the Premier, the Deputy Premier, a Minister of the Crown or an office holder) is entitled to a travelling allowance of $28.12 per day if— (a) the member is absent from the member's home base or second residence, including a home base or second residence in Melbourne, for the purposes of an attendance in Melbourne; and (b) the duration of the attendance is 6 hours or more. r. 10 -- 8 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 7 11. Travelling allowance for 6 hour attendance outside Melbourne (1) Subject to regulation 7, a member is entitled to a daily travelling allowance for attendance outside Melbourne at the rate set out in Table C if— (a) the member's home base or second residence is in Melbourne; and (b) the member's absence for the purpose of the attendance— (i) has a duration of 6 hours or more but does not occasion an overnight stay; or (ii) does not involve a second or subsequent overnight stay, but exceeds by 6 hours a period of 24 hours. (2) The payment of the travelling allowance under this regulation is in addition to any travelling allowance under regulation 9 for any 6 hour period in excess of the 24 hour period in which the overnight stay occurred. (3) The level of the allowance varies according to the location of attendance and is set out in Table C. Table C—Travelling allowance for 6 hour attendance outside Melbourne Office Location of Stay Level of Allowance Premier Capital City One third of Rate A Deputy Premier, Minister Capital City One third of Rate A Office-holder Capital City One third of Rate A Member Capital City One third of Rate A r. 11 -- 9 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 8 Office Location of Stay Level of Allowance Premier Outside Melbourne but not a Capital City One third of Rate B Deputy Premier, Minister Outside Melbourne but not a Capital City One third of Rate B Office-holder Outside Melbourne but not a Capital City One third of Rate B Member Outside Melbourne but not a Capital City One third of Rate B 12. Travelling allowance for spouse (1) Subject to regulation 7 and sub-regulation (3), the Premier, Deputy Premier, Minister of the Crown or an office-holder is entitled to a travelling allowance when, with the approval of the Premier, he or she is accompanied by his or her spouse at government expense and an overnight stay anywhere within Australia is involved. (2) A travelling allowance under this regulation is equal the value of the added cost of double room over single room accommodation. (3) There is no entitlement to a travelling allowance under this regulation if the home base of the Premier, Deputy Premier, Minister of the Crown or office-holder is in Melbourne and the official business is performed in Melbourne. r. 12 -- 10 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 9 13. Travelling allowance—taxi from Parliament to home base (1) A member whose home base is in Melbourne is entitled to a travelling allowance for travel by taxi from Parliament House to the member's home base when a sitting of the member's House of Parliament has extended beyond 11.00 p.m. (2) An allowance under this regulation is equal to the value of any expenses actually and reasonably incurred by the member. 14. Travelling allowance for an overnight stay within a Member's electorate (1) Subject to sub-regulation (2), a member is entitled to an allowance at Rate B if, for functions or activities which arise as a consequence of the member carrying out the member's parliamentary responsibilities and duties— (a) the member is required to stay overnight within the member's electorate; and (b) the location of the stay is 150 kilometres or more from the member's home base. (2) A member is only entitled to an allowance under this regulation for not more than 20 overnight stays within each financial year. 15. Electorate allowance (1) A member is entitled to an electorate allowance— (a) at the rate of $19 076 per annum for an electorate described in Schedule 1; or (b) at the rate of $21 443 per annum for an electorate described in Schedule 2; or (c) at the rate of $27 638 per annum for an electorate described in Schedule 3, 4 or 5. r. 13 -- 11 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 10 (2) The electorate allowance varies by the same percentage and from the same date as does the electorate allowance which is payable under the law of the Commonwealth to senators and members of the House of Representatives who are not provided with a private vehicle. 16. Allowance for use of transport for the service of an electorate (1) Subject to sub-regulation (3), a member for an electorate described in Schedule 4 or 5 is entitled to an allowance for the member's use of transport for the service of the electorate. (2) An allowance under this regulation is equal to the value of any expenses actually and reasonably incurred for the member's use of transport for the service of the member's electorate as determined by the Presiding Officer of the member's House. (3) The total of the allowances under this regulation to be paid to a member during a financial year must not exceed— (a) in relation to a member whose electorate is listed in Schedule 4—$3561 as varied in accordance with sub-regulation (4); (b) in relation to a member whose electorate is listed in Schedule 5—$7128 as varied in accordance with sub-regulation (4). (4) The maximum amounts set by sub-regulation (3) vary by the same percentage and from the same date as does the charter aircraft entitlement which is payable under the law of the Commonwealth to members of the House of Representatives who represent the smallest sized electorates. r. 16 -- 12 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 11 17. Additional electorate allowance A member is entitled to an amount equal to 75% of the actual cost incurred for telephone calls or faxes (other than for international calls or faxes) charged to a telephone provided by the member, in the member's private residence, provided that the member is not provided with a telephone extension at government expense from the member's electorate office to the member's residence. __________________ r. 17 -- 13 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 12 SCHEDULES SCHEDULE 1 ELECTORATES OF LESS THAN 500 SQUARE KILOMETRES (a) The following Electoral Districts as notified in the Special Government Gazette of 4 October 2001 as required under the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act 1982— Albert Park Altona Ballarat West Bayswater Bellarine Bentleigh Box Hill Brighton Broadmeadows Brunswick Bulleen Bundoora Burwood Carrum Caulfield Clayton Cranbourne Dandenong Derrimut Doncaster Eltham Essendon Evelyn Ferntree Gully Footscray Forest Hill Geelong Frankston Hawthorn Ivanhoe Keilor Kew Kilsyth Kororoit Lyndhurst Malvern Melbourne Mill Park Mitcham Monbulk Mordialloc Mornington Mount Waverley Mulgrave Narre Warren North Narre Warren South Nepean Niddrie Northcote Oakleigh Pascoe Vale Prahran Preston Richmond Sandringham Scoresby Tarneit Thomastown Warrandyte Williamstown Yuroke Sch. 1 -- 14 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 13 (b) The following Electoral Provinces as notified in the Special Government Gazette of 4 October 2001 as required under the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act 1982— Chelsea Melbourne West Doutta Galla Monash East Yarra Koonung Higinbotham Silvan Jika Jika Templestowe Melbourne Waverley Melbourne North __________________ Sch. 1 -- 15 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 14 SCHEDULE 2 ELECTORATES OF 500 SQUARE KILOMETRES OR MORE BUT LESS THAN 5000 SQUARE KILOMETRES (a) The following Electoral Districts as notified in the Special Government Gazette of 4 October 2001 as required under the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act 1982— Ballarat East Macedon Bass Melton Bendigo East Morwell Bendigo West Narracan Gembrook Shepparton Hastings South Barwon Lara Yan Yean (b) The following Electoral Provinces as notified in the Special Government Gazette of 4 October 2001 as required under the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act 1982— Eumemmerring Geelong Western Port __________________ Sch. 2 -- 16 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 15 SCHEDULE 3 ELECTORATES OF 5000 SQUARE KILOMETRES OR MORE BUT LESS THAN 10 000 SQUARE KILOMETRES (a) The following Electoral Districts as notified in the Special Government Gazette of 4 October 2001 as required under the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act 1982— Benambra Rodney Gippsland South Seymour Murray Valley South-West Coast (b) The following Electoral Province as notified in the Special Government Gazette of 4 October 2001 as required under the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act 1982— Ballarat __________________ Sch. 3 -- 17 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 16 SCHEDULE 4 ELECTORATES OF 10 000 SQUARE KILOMETRES OR MORE BUT LESS THAN 20 000 SQUARE KILOMETRES The following Electoral Districts as notified in the Special Government Gazette of 4 October 2001 as required under the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act 1982— Benalla Polwarth Ripon __________________ Sch. 4 -- 18 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 17 SCHEDULE 5 ELECTORATES OF 20 000 SQUARE KILOMETRES OR MORE (a) The following Electoral Districts as notified in the Special Government Gazette of 4 October 2001 as required under the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act 1982— Gippsland East Lowan Mildura Swan Hill (b) The following Electoral Provinces as notified in the Government Gazette of 4 October 2001 as required under the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act 1982— Central Highlands Gippsland North Eastern North Western Western ═══════════════ Sch. 5 -- 19 of 20 -- S.R. No. 12/2003 Parliamentary Allowances Regulations 2003 18 ENDNOTES 1 Reg. 4: S.R. No. 183/1992. Reprint No. 1 as at 27 August 1998. Endnotes -- 20 of 20 --