Code of Conduct - Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment

More documents

Recommendations

Info

legislative requirements, Government policy or a supervisor's directions,together with considerations of equity and efficiency.Contact with Minister and ministerial staff10.4. Contact between a Minister and ministerial staff is normally with the ChiefExecutive Officer. Where a Minister or ministerial staff member contacts anemployee directly, the employee must advise his or her Chief Executive Officerof the contact as soon as possible.11. Relationships between Public Sector Officers and Members of the LegislativeAssembly11.1. Contact by Members of the Legislative Assembly who are not Ministers willusually be to make representations on behalf of a constituent or by a Memberof the Opposition in relation to their duties as Opposition spokesperson onGovernment activities.Representations on behalf of a constituent11.2. Constituent representations must be channelled to, and/or received by, anappropriately senior Public Sector Officer who has responsibility for the subjectmatter of the representation.11.3. Written responses should, where possible, be cleared by a Chief ExecutiveOfficer prior to dispatch.11.4. Where an oral response is given, a Public Sector Officer shall ensure that alldue care is exercised in providing that response, particularly where the contentof the information is likely to be sensitive or constitute other than factualmaterial which is readily available elsewhere.11.5. If a Public Sector Officer is in any doubt about releasing information, the adviceof his or her Chief Executive Officer should be sought.11.6. Representations by Members of the Legislative Assembly do not confer anyprivilege or priority in dealings with agencies. In addition, a Public SectorOfficer responsible for providing responses must, when contemplating releaseof such material, be mindful of legislation concerning the security, confidentialityor protocol governing certain categories of information.Representation from an Opposition Spokesperson11.7. Opposition Spokespersons normally contact the Minister with portfolioresponsibility.11.8. In the absence of the Minister, the Spokesperson may contact a ChiefExecutive Officer. If a Spokesperson contacts a Public Sector Officer, anyEI No 12 Code of Conduct Page 4
equest must be referred back to his or her Chief Executive Officer forinstructions prior to a written or oral response being provided.11.9. Further, it should be noted that Opposition Spokespersons do not have a rightto access agency files and are not entitled, by virtue of their office, to beprovided with written or oral information regarding future or proposed policies orstrategies.12. Relationship between Public Sector Officers of the Legislative Assembly andMembers of the Legislative Assembly12.1. For Public Sector Officers of the Department of the Legislative Assembly thissection takes precedence over any other sections in the Code which relate tocontact with Ministers and Ministerial staff, and relationships with Members of theLegislative Assembly.12.2. Public Sector Officers of the Department of Legislative Assembly must:a) provide professional advice and support for the Parliament independently of theExecutive Government of the Northern Territory;b) provide non-partisan and impartial advice and services to the Parliament,parliamentary committees and to all Members of the Legislative Assembly; andc) maintain appropriate confidentiality about dealings with the Parliament, withparliamentary committees and with Members of the Legislative Assembly.13. Public commentMeaning of public comment13.1. "Public comment" includes public speaking engagements (including commentson radio and television), expressing views in a letter to the press or in books orin notices, or „online‟ (e.g. social networking sites), and any other commentmade in circumstances where it is reasonably foreseeable that publication orcirculation of the comment will flow to the community at large.Public comment on Government matters13.2. Except where required by law, or as authorised by the responsible ChiefExecutive Officer, a Public Sector Officer must not make public comment onGovernment matters in an official capacity.13.3. If authorised by the Chief Executive Officer, comments made by a Public SectorOfficer must be confined to factual information and must not, as far as possible,express an opinion on official policy or practice unless required to do by thecircumstances of the particular situation, e.g. when asked to do so in court.EI No 12 Code of Conduct Page 5
Page 1 and 2: CODE OF CONDUCTEmployment Instructi
Page 3: c) commit time and energy to furthe
Page 7 and 8: Integrity and security of documents
Page 9 and 10: whether the Public Sector Officer b
Page 11 and 12: Note:Normal working hours for a Pub
Page 13 and 14: a) ensure that the legislation unde

Code of Conduct - Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?