Introduction
The Parliamentary Service was established with the commencement of the Parliamentary Service Act 1999 on 5 December 1999.
The President of the Senate, Senator the Hon John Hogg, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Hon Bronwyn Bishop MP, were the Presiding Officers of the Parliament as at 30 June 2014. Mrs Bishop MP was elected as Speaker on 12 November 2013, replacing Ms Anna Burke MP. Senator Hogg retired as a senator with effect from 30 June 2014 but remained as the President of the Senate until a new President of the Senate, Senator the Hon Stephen Parry, was elected on 7 July 2014.
In addition to their procedural roles in the Chambers, the Presiding Officers are responsible for the operation and administration of the four parliamentary departments which comprise the Parliamentary Service. They have individual responsibility, respectively, for the Department of the Senate and the Department of the House of Representatives and joint responsibility for the Parliamentary Budget Office and the Department of Parliamentary Services.
The role of the Presiding Officers in relation to the parliamentary departments is similar, but not identical, to that of a Minister administering an executive department.
Mr Stephen Sedgwick AO, FIPAA is the Parliamentary Service Commissioner (Commissioner). Mr Sedgwick's appointment is to 13 December 2014. He also holds the office of Australian Public Service Commissioner until that date.
Ms Annwyn Godwin is the Parliamentary Service Merit Protection Commissioner (Merit Protection Commissioner). Ms Godwin's appointment is to 24 January 2018. She also holds the office of Merit Protection Commissioner in the Australian Public Service (APS) concurrently.
The Presiding Officers have in place a standing acting arrangement that applies when the Commissioner or the Merit Protection Commissioner are absent or there are vacancies in their offices or they are, for any reason, unable to perform the duties of their offices. These circumstances will usually occur in conjunction with similar circumstances in the respective offices in the APS. Under the standing arrangement, a person acting in either of the APS offices is also appointed to act in the relevant Parliamentary Service office.
There are no specific appropriations for the offices of the Commissioner and the Merit Protection Commissioner.
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