Keypoints

The following advice is provided to departments and agencies relating to the role and employment conditions of Department Liaison Officers (DLOs).

To help ensure a cooperative and professional relationship between the Minister’s office and a department/agency within the Minister’s portfolio, the Minister may request that the department/agency head assign a DLO to the Minister’s office.

The role of the DLO is to provide the Minister’s office with a readily accessible source of knowledge and skills regarding the operations of the department/agency within the Minister’s portfolio.

The following guidelines apply to the assignment of DLOs to Ministers’ offices:

• DLOs are distinguishable from other staff of Ministers’ offices in terms of their employer and their status as public employees. DLOs remain officers/employees of their home department/agency, and remain on the payroll of that department/agency.
• While DLOs may assist Ministers to achieve their policy objectives without breaching the provisions of DPC’s Code of Conduct regarding political neutrality and impartiality, they need to avoid work situations that involve party political activities.
• DLOs may be identified by departments/agencies having regard to specialised skills, knowledge and experience, or may be selected competitively through an internal EOI process. External recruitment of DLOs by departments/agencies needs to be in accordance with normal recruitment practice. Department/agency heads need to be satisfied that officers/employees proposed for assignment as DLOs have the skills, knowledge and experience needed to perform the role.
• Before commencing assignments as DLOs, officers/employees need to be advised of, and accept, in writing, the terms and conditions applying to assignments, e.g., pay rate, employment status, end date. Advice to permanent department/agency staff accepting a DLO assignment needs to include that at the end of the assignment they will return at the same grade as they held prior to the assignment.
• The duration of DLO assignments usually should not exceed 18 months, but longer assignments may be approved by the department/agency head where a specific need is identified and recorded.
• DLOs may be assigned to perform administrative support roles, agency contact roles, or specialist adviser roles. For day-to-day management purposes, DLOs are supervised by the Minister’s Chief of Staff.
• DLOs are bound by the Department of Premier and Cabinet Code of Conduct during their assignments to Ministers’ offices.
• During assignments in Ministers’ offices, DLOs are not to be issued with agency credit cards and are not to exercise any agency financial delegations.
• Employee-related costs of DLOs are to be met from the budgets of home departments/agencies. Other costs, e.g., transport and accommodation for official business, are to be met from Ministers’ office budgets.
• The Director General, Department of Premier and Cabinet, must be notified of all DLO assignments. Notifications must include commencement date, employment status, salary and end date. In the exceptional circumstances where a DLO appointment exceeds 18 months, the Director General, Department of Premier and Cabinet must be notified. Nominees must be accredited by the Department of Premier and Cabinet before commencement.

Brendan O’Reilly
Director General