The Minister may request that the head of a government sector agency within the Minister’s portfolio assign a DLO to the Minister’s office. The agency head (or their delegate) is the decision-maker in relation to the assignment.

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 government sector agency or agencies within the Minister’s portfolio area/s.

DLOs are primarily assigned to perform agency contact roles supporting the relationship and communication between the agency and the Minister’s office. DLOs may also be assigned to perform specialist advisory roles where they must remain politically neutral and to give advice regarding agency policy and procedures. DLOs may also be assigned to perform administrative roles to support communication between the agency and the Minister’s office. The DLO’s role should be agreed between the Minister and the agency head prior to commencement, noting it is the agency head (or their delegate) who makes the final decision in relation to the DLO assignment and consideration must be given to any potential or perceived conflict of interest of the assignment of the DLO.  

DLOs are not members of a Minister’s staff. A DLO must be an employee (either temporary or ongoing) of the agency from which they are assigned. DLOs remain employees of their home agency under their agency terms and conditions of employment and are subject to their home agency’s code of conduct and the Code of Ethics and Conduct for NSW Government Sector employees. An agency contractor cannot serve as a DLO.

DLO assignments should not be confused with secondments of employees under clause 35 of the Government Sector Employment Regulation 2014. The key difference between a DLO assignment and a clause 35 secondment is that DLOs must remain politically neutral and impartial in the performance of their duties, whereas clause 35 secondees are subject to the conditions applying to the members of the political office holder’s staff under Part 2 of the Members of Parliament Staff Act 2013 and are not part of the government service while on secondment. Accordingly, these staff are not required to remain politically neutral and impartial in the performance of their duties while on secondment.

Guidelines for the assignment of DLOs

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

Assignment process

• The decision to assign a DLO is made by the head of the DLO’s home agency. Under the Government Sector Employment Act 2013, the head of a Public Service agency is not subject to the direction or control of a Minister when making this decision.

• The decision to assign a DLO should be based on an assessment of the capabilities, knowledge and experience of the person concerned against the pre-established standards for the role, in accordance with the relevant employment framework applying to the government sector agency. This should include an assessment as to whether the person being considered is capable of being impartial and politically neutral in the role.

• Commencing DLOs should be advised by the home agency in writing and accept the terms and conditions applying to the assignment (for example, pay rate, employment status and end date).

Length of assignment

• DLO assignments are temporary and should generally be between 12-18 months. Assignments (including any extensions) must not exceed two years.  This allows for two DLO rotations in a typical parliamentary term, helping to ensure DLOs remain politically neutral and impartial while also providing sufficient time for a DLO to become familiar with the role and operate with a high level of competence.

• At the completion of a DLO assignment, ongoing agency staff return to a role in their agency at the same grade as they held prior to the assignment.

Payroll/administrative arrangements

• Payroll and leave administration for DLOs will be provided by the home agency, with leave and other matters affecting the performance of the DLO role considered in consultation with the Minister’s office.

• Employee-related costs of DLOs are to be met from the budgets of home agencies. Other costs, for example, mobile telephone, office equipment, transport and accommodation for official business, are to be met from Ministers’ office budgets. This does not preclude a DLO from using existing agency administered assets in the performance of their duties (for example, laptops, tablets, phones etc).

• DLOs are not to be issued with agency credit cards and must not exercise any agency financial delegations.

Arrangements during the assignment

• Day to day, DLOs will be supervised by the Minister’s Chief of Staff.

• DLOs must be politically neutral and impartial while assisting the Ministers to achieve their objectives. DLOs must avoid party political activities in the performance of their duties. DLO’s are immediately required to bring to the attention of the Chief of Staff and home department/agency, any matter that could be perceived to have a potential or perceived conflict of interest.

• DLOs may remain in a Minister’s office during the caretaker period before an election should their position continue to be required at the time. Particular care should be taken to ensure duties remain politically neutral and all DLO activities are in line with caretaker conventions and any other pre-election practices.

Notifying the Premier’s Department of DLO assignments and arrangements

It is the responsibility of the employing home agency to ensure that the Premier’s Department is notified of all DLO assignments:

• Notifications must be made prior to commencement and must include commencement date, home agency employment status, home agency salary or grade, full-time equivalency (FTE), end date, and emergency contact details and a declaration from the DLO confirming no conflict of interest to the DLO assignment.

• The DLO Notification Form (attached) must be completed by the home agency and sent to [email protected] no later than the day prior to the commencement.

• Where a DLO assignment is extended, the Premier’s Department must be notified prior via an updated DLO notification form. A DLO assignment cannot be extended past two years.

• Early departures should be notified via email to the Premier’s Department.

• Commencements, extensions and departures (including early departures) should be notified via email to [email protected].

• The Premier’s Department will conduct regular audits to ensure currency of DLO assignments within each office. At this time the Premier’s Department will remind Chief’s of Staff to review DLO’s performance and conduct in conjunction with their line reporting Manager at their home agency.

Simon Draper                                        

Secretary