Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the members who have contributed to this debate—the members for Gellibrand, O’Connor and Grayndler. The Judges’ Pensions Amendment Bill 2007 is intended to rectify technical deficiencies in the Judges’ Pension Act 1968, relating to the application of the superannuation surcharge to federal judges appointed between 7 December 1997 and 30 June 2005. The government acknowledges the role the judicial pension has to play in attracting and retaining the best candidates for the bench, and has therefore decided to address certain deficiencies. The main object of this bill is to pass on reductions in the top surcharge rate in 2003-04 and 2004-05 and to give judges the option to commute a portion of their pension to pay their surcharge debts. Judges are entitled to receive the benefit of lower maximum rates of surcharge which apply to other high-income earners in those years—2003-04 and 2004-05. The bill also provides judges with a commutation option as an alternative way of paying their surcharge debts since other Commonwealth defined benefits schemes already offer their members such an option. This is simply to bring the judges’ scheme into line. This bill will address the judges’ concern about the application of the surcharge and give them the benefit of the lower maximum rates and the flexibility to make partial payments of their surcharge debts before they retire.

I take it that, notwithstanding the opposition amendment that says, ‘whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading’, they support the measure as proposed, and when other matters have been disposed of I hope they will support the second reading of this bill to ensure that this issue is addressed quickly. If the issue is addressed it means that judges are not being advantaged by this measure but are being put in the same position as other high-income earners.

The opposition have proposed a formal amendment which they will move in the committee stage. The second reading amendment I referred to earlier reads:

... whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading the Opposition believes that the bill fails to give equal treatment to all judges by not treating judges in same-sex de facto relationships in the same way as heterosexual judges and their spouses or de facto spouses, and calls on the Government to amend the bill in order to give judges in same-sex relationships equal treatment ...

When I spoke on a like matter involving disability payments to magistrates I set out the government’s position and why we did not intend to support such an amendment. The government is giving consideration to the recommendations of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s report Same sex: same entitlements, which was tabled in this parliament on 21 June.

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