Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Seniors) Share this | Hansard source

Not quite—we have two minutes and 40 seconds left. I would just like to point out that in no way was my criticism levelled at Commissioner Broderick. My criticism was levelled at the Minister for the Status of Women, who was unable to give me any indication of when her Sex Discrimination Commissioner may be doing that as a full-time job and when a new Age Discrimination Commissioner will be appointed. Nor was Minister Macklin able to do that despite her May 2011 press release in which she says the government 'strongly believes people susceptible to age discrimination deserve a dedicated advocate'.

They are very good at words but I would point out to you, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, that, when it came to my age discrimination bill to get rid of 75 as the age at which an employee may not receive superannuation payments, the government opposed it with every trick in the book. They are great at giving lip service to the concept of age discrimination but, when it actually came to doing something, the minister responsible for the $250 work bonus had to ask her staff at the back whether or not it is on top of, or included in, the $146 that they are entitled to earn now. She did not know. We have a Minister for the Status of Women who does not know when an Age Discrimination Commissioner might be appointed. It is all down to the Attorney-General, she says, but I would have thought that, as a minister, she would have an interest in this and that Minister Macklin would have an interest in mature-age workers and sex discrimination. Once again we see the government giving lip-service to the question of age discrimination, but when it comes to doing something about it, they fail to do so.

While I do have three more minutes, I would like to put a question on notice. I would like to know how many people in the Public Service are currently in the PSS and therefore maximise their superannuation entitlements at the age of 54 years and 11 months. I now know that it is a closed scheme, but I would like to know how many people aged under 55 are in that scheme. I would also like to know how many people have been on that scheme and retired at the age of 54 years and 11 months on a Friday and then come back to work the next Monday as a contractor at the same rate of pay.

I am interested to note that the former head of the Treasury, who I think is nearly 54, has retired from that position. I do not know whether he has in fact left the Public Service but I note that the Governor-General has appointed that person on a salary of $550,000 a year pro rated.

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