Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

The Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Superannuation Safety and Other Measures) Bill 2005 will amend the Superannuation Act 1976 in relation to the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme, the CSS, the Superannuation Act 1990 in relation to the Public Sector Superannuation Scheme, the PSS, and the Superannuation Act 2005 in relation to the Public Sector Superannuation Accumulation Plan, the PSSAP. Following the passage of this legislation, similar amendments will also be made to the PSS Trust Deed and Rules under the Superannuation Act 1990 and the PSSAP Trust Deed under the Superannuation Act 1995.

The bill includes changes required to facilitate the application of negative crediting rates to the CSS, changes to validate the payment of benefits to particular members of the CSS and a number of minor amendments related to the delegation of powers of the trustees and the disclosure of information by those trustees to employers. The bill also includes provision to amend the Superannuation Act 1976 to include certain safety of superannuation reforms in the governing rules of the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme. These safety of superannuation provisions have already been implemented through the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Trustee Board and Other Measures) Bill 2006, which received royal assent on 9 June 2006. As a consequence, these provisions of the bill are no longer required. Under technical arrangements included in the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Trustee Board and Other Measures) Bill 2006, sections 1 to 14 and 25 of this bill will be automatically repealed when the bill is passed, so these provisions no longer have any practical effect.

The government is also moving amendments to this bill to change the commencement date of negative crediting provisions. The existing terms of this bill have these provisions commencing on 1 January 2006. As this date has passed, it is important to make this amendment to ensure that all provisions remain prospective. The bill will enable the trustees to allocate negative earnings to members’ accounts. The trustees requested these changes to allow allocation to members of actual fund earnings, including negative earnings, when member investment choice was introduced for relevant members in 2004. This will resolve the inequity where negative earnings are not passed on to members exiting the funds but are deducted from future earnings applicable to remaining members’ accounts.

The bill will also amend the Superannuation Act 1976 to authorise a small number of CSS benefit payments that were incorrectly paid because ComSuper incorrectly informed certain members that they were entitled to claim their benefits. The effect of these changes will be that recovery from these individuals will not be required. The bill will also make a number of other technical amendments to enable trustees to delegate administrative functions to their staff and to broaden the type of information that can be provided to scheme members via their employers, provided this would not breach the Corporations Act 2001 or any other act. I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question put:

That the amendment (Senator Stephens’s) be agreed to.