Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the speakers who participated in the debate. The main purpose of the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Trustee Board and Other Measures) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2008 is to update a range of legislation as a consequence of other legislative changes. From 1 July 2008, employers will be required to use what are known as ‘ordinary time earnings’ when calculating their superannuation guarantee obligations in respect of an employee in all cases.

The bill will amend the Superannuation Act 1976 and the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988 to enable minimum benefits paid under these acts to comply with this new requirement. The bill amends a number of Commonwealth acts as a consequence of the establishment of the Public Sector Superannuation accumulation plan, commonly known as the PSSap. It was established on 1 July 2005 and replaced the Public Sector Superannuation Scheme, or the PSS, which was a defined benefit fund, as the main superannuation scheme for new Australian government employees. The PSSap is an accumulation fund.

In addition, the bill amends a number of Commonwealth acts to reflect the consolidation of governance arrangements for the three major superannuation schemes for Australian government employees: the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme, the PSS and the PSSap. Since 1 July 2006, the Australian Reward Investment Alliance, commonly known as ARIA, has been the trustee of these three schemes. The bill also includes a number of other consequential and technical amendments. We do not regard the bill as controversial. It was a bill from the previous government which I understand passed the House of Representatives but did not pass the Senate, and we had indicated our support at the time.

I will give a quick response to Senator Brandis’s claim about the Liberal Party being the great party of reform in superannuation—although he did acknowledge that I would not accept it, and obviously I will not. I will not use this opportunity to go into an extensive—