Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

In respect of the amendment that Senator Xenophon has withdrawn, it did, on the face of it, address an inequity that had been identified by the economics committee. The intention was that in certain circumstances a superannuant, if they so chose, should have been able to maintain their superannuation account despite having departed Australia. I have listened to the comments of the minister in support of the amendments and requests that the Senate is now considering and they do seem to me to be a fair and sensible accommodation whereby superannuants are going to be treated much more fairly. Accrued interest at the long-term bond rate and no admin charge is significantly better than what we faced when we were last looking at this. I want to commend Senator Xenophon and certainly Senator Sherry for looking carefully at this. This was entirely what we intended should happen. It is a very constructive way of dealing with it, and the coalition is very pleased to support it.