Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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SUPERANNUATION (PSS) MEMBERSHIP INCLUSION DECLARATION NO. 10 1993 NO. 124

STATUTORY RULES 1993 No. 124

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Finance

Superannuation Act 1990

Declaration under paragraph 6 (1) (j)

The Superannuation Act 1990 (the Act) makes provision for and in relation to an occupational superannuation scheme - the Public Sector Superannuation (PSS) scheme - for persons employed by the Commonwealth and certain other persons.

Section 6 of the Act specifies the persons who may be members of the PSS scheme. In accordance with paragraph 6 (1) (j), a person declared by the Minister for Finance to be a person to whom section 6 applies is a member of the PSS scheme.

The Declaration contained in the Statutory Rules and cited as "Superannuation (PSS) Membership Inclusion Declaration No. 10" provides that certain directors and employees of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation may be members of the PSS scheme.

The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation was established in 1991 under the Primary Industries and Energy Research and Development Act 1989. The Minister has declared the Corporation to be an approved authority for the purposes of the Act. As a consequence, persons who are not existing members of the PSS scheme immediately before becoming permanent employees of the Corporation are required to become members of the PSS scheme with effect from the date of gazettal of the approved authority declaration or their date of employment, whichever is the later. Also with effect from the date of gazettal of the approved authority declaration, persons without existing PSS membership who become temporary employees of the Corporation may elect under section 8 of the Act to join the PSS scheme; such an election has effect from and including the day on which it is made.

Currently the Corporation has no permanent employees. A number of persons became directors under contract or temporary employees of the Corporation between 1 September 1992 and the gazettal of the approved authority declaration. These persons wish to become or remain members of the PSS scheme and have each made an election in writing that they be treated as members of the PSS from the date of commencement of their employment with the Corporation. The Corporation has requested that access to, or continuity of, membership of the PSS for these persons be available from the commencement of their employment.

It is intended that a person who was made such an offer by the Corporation and who elects, before the day this declaration is gazetted, to become a member of the PSS scheme shall be treated as a member of the PSS scheme with effect from 1 September 1992 or the day on which he or she became a director or an employee of the Corporation, whichever is the later. To achieve this, the persons concerned have been declared to be a class of persons to which section 6 of the Act applies.

The Declaration contained in the Statutory Rules provides that directors and employees of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation who were directors or employees of the Corporation on 1 September 1992 or who became such directors or employees after that date but before the date of gazettal of the Declaration (which was the same as the date of gazettal of the approved authority declaration) and have elected before that gazettal to become members of the PSS scheme (other than under section 8 of the Superannuation Act 1990), shall be members of that scheme.

The Declaration provides that a person described in the Declaration shall be a member of the PSS scheme with effect from 1 September 1992 or the day on which the person became a director or employee of the Corporation, whichever is the later. This retrospectivity is necessary in order to ensure that the employees are not disadvantaged in their superannuation benefits; they would be disadvantaged if they were not permitted to join the PSS scheme as offered by their employer. Both the Corporation and the employees concerned have indicated that they are prepared to make appropriate retrospective contributions to the PSS scheme.

The retrospectivity of the membership arrangements complies with subsection 48 (2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 in that the rights of the employees concerned are not affected in a manner prejudicial to them nor are liabilities imposed on them other than the responsibility for superannuation contributions which they have accepted by making an election to join the PSS scheme.

In accordance with section 45 of the Act, a declaration under paragraph 6 (1) (j) is a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 and a Statutory rule for the purposes of the Statutory Rules Publication Act 1903.

The Declaration operates with effect from the date of gazettal.