Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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SUPERANNUATION (CSS) PRODUCTIVITY EMPLOYEE EXCLUSION DECLARATION NO. 2 1992NO. 39

STATUTORY RULES 1992 No. 39

ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR FINANCE

SUPERANNUATION ACT 1976

DECLARATION UNDER SECTION 110E

The Superannuation Act 1976 (the Act) provides for a superannuation scheme for Commonwealth employees and certain other persons. That scheme is referred to as the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme (CSS).

Part VIA (comprising sections 110A to 110S) of the Act provides, with effect from 1 July 1990, a funded productivity superannuation benefit for members of the CSS.

Section 110P provides that a productivity benefit is payable to a person who ceases to be a member of the CSS and who immediately before so ceasing, or earlier, was a "productivity employee" for the purposes of the Act. The term "productivity employee" is defined in section 110A as a member of the CSS with certain exceptions. These exceptions include persons included in a class of persons specified in a declaration by the Minister for Finance under section 110E.

Section 110E provides that the Minister for Finance may declare that a specified class of members of the CSS are not to be productivity employees if the Minister is satisfied that those persons are entitled to benefits that consist of, or include, amounts like the productivity benefits provided for in the Act. Section 110E also provides that a declaration under the section takes effect from such day, not earlier than 1 July 1990, as is specified in the declaration.

Section 110G provides that a declaration under section 110E is a statutory rule for the purposes of the Statutory Rules Publication Act 1903 and a disallowable instrument for the purposes of section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.

Both the Northern Land Council and Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation Limited include members of the CSS amongst their staff. Both bodies have established their own superannuation schemes and wish to provide their staff with productivity benefits through their own superannuation schemes. The Minister for Finance is satisfied that those productivity benefits are amounts like the productivity benefits provided for in the Act.

It is therefore appropriate that persons who are members of the CSS and who are statutory office-holders with the Northern Land Council or employees of the Northern Land Council or the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation Limited be excluded from the Commonwealth's productivity superannuation arrangements.

The Declaration contained in the Statutory Rule, and cited as "Superannuation (CSS) Productivity Employee Exclusion Declaration No. 2" specifies holders of statutory offices in the Northern Land Council, employees of the Northern Land Council and employees of the Snowy Mountains Engineering corporation Limited as classes of persons who are not to be "productivity employees".

The Declaration is taken to have commenced on 1 July 1990, the date specified in section 110E as the earliest date on which a declaration under the section may take effect. The Northern Land Council has been making productivity contributions to its own scheme in respect of CSS members since that date. Arrangements are being made to cover employees of the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation Limited through its own scheme with effect from 1 July 1990.