Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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SUPERANNUATION (CSS) PRODUCTIVITY EMPLOYEE EXCLUSION DECLARATION 1995 NO. 218

STATUTORY RULES 1995 No. 218

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Finance

Superannuation Act 1976

Declaration under section 110E

The Superannuation Act 1976 (the Act) makes provision for and in relation to an occupational superannuation scheme, the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme (the CSS), for certain Commonwealth employees and other persons. Persons eligible to contribute to the CSS (ie, CSS members) are referred to in the Act as eligible employees.

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.

The declaration contained in the Statutory Rules and cited as "Superannuation (CSS) Productivity Employee Exclusion Declaration" (the Declaration) repeals Superannuation (CSS) Productivity Employee Exclusion Declarations Nos. 1 to 3 (Statutory Rules 1990 No. 355, 1992 No. 39 and 1993 No. 87) and makes a new consolidated declaration which updates references, removes an obsolete exclusion and includes additional classes of CSS members who are not productivity employees for the purposes of Part VIA of the Act.

Superannuation (CSS) Productivity Employee Exclusion Declarations Nos. 1 and 3 provided, among other provisions, that staff of the Australian Telecommunications Corporation (Telecom) and OTC Limited who were CSS members were not productivity employees. On 1 February 1992 Telecom merged with OTC Limited to form the Australian Overseas Telecommunications Corporation (AOTC). Subsequently, AOTC became Telstra Corporation Limited. The Declaration refers to Telstra Corporation Limited in the place of Australian Telecommunications Corporation and OTC Limited.

Superannuation (CSS) Productivity Employee Exclusion Declaration No. 2 provided that employees of the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation Limited (SMEC) who were CSS members were not productivity employees. CSS membership ceased for employees of SMEC on the day of sale of SMEC (9 November 1993). Therefore, SMEC is not included in the Declaration.

Employees of or the holders of statutory office with:

*       the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA); and

*       Bendigo Hospital

are additional classes of CSS members who, by the effect of the Declaration, are not productivity employees for the purposes of Part VIA of the Act. Since 1 July 1992 the RBA and the Hospital have provided productivity benefits for staff who are CSS members in a scheme other than the CSS.

The Declaration commenced retrospectively, from 1 July 1992, in respect of the additional classes of persons who, by the effect of the Declaration, are not productivity employees for the purposes of Part VIA of the Act. The remainder of the Declaration commenced on 1 July 1995.