Superannuation Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (Vic)
Superannuation Legislation Amendment Act 2025
No. 32 of 2025
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section Page
Part 1—Preliminary
1Purposes
2Commencement
Part 2—Amendment of Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986
3Definitions
4Membership of the Board
5Vacancies on Board
6Sections 9 and 9A repealed
7Payment of members
8Procedure of the Board
9Committees of the Board
10Contributions
11Definitions
12Spouse Accounts
13New sections 34 and 35 inserted
Part 3—Amendment of State Superannuation Act 1988
14Contribution rates
Part 4—Amendment of Transport Superannuation Act 1988
15Contributions by members
Part 5—Repeal of this Act
16Repeal of this Act
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Endnotes
1 General information
Superannuation Legislation Amendment Act 2025
No. 32 of 2025
[Assented to 19 August 2025]
The Parliament of Victoria enacts:
PART 1—PRELIMINARY
1Purposes
The main purposes of this Act are—
(a)to amend the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986—
(i)to amend the definition of salary in that Act; and
(ii)to make further provision for contributions made under that Act; and
(iii)to make further provision for membership of the Emergency Services Superannuation Board; and
(iv)to make other miscellaneous amendments to that Act; and
(b)to amend the State Superannuation Act 1988 to make further provision for contributions made under that Act; and
(c)to amend the Transport Superannuation Act 1988 to make further provision for contributions made under that Act.
2Commencement
(1)Subject to subsection (2), this Act comes into operation on a day or days to be proclaimed.
(2)If a provision of this Act does not come into operation before 1 March 2026, it comes into operation on that day.
PART 2—AMENDMENT OF EMERGENCY SERVICES SUPERANNUATION ACT 1986
3Definitions
In section 3(1) of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986—
(a)insert the following definitions—
"enterprise agreement has the same meaning as in section 12 of the Fair Work Act 2009 of the Commonwealth;
Secretary means the Department Head (within the meaning of the Public Administration Act 2004) of the Department;";
(b)for paragraph (b) of the definition of salary substitute—
"(b)in the case of a contributor who is engaged under a contract of employment, the greater of—
(i)90 per cent of the contributor's remuneration specified in the contract; or
(ii)the highest salary (exclusive of superannuation) payable to a non‑executive employee who is employed at the contributor's place of employment and to whom an enterprise agreement applies;".
4Membership of the Board
(1)In section 7(1) of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986—
(a)for "12 members" substitute "10 members";
(b)for paragraph (d) substitute—
"(d)2 are to be persons nominated by declared unions; and";
(c)in paragraph (e), for "6" substitute "5".
(2)Section 7(3), (4), (5) and (6) of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986 are repealed.
(3)After section 7(11) of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986 insert—
"(11A)For the purposes of subsection (1)(d), a nomination of a person for appointment as a member of the Board must—
(a)be made by one or more declared unions in accordance with the procedures determined by the Minister; and
(b)be approved by the Minister.
(11B)If the Minister does not approve a nomination of a person for appointment as a member of the Board under subsection (1)(d), a further nomination must be made in accordance with subsection (11A).
(11C)The Minister, by notice published in the Government Gazette, may declare an organisation that represents or is entitled to represent members of the Scheme to be a union that may nominate persons for appointment as members of the Board under subsection (1)(d).".
(4)In section 7(13) of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986—
(a)insert the following definition—
"declared union means an organisation declared by the Minister under subsection (11C);".
(b)the definition of Scheme member of the Board is repealed.
5Vacancies on Board
(1)Section 8(1)(da) of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986 is repealed.
(2)For section 8(2), (3), (3A), (3B) and (4) of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986 substitute—
"(2)As soon as practicable after a vacancy arises on the Board because a member appointed to the Board under section 7 dies or otherwise ceases to be a member of the Board, the Governor in Council must appoint another person as a member of the Board.
(3)A person appointed to fill a vacancy on the Board must be elected or nominated for appointment in the same manner as the member who created the vacancy.
(4)If the vacancy is created by a member of the Board appointed under section 7(1)(d), the Secretary must request one or more declared unions to nominate a person for appointment as a member of the Board.
(5)A request by the Secretary under subsection (4) must be made—
(a)in accordance with the procedures determined by the Minister; and
(b)in the case of a vacancy created by the expiry of a member's term, at least 3 months before the expiry of the member's term; and
(c)in any other case, as soon as practicable after the Secretary becomes aware of the vacancy.
(6)In this section—
declared union has the same meaning as in section 7.".
6Sections 9 and 9A repealed
Sections 9 and 9A of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986 are repealed.
7Payment of members
In section 11 of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986, after "Each member" insert "of the Board".
8Procedure of the Board
(1)In section 12(1) of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986, after "members" insert "of the Board".
(2)For section 12(9) of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986 substitute—
"(9)If a matter to be determined by the Board at a meeting is a matter affecting a benefit entitlement of a contributor or a member of the Scheme, the matter can only be determined by a resolution passed by a two‑thirds majority of the total number of members of the Board that includes at least 2 members appointed under section 7(1)(a), (b), (c) or (d).".
9Committees of the Board
For section 12C(3) of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986 substitute—
"(3)A committee is to have an equal number of—
(a)members appointed to the Board under section 7(1)(a), (b), (c) and (d); and
(b)members appointed to the Board under section 7(1)(e).".
10Contributions
For section 20A(4) of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986 substitute—
"(4)A contributor may vary the rate of contribution in accordance with the policy determined by the Board, which must allow a contributor to vary the rate of contribution at least once each calendar year.".
11Definitions
In section 21 of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986, in paragraph (b) of the definition of participating employer omit "to the Department of Treasury and Finance".
12Spouse Accounts
In section 21JA(1A)(b) of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986, for "3 months" substitute "12 months".
13New sections 34 and 35 inserted
After section 33 of the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986 insert—
"34 Superannuation Legislation Amendment Act 2025—definition of salary
(1)Subject to this section, the definition of salary, as in force immediately before the commencement day, continues to apply for the purposes of this Act to a contributor who, on the commencement day, is engaged under a contract of employment that was entered into before the commencement day.
(2)The definition of salary, as in force from the commencement day, is taken to apply for the purposes of this Act to a contributor if—
(a)the contributor made an informal election on or after 2 June 2022 and before the commencement day; or
(b)the contributor makes an election to that effect on or after the commencement day and no later than 6 months after the commencement day.
(3)If a contributor has made an informal election or an election under subsection (2)(b) and as a result of that election, the Board considers that the contributions paid by the contributor during the contributor's pre-election employment period do not bear the same proportion to the required contributions otherwise determined in accordance with section 20A, the Board may require the contributor to contribute the amount of the shortfall by—
(a)making additional contributions or a lump sum payment in a manner determined by the Board; or
(b)deducting the shortfall amount from the contributor's final benefit.
(4)In this section—
commencement day means the date of commencement of section 3 of the Superannuation Legislation Amendment Act 2025;
informal election means an election by a contributor engaged under a contract of employment to have the contributions of the contributor under this Act determined on the basis of 90 per cent of the remuneration specified in the contributor's contract of employment;
pre-election employment period, for a contributor, means the date of commencement of the contributor's contract of employment and ending on the date on which the contributor—
(a)made an informal election; or
(b)makes an election under subsection (2)(b).
35Superannuation Legislation Amendment Act 2025—members of the Board
(1)For the purposes of section 7(1)(d), if there are 3 members of the Board elected by members of the Scheme and in office immediately before the commencement day, on the commencement day, the member who was the first of the 3 members to be elected to office ceases to be a member.
(2)Despite anything to the contrary in section 7(1)(d), any member of the Board referred to in subsection (1) who does not cease to be a member because of the application of that subsection continues in office from the commencement day until the earlier of—
(a)the member's term ceasing under section 8(1); or
(b)the expiry of the member's term; or
(c)the member ceasing to be a member of the Scheme.
(3)For the purposes of section 7(1)(e), if there are 6 members of the Board nominated by the Minister and in office immediately before the commencement day, on the commencement day—
(a)the member who was the first of the 6 members nominated to office ceases to be a member; or
(b)if the member who was first nominated to office is the President of the Board, the member who was the second of the 6 members to be nominated to office ceases to be a member.
(4)A person who was appointed as a deputy member of the Board under section 9 or 9A, as in force immediately before the commencement day, ceases to be a deputy member of the Board on the date of commencement of section 6 of the Superannuation Legislation Amendment Act 2025.
(5)In this section—
commencement day means the date of commencement of section 4 of the Superannuation Legislation Amendment Act 2025;
member of the Scheme has the same meaning as it has in section 7.".
PART 3—AMENDMENT OF STATE SUPERANNUATION ACT 1988
14Contribution rates
(1)For section 50(5) of the State Superannuation Act 1988 substitute—
"(5)A new scheme member may elect to change the member's rate of contribution in accordance with the policy determined by the Board, which must allow a new scheme member or class of new scheme members to change the rate of contribution at least once each calendar year.".
(2)In section 50(6) of the State Superannuation Act 1988, for "being 2 months after the day fixed under subsection (5)" substitute "specified in the policy determined by the Board".
PART 4—AMENDMENT OF TRANSPORT SUPERANNUATION ACT 1988
15Contributions by members
For section 28(5) of the Transport Superannuation Act 1988 substitute—
"(5)A member may elect to change the member's rate of contribution in accordance with the policy determined by the Board, which must allow a member to change the rate of contribution at least once each calendar year.".
PART 5—REPEAL OF THIS ACT
16Repeal of this Act
This Act is repealed on 1 March 2027.
Note
The repeal of this Act does not affect the continuing operation of the amendments made by it (see section 15(1) of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984).
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ENDNOTES
1 General information
See for Victorian Bills, Acts and current authorised versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.
Minister's second reading speech—
Legislative Assembly: 5 March 2025
Legislative Council: 15 May 2025
The long title for the Bill for this Act was "A Bill for an Act to amend the Emergency Services Superannuation Act 1986, the State Superannuation Act 1988 and the Transport Superannuation Act 1988 and for other purposes."
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