EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1989 NO 170
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR FINANCE
SUPERANNUATION ACT 1976
SUPERANNUATION (APPROVED AUTHORITIES) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
The Superannuation Act 1976 (the Act) makes provision for and in relation to an occupational superannuation scheme for persons employed by the Commonwealth and for certain other persons.
Section 168 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters which the Act requires or permits to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
By virtue of the definitions of “eligible employee”, “permanent employee” and “temporary employee” in subsection 3(1) of the Act, those required or eligible to contribute under the Act include officers and employees for the purposes of the Public Service Act 1922, any other persons employed by the Commonwealth and persons employed by an approved authority.
Section 3 of the Act defines “approved authority” as:
(a) an authority or other body specified in the regulations as an approved authority for the purposes of the Act, being an authority or body of a kind described in the definition; or
(b) an authority or body that was an approved authority for the purposes of the Superannuation Act 1922 immediately before 1 July 1976, the date of commencement of the Act.
Authorities or bodies that have become approved authorities since 1 July 1976 are specified in the Superannuation (Approved Authorities) Regulations (the Principal Regulations).
The Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation is an approved authority for the purposes of the Act. Section 12 of the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (Conversion into Public Company) Act 1989 provides for the Corporation to be taken to be a company registered under the name Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation Limited (the Company). In accordance with subsection 2(4) of that Act, section 12 is to come into operation on a day to be fixed by proclamation.
It is intended that the Company be specified as an approved authority so that certain of its staff (including those transferred from the Corporation) will be eligible to contribute under the Act. The Company is a body of a kind described in the definition of “approved authority” in subsection 3(1) of the Act.
It is also intended that certain employees of the Company not be permitted to contribute under the Act. Amendments to the Superannuation (Eligible Employees) Regulations achieve this intention.
Regulation 2 of the Regulations amends the Principal Regulations to specify the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation Limited as an approved authority for the purposes of the Act. By regulation 1 of the Regulations, regulation 2 operates on and from the date on which section 12 of the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (Conversion into Public Company) Act 1989 comes into operation.