Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) (Qualified Employees) Declaration No. 4 1998 No. 168
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1998 No. 168
SUPERANNUATION (PRODUCTIVITY BENEFIT) ACT 1988
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
DECLARATION UNDER SUBSECTION 3F(1)
The Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988 (the PB Act) provides the mechanism by which the minimum level of employer superannuation contribution is made available to Commonwealth sector employees (and certain other employees declared by the Minister for Finance and Administration) who have no other employer-sponsored superannuation cover. Such persons are "qualified employees" for the purposes of the PB Act.
Subsection 3F(1) of the PB Act enables the Minister for Finance and Administration to declare a specified class of persons to be qualified employees, and therefore eligible for minimum employersponsored superannuation cover under the PB Act.
Before the separation of the ACT Government Service from the Australian Public Service on 1 July 1994, (since renamed the ACT Public Service), most ACT Government employees were provided for under the PB Act by virtue of their employment under the Commonwealth Public Service Act.
The ACT Government wished to continue the superannuation arrangements in place before its separation and on 30 June 1994, the Minister for Finance at that time, the Hon Kim Christian Beazley, signed an instrument under subsection 3F(1), with the intention of declaring officers and employees of the ACT Government Service a class of persons who are qualified employees. However, although this instrument was taken to be effective and acted upon as if it were, it was never published in the Australian Government Gazette or tabled in Parliament in accordance with the requirements of section 48 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, and therefore was not in fact a legal instrument.
This Declaration pursuant to subsection 3F(1) and cited as the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) (Qualified Employees) Declaration No. 4, remakes the declaration (to include officers and employees of the ACT Public Service in a class of persons declared by the Minister to be qualified employees) and makes good the intention of that earlier unpublished declaration in every respect.
The Declaration commenced retrospectively from 1 July 1994, the day the ACT Public Service (then known as the ACT Government Service) separated from the Commonwealth. The retrospective effect of this Declaration does not effect in a prejudicial manner the rights of any person other than the Commonwealth.