EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1986 NO 207
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR FINANCE
SUPERANNUATION ACT 1976 - SUPERANNUATION (RETIRING AGE) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT).
LEGISLATIVE BASIS FOR THE REGULATIONS
Section 168 of the Superannuation Act 1976 (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 for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Sub-section 3(1) of the Act defines the “minimum retiring age” as 60 years or such lesser age as, under regulations made under the Act, is the minimum retiring age applicable to a person or class of persons.
BACKGROUND
Under the Act a contributor with at least one year’s contributory service who retires voluntarily on or after attaining age 60 is entitled to be paid an age retirement pension in accordance with Division 1 and, if appropriate, a lump sum in accordance with Division 3 of Part V. A contributor whose terms and conditions of employment provide for voluntary retirement upon attaining an age less than 60 is entitled, upon such voluntary retirement, to be paid an early retirement pension in accordance with Division 2 and, if appropriate, a lump sum in accordance with Division 3 of Part V, provided that lesser age has been prescribed in the Superannuation (Retiring Age) Regulations as the minimum retiring age in respect of the class of persons within which the contributor falls.
Regulation 5 of the Superannuation (Retiring Age) Regulations already specifies minimum retiring ages of less than 60 years for the purposes of the Act in relation to certain persons and classes of persons.
Included in Regulation 5 are those persons who are employees within the meaning of the Commonwealth Employees (Redeployment and Retirement) Act 1979 (the CE(RR) Act). This includes persons who are employed in a permanent capacity by authorities or bodies which are prescribed Commonwealth authorities for the purposes of the CE(RR) Act. It also includes persons employed by a prescribed Commonwealth authority otherwise than in a permanent capacity once they become subject to the provisions of that Act on being employed for the immediately preceding period of one year.
The Statutory Rule amends sub-regulation 5(5) to specify a minimum retiring age of 55 to 59 years for a person employed in otherwise than a permanent capacity by a prescribed Commonwealth authority within the meaning of the CE(RR) Act, who is not an employee within the meaning of that Act through not having been employed for the immediately preceding period of one year.
The Statutory Rule enables payment of early retirement superannuation pensions to the class of persons prescribed in the Statutory Rule who take advantage of the early retirement provisions of their conditions of service by retiring voluntarily between the ages of 55 to 59 years provided they have at least one year’s contributory service for the purposes of the Act.
The Regulations operate from the date of gazettal.