CHAIR —I declare open this public hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Superannuation and Financial Services. I remind you that this is the first of two hearings which the committee is holding in relation to the Family Law Legislation Amendment (Superannuation) Bill 2000. On 10 May, the Senate referred the provisions of the Family Law Legislation Amendment (Superannuation) Bill 2000 to the committee for inquiry and report. The bill is part of an overall package which includes draft regulations under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993—the SI(S) Act—and draft regulations under the Family Law Act 1995. In order to provide the opportunity for interested parties to comment on the bill in the context of draft regulations, the committee sought and obtained from the Senate an extension of time in which to report to 31 October. When it became apparent that the draft regulations would not be issued within that time frame, a further extension was sought and granted, with the time to report extended to 28 November 2000. Exposure drafts of the regulations were finally released on 10 October 2000. The aim of today's hearing is to take evidence from some of the industry groups, service providers, the Law Council of Australia and other interested parties.

All witnesses who appear before the committee are naturally protected by parliamentary privilege with respect to the evidence given to the committee. This means that those persons are given broad protection from action arising from what is said and the Senate has power to protect them from any action which disadvantages them on account of the evidence given to the committee.

[9.07 a.m.]