Mr MILES (Braddon—Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet) to the Prime Minister) (6.43 p.m.)—I move:

That the bill be now read a second time.

The Retirement Savings Accounts (Consequential Amendments) Bill 1996, together with the Retirement Savings Accounts Bill 1996 and the Retirement Savings Accounts (Consequential Amendments) Bill 1996, gives effect to the government's 1996 budget decision to allow banks, building societies, credit unions and life insurance companies to provide superannuation without a trust structure in the form of retirement savings accounts, RSAs.

This bill provides for an annual retirement savings accounts supervisory levy to be paid by entities providing RSAs. The levy will recover the costs of supervision by the Insurance and Superannuation Commission in monitoring the compliance of RSA providers and RSAs with retirement income and other superannuation standards.

The bill also provides a statutory upper limit, which is the maximum level at which the supervisory levy can be set, and which will be indexed in line with the consumer price index.

The upper limit is distinct from the actual levy, which is set by regulation and can therefore be disallowed by parliament. The actual levy will take into account the actual costs incurred by the Insurance and Superannuation Commissioner in functionally supervising RSAs and their providers. Costs to be recovered include costs related to the initial application and approval process and ongoing supervisory costs.

The date of effect of the bill will be the same day that the Retirement Savings Accounts Act 1996 takes effect, which is intended to be 1 July 1997.

I commend the bill to the House and present the explanatory memorandum to the bill.

Debate (on motion by Mr Martin Ferguson) adjourned.