Mr SLIPPER (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) (9:30 AM) —I move:

This bill amends three acts dealing with superannuation for federal parliamentarians and Commonwealth civilian employees in the CSS and PSS. These acts are the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948, the Superannuation Act 1976 and the Superannuation Act 1990.

The amendments in the bill will assist former members of these schemes to meet any post-retirement surcharge debts by enabling them to convert their pensions to a lump sum.

Where surcharge assessments are issued before retirement, a member can choose to pay them while still a member or leave them to accumulate within the scheme. On retirement, the scheme pays any outstanding surcharge debt and the member's benefit is adjusted accordingly. However, where assessments are issued after members leave their scheme, these assessments must be met by the former member from his or her own funds.

The amendments in the bill provide a facility to assist former scheme members to pay these assessments if they so choose. The amendments will also allow reversionary beneficiaries to commute their scheme pensions where they become liable to pay a surcharge assessment issued in respect of a deceased scheme member or former member.

Where a person takes up this commutation facility the commuted amount will be paid directly to the Australian Taxation Office to be offset against the surcharge assessment.

Those persons will have their scheme pensions reduced to recover the commutation amount over the period of the payment of the pension.

Changes will need to be made to the PSS rules for these arrangements to apply to pensions from the PSS. The amendments made to the Superannuation Act 1990 by this bill ensure that the act will apply appropriately in the light of such changes.

The bill will also provide a special appropriation for the payment of surcharge assessments under the federal parliamentary superannuation scheme in a manner consistent with the arrangements for the Commonwealth civilian schemes. This will streamline the administration of the payments. It will have no effect on the budget, scheme costs or members' entitlements. Members of the parliamentary scheme will continue to have their benefits reduced on retirement to take account of the surcharge assessments paid from the scheme at that time.

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

Debate (on motion by Mr Stephen Smith) adjourned.