James Bidgood (Dawson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak in favour of the Temporary Residents’ Superannuation Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 and the Superannuation (Departing Australia Superannuation Payments Tax) Amendment Bill 2008. It is very important that a culture such as Australia recognises the valuable input of our overseas guests, whether they are temporary or resident. I really appreciate the words that the member for Blair said about the history of the Hawke and Keating governments and their achievements. It is a proud tradition that enables us to say, ‘Yes, we are looking after the elderly in our society. We have long-term plans. And how good is the recent $10.4 billion package which has given $1,400 to single pensioners and $2,100 to couples. Yes, we are looking after people in their retirement.’ I think that is very important.

This is about people who come here. I did a bit of research through the Parliamentary Library. A lot of people come from Europe, especially the UK. It interested me, and quite surprised me, to see that the second highest number of temporary residents in Australia come from Korea. A lot of people come from there. With these bills we do the right thing. It is the Australian way. It is being fair and reasonable by saying, ‘Look, if you’ve left our shores for six months, you have a right to put in a claim to the Australian Taxation Office to get your money back.’ That is fair and reasonable. We live in a global society where new technology enables this to happen a lot easier over the internet and claims can be processed very speedily.

Just as a bit of background, the Temporary Residents’ Superannuation Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 and the Superannuation (Departing Australia Superannuation Payments Tax) Amendment Bill 2008 contain certain amendments to legislation that require the unclaimed superannuation of departed temporary residents to be paid by their superannuation funds to the Commonwealth government through the ATO. The superannuation of a temporary resident will only become unclaimed superannuation and payable to the ATO if at least six months has passed since their temporary visa ceases to be in effect and they have departed Australia without claiming that superannuation.

Currently, temporary residents are able to take their superannuation with them upon departing Australia by requesting a departing Australia superannuation payment, otherwise known as DASP. However, despite having this ability to claim their superannuation, many temporary residents do not do so and leave small, lost balances in the superannuation system when they depart, thereby contributing to the total amount of lost moneys in the system. This measure seeks to reduce the number of lost accounts and amount of unclaimed moneys in the superannuation system which can arise when temporary residents depart Australia without taking their superannuation benefits with them. The government has consulted very widely on this. The measure was discussed, and in May of this year a discussion paper was produced to engage key stakeholders in consultation on the draft legislation. The government’s final policy reflects many of the suggestions made during the consultation process.

The ability for departed temporary residents to claim their superannuation through the DASP will continue to be available under this measure. This provides treatment to temporary residents that is consistent with or better than that in many other countries around the world, where temporary residents may be unable to or very limited in their ability to access compulsory social security contributions. The measure will operate by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship providing information to the ATO to assist the ATO in identifying departed temporary residents who have left unclaimed superannuation in the system. The ATO will send notices out to superannuation funds which it believes are holding unclaimed superannuation for the departed temporary residents, and funds that receive a notice will be required to report and pay any unclaimed superannuation that they hold to the ATO by a certain date.

The superannuation of Australian and New Zealand citizens, current holders of permanent or temporary visas and those who are applying for permanent residency will not be paid to the ATO. These groups of people will have their superannuation remain in a fund, and certain visa class holders can also be prescribed in the regulations to be excluded from the measure where the circumstances make it appropriate to do so. For instance, retirement visa holders—subclasses 405 and 410—will be excluded from the measure so that their superannuation will remain in the fund and not be paid to the tax office. Departed temporary residents will be able to claim from the ATO their unclaimed superannuation, subject to the existing DASP withholding tax. That withholding tax will be raised by five per cent, to 35 per cent, in most cases. That is to further recoup these tax concessions. At this stage, state and territory public sector funds will not be captured by the measure due to constitutional reasons but the Commonwealth will be entering into negotiations with the state and territory governments about the potential to include these schemes in the future. Initial discussions with state and territory officials indicated a willingness for state and territory schemes to be included in the measure at a much later stage.

This addresses something which obviously requires some housekeeping here. It is a fair, right and reasonable thing to do. We are enabling people to access their accumulated superannuation at least six months after they have left these shores and their temporary visas have expired. I believe it is a fair and reasonable thing. We get a lot of backpackers coming through the seat of Dawson. The temporary work they do in the area, particularly fruit picking in Bowen, is invaluable. They really do add value to our economy, so they are a very important part of it. If we want these people to come back and experience again the benefits and beauty of working in tropical Queensland, where I come from, the way we treat people after they have left our country will engage them to come back again. They will think it is great that they can come to Australia and do some temporary work. Six months after they have been here, earned some money and travelled around, nine times out of 10 that money will have been spent back into the economy. The money goes round.

But isn’t it good that, when these temporary residents go back to whichever country they came from, they can then access that superannuation which has been accumulated. I daresay they would use a very Australian colloquialism and say, ‘That’s a real fair go.’ They would want to come back and add value to our society again. For the backpacker community, particularly the one-year temporary holiday visa holders and working visa holders, this is very important. I think it will stand Australia in good stead internationally and encourage that backpacker market to come over. It is the right thing to do in this international, global community. I commend these bills to the House.

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