Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

Your sensitive ears, I understand, I do not want to upset you. But I have to say that the member for Throsby, the member for Dobell, the member for Oxley and the member for Fraser get it. They have not had this sudden transformational experience, once they have joined the parliament, that leads them to disregard the employees of this country, the workers of this country, and their rights to organise and to be part of an organisation. Mr Deputy Speaker: I just wonder.

I think it is important that we go to a couple of the points. There are a number of issues. None of these bills—the Governance of Australian Government Superannuation Schemes Bill 2011, the ComSuper Bill 2011 and the Superannuation Legislation (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2011—change the design of the civilian and military schemes or members' entitlements. It is important to appreciate that, when we are talking about members, the total membership will be around 682,000, of whom around 200,000 will be military members and around 482,000 will be civilian members through the old ComSuper. Let us think about this and the construction of the board and the appropriateness of proportionality and all the rest of it, and then think about the relevance of the comments which have been made by the members opposite. I recall having a very good discussion with the shadow minister, Mr Robert, who I must say was very frank about his concerns. One of the issues that Mr Robert raised with us—it was also raised last year at the inquiry held into the bills by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration, and in a minority report which reflected what the shadow minister said to me—was that the proposals:

… undermined the longstanding commitment to and understanding of the unique nature of military service.

We listened to the opposition, and I particularly listened to the shadow minister when he raised that question. The government has subsequently made a number of amendments to the bills to ensure the uniqueness of military service is maintained and properly recognised.

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