Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There are a plethora of superannuation arrangements, involving politicians, judges, military people, accumulation funds, defined benefit schemes. This legislation makes sure that everyone is treated equally. We want to make sure that the current arrangements happen as every Australian would expect them to happen. If the member for Mackellar has a look at the current arrangements for family law, she will see that, on that issue in relation to judges and governors-general, they are inconsistent with the idea that they should be treated in the same way as every other Australian. Does the member for Mackellar think that judges and governors-general should be treated in another way? That is not the case.

We want to make sure that, when this bill is passed, the former spouse will be able to receive his or her share of the superannuation benefit as a separate interest benefit. I have done thousands of these types of cases involving Australian citizens, and I have been involved in lots of cases involving very senior figures in this country. I am not going to start mentioning individual people that I have acted for or their spouses—

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