Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation for requested amendments announced.

Bill returned from the Senate with requested amendments.

Ordered that the amendments be considered immediately.

Senate’s requested amendments—

(1)    Schedule 1, item 16, page 13 (after line 36), after subsection 20H(2), insert:

     (2A)    The Commissioner must also pay to the person, fund or legal personal representative the amount (if any) of interest worked out under subsection (2B), if the Commissioner is satisfied that:

             (a)    the person is (or was just before dying) an Australian citizen or, under the Migration Act 1958, the holder of a permanent visa; and

             (b)    after 30 June 2007 either:

                   (i)    the person left Australia; or

                  (ii)    the person was, under the Migration Act 1958, the holder of a temporary visa.

      (2B)    Work out, in accordance with the regulations, the amount of interest:

             (a)    on so much (if any) of the excess as is attributable (directly or indirectly) to one or more amounts paid to the Commissioner under subsection 20F(1) and not to payments to or by the Commissioner under section 17; and

             (b)    at a rate equal to the annual yield on Treasury bonds with a 10-year term or, if another rate is prescribed by the regulations, that other rate.

Note:   The regulations may provide for various matters relevant to working out the interest, such as working out the periods for which particular rates apply to particular amounts of principal (which will affect any compounding of the interest, among other things).

      (2C)    Regulations for the purposes of subsection (2B) may prescribe different rates for different periods over which the interest accrues, including a nil rate for any period starting when the person turns 65. This does not limit the ways in which the regulations may provide for working out the amount of interest under that subsection.

(2)    Schedule 1, item 16, page 14 (line 9), omit “excess”, substitute “total of the excess and any interest that would be payable under subsection (2A) apart from this subsection”.

(3)    Schedule 1, item 16, page 14 (line 16), omit the formula, substitute: