Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the opposition to speak on the Public Sector Superannuation Salary Legislation Amendment Bill 2022. I note that the provisions that this bill seeks to amend are currently the subject of an action in the Federal Court of Australia, and so I will limit my remarks out of respect for that process. Schedule 1 of this bill repeals section 5(e) of the superannuation salary regulations with effect from 1 July 1986. This will regularise the past administrative practice of the Commonwealth employers and employees by, effectively, restoring the position, with respect to rent-free housing, that all relevant parties have treated as governing the Commonwealth civilian Public Sector Superannuation Scheme since 1986. Schedule 2 of this bill contains exemptions that will ensure that individuals where explicit arrangements were in place about the treatment of rent for salary purposes will not be affected by the repealed provisions.

I note that the quantum of financial impacts is presently unquantified and that the administrative task involved in quantifying the financial impacts is prohibitive. However, based on the briefing that we have received from government, we accept that the quantum would involve a significant unintended cost to the federal budget, a significant unintended cost to the taxpayer. So, in putting on the record the opposition's support for this bill, I would like to note that the government has provided assurances that this is the most preferred option to resolve this unintended anomaly, that it is not a precedent for retrospective legislation or for such legislation to be rushed through the parliament and that this is the earliest possible that this legislation could be considered, with an urgency that it must pass before we head into a four-week break between sitting weeks.

I thank the government very much for making officials, from the Department of Finance, available to brief the opposition on this legislation and the cooperative way that they have approached this matter, particularly the minister and her office. I commend this bill to the chamber.