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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
1998
The Parliament of
the
Commonwealth of
Australia
HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
Presented and read a first
time
Workplace
Relations and Other Legislation Amendment (Superannuation) Bill
1998
No. ,
1998
(Employment, Workplace Relations and Small
Business)
A Bill for an Act to amend the
Workplace Relations Act 1996 and the Superannuation Guarantee
(Administration) Act 1992, and for other purposes
ISBN: 0642
379068
Contents
Part
1—Amendments 3
Part 2—Transitional
provisions 4
Part
1—Amendments 7
Part 2—Transitional
provision 10
A Bill for an Act to amend the Workplace Relations Act
1996 and the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992, and
for other purposes
The Parliament of Australia enacts:
This Act may be cited as the Workplace Relations and Other Legislation
Amendment (Superannuation) Act 1998.
(1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act commences on the day on which it
receives the Royal Assent.
(2) Item 2 and Part 2 of Schedule 2 to this Act commence at whichever is
the later of the following times:
(a) immediately after the commencement of section 2 of the
Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Choice of Superannuation Funds) Act
1998;
(b) the end of the period of 6 months beginning on the day on which this
Act receives the Royal Assent.
Subject to section 2, each Act that is specified in a Schedule to this
Act is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule
concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this Act has effect according to
its terms.
1 Paragraph 89A(2)(s)
Repeal the paragraph.
2 Subsection 89A(7)
Before “the Commission is”, insert “the matter is not
superannuation and”.
Part
2—Transitional
provisions
3 Definitions
In this Part:
award does not include an award under subsection 170MX(3) of
the Workplace Relations Act 1996.
interim period means the period of 6 months beginning on the
date of commencement of this item.
special consent provisions has the meaning given by item
4.
termination time, in relation to special consent provisions,
means the end of the period that is specified in the award under section 147 of
the Workplace Relations Act 1996.
4 Special consent
provisions
For the purposes of this Part, special consent provisions are
provisions of an award that give effect to a decision of the Commission that is
expressed to be made in accordance with one or more of the following
principles:
(a) the Enterprise Bargaining Principle adopted by the Commission in the
National Wage Case decision of October 1991 (Dec 1150/91, Print
K0300);
(b) the Enterprise Awards Principle adopted by the Commission in its
Review of the Wage Fixing Principles decision of October 1993 (Dec 1300/93,
Print K9700);
(c) Principle 2.2 (Consent Award or Award Variation to Give Effect to an
Enterprise Agreement), adopted by the Commission in its Review of the Wage
Fixing Principles decision of August 1994 (Dec 1408/94, Print L4700) and
incorporated without amendment in wages principles established by the Commission
in its Safety Net Adjustment & Section 150A Review decision of October 1995
(Dec 2120/95, Print M5600).
5 Variation of awards during the interim
period
(1) If one or more of the parties to an award apply to the Commission for a
variation of the award under this item, the Commission may, during the interim
period, vary the award so that it does not deal with the matter of
superannuation.
(2) Special consent provisions cannot be varied under this item before the
termination time for those provisions.
(3) The Commission may only deal with the application by arbitration if it
is satisfied that the applicant or applicants have made reasonable attempts to
reach agreement with the other parties to the award about how the award should
be varied and the treatment of the matter of superannuation.
6 Parts of awards cease to have effect at the
end of the interim period
(1) At the end of the interim period, each award ceases to have effect to
the extent that it provides for the matter of superannuation.
(2) If the termination time for special consent provisions is after the end
of the interim period, then this item and item 7 apply to the special consent
provisions as if a reference to the end of the interim period were instead a
reference to the termination time.
7 Variation of awards after the end of the
interim period
(1) As soon as practicable after the end of the interim period, the
Commission must review each award:
(a) that is in force; and
(b) that the Commission is satisfied has been affected by item
6.
(2) The Commission must vary the award to remove provisions that ceased to
have effect under item 6.
8 Corporations not bound by State
awards
(1) If:
(a) a constitutional corporation is bound by an award in respect of an
employee; and
(b) the award is varied under subitem 5(1) or wholly or partly ceases to
have effect because of item 6; and
(c) as a result of the award being varied, or ceasing to have effect, as
mentioned in paragraph (b), the corporation would (apart from this item) become
bound by a State award in respect of the employee;
then the corporation is not bound by the State award in relation to the
employee unless it becomes bound as a result of an application by the
corporation to the relevant State industrial authority.
(2) Subitem (1) does not operate so that a State award, or part of a State
award, prevails over an award of the Commission.
1 After section 12
Insert:
(1) The operation that Schedule 1 to the Workplace Relations and Other
Legislation Amendment (Superannuation) Act 1998 would, apart from this
section, have in relation to this Act is to be disregarded.
(2) The following provisions of this section explain how subsection (1) is
to apply.
(3) Where:
(a) an employer is contributing to a superannuation fund or an RSA for the
benefit of an employee in relation to a contribution period; and
(b) the employer would be so contributing in accordance with an industrial
award if:
(i) Schedule 1 to the Workplace Relations and Other Legislation
Amendment (Superannuation) Act 1998 had not been enacted; and
(ii) no amendments had been made after the commencement of this section to
the industrial award in respect of the contributions to be made by employers to
superannuation funds or RSAs for the benefit of their employees;
this Act has effect as if:
(c) the employer were contributing to the fund or RSA for the benefit of
the employee in relation to the period in accordance with the industrial award;
and
(d) the provisions of the industrial award relating to the calculation of
the contributions were the same as those that applied immediately before the
commencement of this section.
(4) Where an employer would be required by an industrial award to
contribute in a contribution period for the benefit of an employee to a
superannuation fund or an RSA if:
(a) Schedule 1 to the Workplace Relations and Other Legislation
Amendment (Superannuation) Act 1998 had not been enacted; and
(b) no amendments had been made after the commencement of this section to
the industrial award in respect of the contributions to be made by employers to
superannuation funds or RSAs for the benefit of their employees;
this Act has effect as if:
(c) the employer were required by the industrial award to contribute in
the period for the benefit of the employee to the fund or RSA; and
(d) the requirements of the industrial award relating to the calculation
of the contributions were the same as those that applied immediately before the
commencement of this section.
(5) Where an industrial award applying throughout a contribution period
would have specified that an amount had to be contributed by employers to a
superannuation fund or an RSA for the benefit of the employers’ employees
in a class and would otherwise have complied with paragraphs 23(4A)(b) to (d)
if:
(a) Schedule 1 to the Workplace Relations and Other Legislation
Amendment (Superannuation) Act 1998 had not been enacted; and
(b) no amendments had been made after the commencement of this section to
the industrial award in respect of the contributions to be made by employers to
superannuation funds or RSAs for the benefit of their employees in the
class;
this Act has effect as if:
(c) the industrial award had so specified and had otherwise complied with
those paragraphs; and
(d) the provisions of the industrial award relating to the calculation of
the contributions were the same as those that applied immediately before the
commencement of this section.
2 Section 32X
Repeal the section.
3 Transitional—section 32X of the
Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992
(1) Despite the repeal of section 32X of the Superannuation Guarantee
(Administration) Act 1992 by this Schedule, that section continues to apply,
after the commencement of this item, in relation to a requirement in force under
a special consent provision, as if that repeal had not happened.
(2) For the purposes of this item, special consent provision
has the same meaning as in Part 2 of Schedule 1.