Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated ActsAfter P art V. of the Principal Act the following Part is inserted : --
"P ART VA.--MINISTERIAL RETIRING ALLOWANCES.
" 22A. Interpretation.
" (1.) In this Part, unless the contrary intention appears--
" " 'contributions ' means contributions to the Ministerial Fund;
" " 'contributor ' means a person liable to contribute to the Ministerial Fund ;
" " 'office-holder ' means the holder of any of the following offices:--
" " (a) Minister of State;
" " (b) Leader of the Opposition, or Deputy Leader of the Opposition, in the Senate; and
" " (c) Leader of the Opposition, or Deputy Leader of the Opposition, in the House of Representatives;
" " 'pension ' means pension under this Part;
" " 'the Ministerial Fund ' means the Ministerial Retiring Allowances Fund established by this Part.
" (2.) A reference in this Part to the contributions of a person does not include a reference to any contributions that have been refunded to him.
"(3.) Except as expressly provided in this Part, the provisions of Parts III., IV. and V. have effect as if this Part had not been enacted.
"22B. The Ministerial Retiring Allowances Fund.
" (1.) For the purposes of this Part, there shall be a Ministerial Retiring Allowances Fund.
"(2.) The Ministerial Fund shall consist of--
(a) contributions paid by contributors, and repayments made by contributors, in pursuance of this Part;
(b) moneys paid into the Ministerial Fund by the Commonwealth in pursuance of this Part; and
(c) income derived from the investment of moneys forming part of the Ministerial Fund.
"(3.) Subject to the next succeeding section, payments in respect of pensions and refunds of contributions provided by this Part shall be made from the Ministerial Fund.
"22C. Provisions relating to Fund.
The provisions of sections nine A, nine B, ten and eleven of this Act apply to and in relation to the Ministerial Fund in like manner as they apply to and in relation to the Parliamentary Retiring Allowances Fund.
"22D. Periodical actuarial investigations.
(1 . ) An investigation as to the state and sufficiency of the Ministerial Fund shall be made as at the thirtieth day of June next following the expiration of seven years after the commencement of this Part and thereafter at intervals of not more than seven years.
"(2.) The investigations shall be made by the Commonwealth Actuary, who shall report the results of the investigation to the Trust.
"(3.) The Treasurer shall lay the report of the Commonwealth Actuary before each House of the Parliament within fourteen sitting days of that House after the report becomes available to him.
"(4.) In the report on each investigation, the Commonwealth Actuary shall certify the amount, or further amount, if any, which, in his opinion, should be paid into the Ministerial Fund by the Commonwealth in order to make proper provision for the payment out of that Fund of benefits payable under this Part in relation to periods of service before the commencement of this Part.
"(5.) The Commonwealth shall pay into the Ministerial Fund such amount, if any, as is determined by resolution of each House after consideration of any certification by the Commonwealth Actuary in accordance with the last preceding sub-section.
"22E. Contributions.
" (1.) Subject to this section, every office-holder shall contribute to the Ministerial Fund at the appropriate rate fixed by this section.
"(2) The contributions payable under this section shall be deducted from payments of parliamentary allowance or ministerial salary made to the contributor, and each deduction shall, so far as practicable, be in respect of the same period as that in respect of which the payment is made.
"(3) Amounts so deducted shall be paid into the Ministerial Fund.
"(4) Contributions are not payable by an officer-holder--
(a) after he has contributed under this section in respect of a period of, or periods aggregating, fourteen years; or
(b) after he has qualified, subject only to his ceasing to be entitled to a parliamentary allowance, to be paid a pension under section nineteen A of this Act by reason of having held the office of Prime Minister.
"(5) The rates of contribution under this section are--
(a) in the case of a Minister or the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives--Four pounds five shillings per week;
(b) in the case of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives--Two pounds two shillings and sixpence per week; and
( c) in the case of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate--One pound one shilling and threepence per week.
"22F. Contributions by Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth shall pay into the Fund, in respect of a pension under this Part, an amount equal to seventy per centum of each amount of pension paid.
"22G. Applications of benefits.
Pensions and other benefits under this Part are payable only to or in relation to persons who are office-holders at the commencement of this Part or become office-holders thereafter.
"22H. Benefits to contributors.
"(1 . ) Subject to this Part, a person who has contributed to the Ministerial Fund and ceases to be entitled to a parliamentary allowance and his ministerial salary (if any), otherwise than by reason of his death, is entitled to benefits from the Ministerial Fund in accordance with this section.
"(2 . ) Where the period of service of the person is not less than eight years, the benefit shall be a pension calculated in accordance with the following scale by reference to the number of complete years in his period of service:--
Period of Service. | Weekly amount of pension. |
| £. s. d. |
8 | 9 0 0 |
9 | 10 10 0 |
10 | 12 0 0 |
11 | 14 0 0 |
12 | 16 0 0 |
13 | 18 10 0 |
14 or more | 21 0 0 |
"(3 . ) Where the period of service of the person is less than eight years, but he has, on at least three occasions (including occasions before the commencement of this Part), been an office-holder at the time of the dissolution or expiration of the House of which he was a member or at the time of the expiration of his term of office as a member, the last preceding sub-section applies as if his period of service were eight years.
"(4 . ) Where the contributor is not entitled to a pension in accordance with the preceding provisions of this section, the benefit shall be a refund of his contributions.
"22J. Period of service.
"(1.) Subject to this section, the period of service of a person for the purposes of this Part is the period, or the sum of the periods (whether continuous or not and whether before or after the commencement of this Part), during which he has been an office-holder.
"(2.) For the purposes of the last preceding sub-section--
(a) a period during which a person has been Leader or Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives shall not be taken into account unless--
(i) the period was not less than twelve months; or
(ii) the period was continuous or, in the opinion of the Trust, substantially continuous, with any other period or periods of service by that person as an office-holder and the sum of the first-mentioned period and the other period or periods was not less than twelve months;
(b) a period during which a person was Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives shall be taken into account only to the extent of one-half of the period; and
(c) a period during which a person was Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate shall be taken into account only to the extent of one-quarter of the period.
"(3.) Where a person has paid contributions to the Ministerial Fund in respect of a period that, by reason of paragraph (a) of the last preceding sub-section, is not to be taken into account for the purposes of this section, he is entitled to receive, as soon as practicable after the end of that period, a refund of the contributions so paid.
"22K. Benefits on death of contributor.
" (1.) Where a person who is or has been a contributor dies--
(a) while he is entitled to a parliamentary allowance or ministerial salary; or
(b) while he is entitled to a pension under the preceding provisions of this Part,
benefits from the Ministerial Fund are payable in accordance with this section.
" (2.) If the deceased person was a male who is survived by a widow--
(a) where the deceased person was entitled to a pension under this Part or would have been so entitled if he had ceased to be entitled to a parliamentary allowance and his Ministerial salary (if any), there is payable to the widow, at her option to be exercised as prescribed, either--
(i) a pension, during her lifetime but ceasing upon her re-marr iage , at the rate of five-sixths of the rate of the pension that was, or would have been, payable to the deceased person; or
(ii) an amount equal to the deceased person's contributions, less the amount of pension (if any) received by, or accrued due to, the deceased person before his death; or
(b) in any other case--there is payable to the widow an amount equal to the deceased person's contributions.
"(3.) If the deceased person was a male who is not survived by a widow, or was a female, there shall be payable to the personal representatives of the deceased person the amount of the contributions paid by the deceased person, less the amount of pension (if any) received by, or accrued due to, the deceased person before his or her death.
"(4.) Where a widow who has an option under sub-section (2.) of this section dies or remarries without having exercised that option, she shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to have exercised that option immediately before her death or remarriage by electing to be paid the amount ascertained in accordance with sub-paragraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of that sub-section.
"(5.) The provisions of sub-sections (5.), (6.) and (7.) of section nineteen of this Act apply in relations to pensions under this section in like manner as they apply in relation to pensions under that section.
"22L. Contributor qualifying for Prime Minister's pension
Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Part, a person who ceases to be liable to make contributions by virtue of paragraph (b) of sub-section (4.) of section twenty-two E of this Act is thereupon entitled to a refund of his contributions, and no other benefit is payable under this Part to or in respect of such a person.
"22M. Re-election
"(1.) Where a person who has been a contributor and is in recept of a pension under this Part again becomes entitled to a parliamentary allowance, he ceases to be entitled to that pension, but without predjudice to any right to a further pension or other benefit under this Part.
"(2.) Where a person who has been a contributor has received under this Part a refund of contributions and that person again becomes a contributor, any period of service of that person as an office-holder, and any occasion referred to in sub-section (3.) of section twenty-two H of this Act, before he became entitled to that refund shall not be taken into account for the purposes of determining his rights in respect of any further benefit under this Part unless, within three months, or, if the Trust so allows, six months, after he again becomes a contributor, he contracts with the Trust, in the manner required by the Trust, to repay the amount of that refund to the Trust within three years.
"(3.) Where a person in receipt of a pension as a widow becomes a member--
(a) the pension is not payable in respect of the period during which the pensioner is in receipt of a parliamentary allowance or ministerial salary; and
(b) the pensioner is not entitled to receive the pension at any time after becoming entitled to a pension by virtue of having been a contributor.
"22N. Government employment or membership of State Parliament.
"(1.) Subject to this section, the provision of section twenty-one of this Act apply in relation to pension under this Part in like manner as they apply in relation to pension under Part V.
"(2.) Where a person is, a part from section twenty-one of this Act and this section, entitled both to a pension under Part V, and a pension under this Part, the total extent of any reduction shall be calculated as if that section applied to the two pensions combined, but the reduction shall be effected by apportioning the total reduction between the two pensions in the same proportion as their rates bear to each other.
"22P. Certain disqualifications.
The provisions of section twenty-two of this Act apply in relation to benefit under this Part in like manner as they apply in relation to benefit under Part V.".