. AU8TAIAm
PRIME MINISTER
FOR PRESS: PM. No. 97/ 1972
D. F. R. B. AND SUPERANNUATION ENQUIRIES
Statement by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. William
1McMahon,
On 26 October 1972, I made a statement in the
House of Representatives on the outcome of the Government's
consideration of the Report of the Joint Select Committee
on Defence Fcrces Retiriment Benefits Legislation.
In the course of this statement I announced that
the Government had detcided to arrange for independent expert
investigation in respect of two matters arising from the
Report. The tasks are to enquire into and report on:
whether it is practicable to transfer, in an
equitable way and without detriment to any of
them, Pre-1959 and Post-1959 D. F. R. B.
contributors to a new, simple and readily
comprehensible, D. F. R. B. scheme; and
methods of adjusting after retirement pensions
payable under the D. F. P. B. and Commonwealth
Superannuation Acts.
The two asnects are quite distinct and the
Government has therefore decided that the enquiries should
be conducted senaratel. Terms of Reference for each enquiry
have now been determined and are attached.
The enquiries are complicated and technically
difficult and the Government has decided that each enquiry
should be conducted by one expert assisted as necessary by
assessors. / 2
The D. F. R. B. transfer enquiry will be conducted
by Mr. J. G. Rutherford, the Queensland State Actuary and
Insurance Commissioner.
The pensions adjustment enquiry will be conducted
by Professor A. H. Pollard, who is the Director of Actuarial
Studies and the Head of the School of Economics and
Financial Studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.
CANBERRA, 6 November 1972
ATTACHMENT " A"
ENQUIRY INTO TRANSFER OF PRE-1959 AND POST-1959 D. F. R. B.
CONTRIBUTORS TO A NEW D. F. R. B. SCHEME
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Bearing in mind the Government's objective of a
simple, readily comprehensible D. F. R. B. scheme, enquire into
and report on: a method or methods of transferring in an
equitable way and without detriment to any
of them, Pre-1959 and Post-1959 D. F. R. B.
contributors to a new D. F. R. B. scheme;
the provision to be made in the transfer
arrangements to ensure that existing
contributors would not be disadvantaged
in such a new scheme, bearing in mind
the Government's assurance on 20 September
1972 that they would have a right of
election; the broad framework of the legislation
necessary to incorporate the detailed
arrangements for implementing the conclusions
arising from and above; and
the financial implications of and for
the D. F. R. B. Fund; and
the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
ATTACHMENT " B" ENQUIRY INTO ADJUSTMENT OF D. F. R. B. AND
COMM: ONWEALTH SUPERANNUATION PENSIONS
AFTER RETIREMENT
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Identify and evaluate the criteria in accordance
with which D. F. R. B. and Commonwealth
Superannuation Fund and similar type pensions
could appropriately be adjusted in changing
economic circumstances.
Enquire into and report on:
methods of adjusting pensions payable
under the Defence Forces Retirement
Benefit Act and Superannuation Act;
the nature and extent of ny problems and
inequities associated with the use of each
adjustment method;
the inter-relationships between the various
Commonwealth Superannuation pension schemes
and how these inter-relationships might be
affected by the application of the various
adjulstment methods to D. F. R. B. and
Superannuation pensions; and
the financial implications of each of the
possible methods for, in particular,
the D. F. R. B. Fund and Superannuation
Fund and
( ii) the Consolidated Revenue Fund.