Page 5833 - Week 18 - Tuesday, 10 December 1991
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natural, perfectly logical, perfectly understandable and totally financially responsible. However, every time I speak to somebody outside this Assembly, when I speak to accountants, when I speak to actuaries, when I speak to other people that - - -
Mr Berry: Public servants.
MR STEVENSON: Some public servants, indeed, yes. What we hear is that it is not okay.
Mr Kaine: Give us your sources when they say that it is not okay.
MR STEVENSON: Sauce on your pie. Firstly, I hear that the idea of paying in $7,500 and taking away about $45,000 is not something that most people could expect. Let us have a look at the details of what this superannuation means to the majority of the members of this Assembly who are going to be fired on 15 February, after three years. What will happen is that after three years those people will walk away with a $45,000 benefit.
Mr Berry: No, they will not.
Mr Moore: They will roll it over.
MR STEVENSON: I knew full well that that would gain a response of, "No, they will not". But let me tell you, "Yes, they will; they will walk away with a $45,000 benefit". I did not say "money in their pocket". I well understand that if they are under 55, or over 55 and not retiring, they will need to roll the funds over. They will need to roll over the $45,000 benefit they walk away with into another fund unless, of course, they are 55 and/or retiring over 55.
The other point is that it is interesting to note that this is a defined benefit fund. In other words, members will have a very good understanding of what the final benefit that they receive will be. This is something that the majority of people in the real world could never expect or hope to have. The reason, and let me put it clearly, is that in the financial marketplace you cannot be sure how much money is going to be available, what the return on money invested is going to be or what you are going to have left. I do grant that some funds that are managed well over a long period could actually show a better return than that which we are looking at getting at this time.
What would happen with the average individual if they entered a superannuation scheme and left after paying money into it for three years? What would happen, I am told, is that they would get a benefit of something like $8,000 or $9,000 back from the money that they paid in.
Mr Humphries: It depends on their salary.
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