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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2001 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

But what is really going on here? In 1991 we changed the superannuation scheme. We introduced the public sector superannuation scheme. Why did we introduce the public sector superannuation scheme? We did it in order to reduce the cost of the scheme to the public sector in future years. It is having that effect. We did that in 1991 in consultation with the unions, at a Commonwealth level, and we inherited it in the ACT. That was done in consultation with the unions. It is going to reduce the long-term costs of superannuation.

How do we solve what appears to be the real problem, Mr Osborne? The real problem is not the benefits to employees, Mr Osborne. The problem is the accruing costs of the old scheme, the Commonwealth superannuation scheme. It is not the PSS which is causing the problem; it is the old scheme, the Commonwealth superannuation scheme, which is already closed. What can we do about that? The answer, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, is that we have to make some provision for the funding of accruing costs. When we were in government Labor was making provision for the accruing costs of superannuation.

Mr Osborne: That is obvious. It is $700m.

MR WHITECROSS: Mr Osborne, if you were paying attention, you would have heard that the Government which you support stopped making provision for the accruing costs of superannuation when they came in.

Mr Osborne: I have raised it every year, Andrew. I have raised the superannuation issue in respect of every budget.

MR WHITECROSS: You, Mr Osborne, have supported a government which has compounded the problem. It has made the problem worse, Mr Osborne, so do not come in here and lecture me about it. You are supporting a government which has made the problem worse.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Mr Whitecross, address your remarks to the Chair.

MR WHITECROSS: Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, if Mr Osborne wants to mislead the house I have to set him straight. It is he who has supported a government which has made this problem worse. We were funding accruing costs; not fully, I admit, but we were making a contribution to the accruing costs. The Government that Mr Osborne supports, the Government presided over by the current Treasurer, is not making any provision for accruing costs, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker. It is the provision for accruing costs which is the problem. The Treasury officials came into the Estimates Committee hearing and gave us all these graphs about their so-called new superannuation scheme to cut benefits to employees, but it will not address the problem of the peak in the cost as a percentage of salaries. That will be addressed only by making a provision up front for accruing costs of the CSS, the scheme which is closed but which represents the lion's share of the unfunded liability.

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