ACT Labor senator Katy Gallagher promised to pursue a potential underpayment of superannuation on behalf of bureaucrats before the election, saying she wouldn't drop the matter until departments assured her they were doing everything to pay entitlements owed to staff.
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The Finance Minister on Friday denied Labor legislation changing superannuation laws last week contradicted her pre-election stance, saying all public servants would receive their superannuation entitlements.
In an email to a retired public servant, sent on April 21 during the election campaign period, Senator Gallagher said she would "follow through" on the possible superannuation underpayment regardless of the election result.
The ACT senator said she had pursued the matter through questions at Senate estimates.
"Please be assured that irrespective of the election outcome I will continue to follow through on this matter until assured the relevant departments are taking every step to ensure all eligible public servants receive their superannuation entitlements in full," Senator Gallagher said.
"It is a priority for a future Albanese Labor government to ensure all Australian workers always receive their full entitlements and Labor have committed to legislate to make wage theft a criminal offence.
"Importantly, a Labor government is also committed to being a model employer - as the federal government employs nearly a quarter of a million people and can play a significant role in raising the standards around employment."
Senator Gallagher last week introduced legislation to the Senate protecting the government from a potential multibillion-dollar bill in unpaid superannuation owed to public servants arising from a looming Federal Court decision.
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The legislation passed the Senate on Wednesday and the House of Representatives the next day with the support of the Coalition, but drew opposition from the Greens, who criticised the government efforts to rush the legislation through parliament without more debate or scrutiny.
The Finance Minister on Friday said her role introducing the laws did not contradict her pre-election statements, and that public servants would receive their entitlements.
"The changes passed by the parliament this week related to claims to superannuation over and above what the employer and employee understanding of superannuation entitlement has been since 1986," she said.
"Since becoming minister I have been fully briefed about the issue and the legislation that passed the parliament is the result of those briefings.
"The Albanese government will always meet the standard of a model employer and at the same time we will always be fiscally responsible."
The extraordinary laws retrospectively change public service superannuation legislation and block a possible liability arising from a pending Federal Court decision on claims that three Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade employees are owed unpaid super on rent-free housing.
DFAT staff Brendan Peace, Peter Fennell and Timothy Vistarini argued the Commonwealth did not pay them superannuation owed for a rent-free accommodation allowance they received on overseas postings and a "hardship" allowance as part of their salary on overseas postings.
If the court ruled in favour of the DFAT staff, it could mean the Commonwealth would owe thousands more public servants unpaid superannuation owed on rent-free accommodation during their overseas postings.
Labor has claimed the government may have to pay $8-11 billion in unpaid superannuation, although a government document explaining the new legislation said the size of any financial impacts was unquantified and "very difficult to quantify".
"The administrative task involved in quantifying the financial impacts is ... extremely large," the bill's explanatory memorandum said.
Senator Gallagher questioned Finance Department officials in 2020 about claims that federal agencies had failed to pay staff superannuation owing on their rent-free accommodation for overseas postings, asking what redress was available to public servants if superannuation was owed.
On Tuesday she said the new legislation was needed to minimise the "significant windfall increases" in superannuation benefits that could be paid out following the court's ruling, and said these could be valued in the millions of dollars.
"A small cohort of Commonwealth employees could incur large, unexpected debts for unpaid member contributions in return for little or no increase in their superannuation benefits, and the Commonwealth could incur significant additional costs to meet increased superannuation benefits and additional employer contributions," she said.
The government argued the bill would "regularise" a Commonwealth practice, starting after the introduction of the fringe benefits tax regime in 1986, not to treat rent-free housing as salary for superannuation purposes.
"Since then, it appears, as a general rule, that neither employers nor employees have made superannuation contributions that have taken account of the value of rent-free housing," the bill's explanatory memorandum said.
The government's rapid move to change the superannuation laws drew criticism from the Community and Public Sector Union and surprised public servants observing the Federal Court case.
Labor MP for Fenner Andrew Leigh stridently supported the bill on Twitter, saying the Greens were backing "millionaires" by opposing it, and claiming the three DFAT employees could receive $11 million each from the case. It is understood the public servants in the case regard the figure as a gross overestimate of the potential sum involved.
The superannuation legislation's passage through parliament last week raises questions about the future of the Federal Court case, which was due to be decided soon and was flagged in government budget papers earlier this year as posing a fiscal risk to the Commonwealth.
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