{"id":"C2004A05008","name":"Commonwealth Bank Sale Act 1995","slug":"commonwealth-bank-sale-act-1995","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"161 of 1995","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":38935,"registerId":"commonwealth-C2004A05008-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"Part 1","sectionType":"part","heading":"Preliminary","content":"## Part 1—Preliminary","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Short title","content":"#### 1 Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Commonwealth Bank Sale Act 1995.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commencement","content":"#### 2 Commencement\n\n  (1) Subject to this section, this Act commences on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.\n  (2) Part 3, and all the items of the Schedule (except items 1, 12, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 31, 37 and 48), commence at the transfer time.\n  (3) Item 12 of the Schedule commences on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.\n  (4) Item 22 of the Schedule commences on the first anniversary of the day on which the transfer time occurs.\n  (5) Item 37 of the Schedule commences at the transfer time or at the beginning of 9 May 1996, whichever is later.\n  (6) Items 1 and 48 of the Schedule commence on the 10th anniversary of the day on which the transfer time occurs.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Interpretation","content":"#### 3 Interpretation\n\n  In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:\n\n> Bank body means:\n\n    (a) the Commonwealth Bank, the Commonwealth Development Bank of Australia Limited or the Commonwealth Bank Officers Superannuation Corporation; or\n    (b) a body corporate that is a subsidiary (as defined in Division 6 of Part 1.2 of the Corporations Law) of the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n> Commonwealth Bank means the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.\n\n> transfer time means the time when the Commonwealth ceases to have the status of being the holder of shares in the Commonwealth Bank that carry more than 50% of the total voting rights attached to the voting shares in the Commonwealth Bank.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"Part 3","sectionType":"part","heading":"Transitional and saving","content":"An Act to facilitate the sale of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank, and for related purposes\n\n## Part 1—Preliminary\n\n#### 1 Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Commonwealth Bank Sale Act 1995.\n\n#### 2 Commencement\n\n  (1) Subject to this section, this Act commences on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.\n  (2) Part 3, and all the items of the Schedule (except items 1, 12, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 31, 37 and 48), commence at the transfer time.\n  (3) Item 12 of the Schedule commences on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.\n  (4) Item 22 of the Schedule commences on the first anniversary of the day on which the transfer time occurs.\n  (5) Item 37 of the Schedule commences at the transfer time or at the beginning of 9 May 1996, whichever is later.\n  (6) Items 1 and 48 of the Schedule commence on the 10th anniversary of the day on which the transfer time occurs.\n\n#### 3 Interpretation\n\n  In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:\n\n> Bank body means:\n\n    (a) the Commonwealth Bank, the Commonwealth Development Bank of Australia Limited or the Commonwealth Bank Officers Superannuation Corporation; or\n    (b) a body corporate that is a subsidiary (as defined in Division 6 of Part 1.2 of the Corporations Law) of the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n> Commonwealth Bank means the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.\n\n> transfer time means the time when the Commonwealth ceases to have the status of being the holder of shares in the Commonwealth Bank that carry more than 50% of the total voting rights attached to the voting shares in the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n## Part 3—Transitional and saving\n\n### Division 1—Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988\n\n#### 5 Interpretation\n\n  (1) Unless the contrary intention appears, expressions used in this Division that are also used in the SRC Act have the same respective meanings as in that Act.\n  (2) In this Division:\n\n> SRC Act means the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988.\n\n#### 6 SRC Act continues to apply to Commonwealth Bank etc. for certain purposes\n\n  If a Bank body ceases to be a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of the SRC Act at the transfer time, the SRC Act continues to apply in relation to the Bank body to the extent, and in the manner, set out in sections 7 to 11 of this Act.\n\n#### 7 SRC Act continues to apply for previous injuries etc.\n\n  (1) The SRC Act continues to apply after the transfer time in relation to:\n    (a) injuries suffered by employees of the Bank body before the transfer time; and\n    (b) loss of, or damage to, property incurred by employees of the Bank body before the transfer time;\n  including employees who have stopped being employees of the Bank body before the transfer time.\n  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the SRC Act continues to apply as if:\n    (a) the Bank body continued to be a Commonwealth authority; and\n    (b) the chief executive officer (however described) of the Bank body continued to be the principal officer of a Commonwealth authority.\n\n#### 8 Payment of premiums\n\n  (1) After the transfer time, Division 4A of Part VII of the SRC Act applies to the Bank body as if:\n    (a) the Bank body continued to be a Commonwealth authority; and\n    (b) the Bank body were not required to pay a premium under that Division in respect of the part of a financial year that occurs after the transfer time; and\n    (c) the following word and paragraph were added at the end of subsection 96H(1) of the SRC Act:\n    “; or (f) in the case of an authority—the authority is not required to pay a premium under this Division in respect of part of a financial year.”.\n  (2) If an amount of premium payable by the Bank body in respect of a period before the transfer time remains unpaid, the amount is a debt due to the Commonwealth by the Bank body and is payable to Comcare.\n\n#### 9 Part VIIIA of the SRC Act\n\n  Part VIIIA of the SRC Act continues to apply to the Bank body after the transfer time as if any licence granted to the Bank body under that Part were revoked at the transfer time.\n\n#### 10 Refund of licence fee\n\n  (1) If the Bank body has paid a licence fee under section 107R of the SRC Act in respect of the licence fee year in which the transfer time occurs, then the Bank body is entitled to be paid a refund of the amount worked out using the following formula:\n  ![](image.002.png)\n  where:\n\n> Number of refund days means the total number of days in the period beginning at the transfer time and ending on the last day of the licence fee year in which the transfer time occurs.\n\n  (2) In this section:\n\n> licence fee year means the year beginning on the date of commencement of a licence granted under section 107J of the SRC Act and ending on the day before the anniversary of that date.\n\n#### 11 Amendment of declarations\n\n  (1) If a notice was published in the Gazette before the transfer time declaring the Bank body to be a body corporate to which the SRC Act applies for the purposes of the definition of Commonwealth authority in subsection 4(1) of the SRC Act, then the notice has effect after the transfer time as if it did not contain a reference to the Bank body.\n  (2) Subsection (1) does not, by implication, prevent the amendment or revocation of the notice.\n\n#### 12 Section 128A of the SRC Act\n\n  Section 128A of the SRC Act continues to apply to the Commonwealth Bank after the transfer time as if the Commonwealth Bank continued to be a prescribed Commonwealth authority for the purposes of that section.\n\n#### 13 Notification of amount of salary etc.\n\n  (1) This section applies to a Bank body that was a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of the SRC Act immediately before the transfer time.\n  (2) The chief executive officer (however described) of the Bank body must notify the Commission, within 28 days after the transfer time, of the amount of salary, wages or pay paid to employees of the Bank body in the period starting on 1 July in the financial year in which the transfer time occurred and ending at the transfer time.\n\n### Division 2—Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973\n\n#### 14 Interpretation\n\n  In this Division:\n\n> DFRDB Act means the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973.\n\n#### 15 Deferred benefits\n\n  (1) This section applies if, immediately before the transfer time, an employee of a Bank body was a person to whom deferred benefits were applicable under section 78 of the DFRDB Act.\n  (2) For the purposes of Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act, the employee is taken to continue in public employment, after the transfer time, so long as the employee continues to be employed by a Bank body.\n  (3) This section is subject to Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act.\n\n#### 16 Periods of eligible employment\n\n  If, immediately before the transfer time, a particular period of employment of a person by a Bank body was a period of eligible employment for the purposes of Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act, that period of employment continues to be a period of eligible employment for the purposes of that Division.\n\n### Division 3—Miscellaneous\n\n#### 17 Saving previous operation of section 109 of the Commonwealth Banks Act\n\n  The repeal of section 109 of the Commonwealth Banks Act 1959 does not affect:\n    (a) the vesting of property in the Commonwealth Bank under that section before the repeal; or\n    (b) the incurring of liabilities by the Commonwealth Bank under that section before the repeal.\n\n#### 18 Application of bad debt provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act\n\n  (1) In applying Subdivision 165‑C or 166‑C of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to decide whether a Bank body can deduct an amount for a bad debt in the year of income in which the completion time occurred, or in a later year of income, it must be assumed that the persons who beneficially owned the shares in the Commonwealth Bank immediately after the completion time were also the beneficial owners of the shares at all times before the completion time.\n  (2) In this section:\n\n> completion time means the time when the Commonwealth ceases to be a shareholder in the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n#### 19 Regulations\n\n  (1) The Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters:\n    (a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or\n    (b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.\n  (2) In particular, regulations may be made in relation to matters of a transitional or saving nature arising out of the sale of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank, or otherwise arising out of the enactment of this Act.\n  (3) Subsection 12(2) (retrospective application of legislative instruments) of the Legislation Act 2003 does not apply to regulations that are made under this section and that commence at or after the transfer time.\n\n## Part 4—Exemption from certain taxes\n\n#### 20 Exemption from certain State and Territory taxes\n\n  (1) No tax is payable under a law of a State or Territory in respect of an exempt matter or anything connected with an exempt matter.\n  (2) An authorised person may, by signed writing, certify that:\n    (a) a specified matter or thing is an exempt matter; or\n    (b) a specified thing was done in connection with a specified exempt matter.\n  (3) For all purposes and in all proceedings, a certificate under subsection (2) is evidence of the matter stated in the certificate.\n  (4) A document that appears to be a certificate under subsection (2) is taken to be such a certificate and to have been properly given unless the contrary is established.\n  (5) In this section:\n\n> authorised person means:\n\n    (a) the Minister; or\n    (b) the Secretary of the Department; or\n    (c) a person who:\n    (i) is an SES employee, or acting SES employee, in the Department; and\n    (ii) is authorised in writing by the Secretary of the Department for the purposes of this section.\n\n> exempt matter means any of the following:\n\n    (a) the sale by the Commonwealth of any of its shares in the Commonwealth Bank (other than a sale of those shares to the Commonwealth Bank);\n    (b) an agreement relating to a sale that is covered by paragraph (a);\n    (c) the transfer of any of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank to a person other than the Commonwealth Bank;\n    (d) the receipt of money by the Commonwealth in respect of a sale that is covered by paragraph (a).\n\n> tax means stamp duty, or any other tax, fee, duty, levy or charge, but does not include:\n\n    (a) a fee payable under the Corporations Law of a State or Territory; or\n    (b) a tax, fee, duty, levy or charge specified in a notice signed by the Minister and published in the Gazette.","sortOrder":4},{"sectionNumber":"Division 1","sectionType":"division","heading":"Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988","content":"An Act to facilitate the sale of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank, and for related purposes\n\n## Part 1—Preliminary\n\n#### 1 Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Commonwealth Bank Sale Act 1995.\n\n#### 2 Commencement\n\n  (1) Subject to this section, this Act commences on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.\n  (2) Part 3, and all the items of the Schedule (except items 1, 12, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 31, 37 and 48), commence at the transfer time.\n  (3) Item 12 of the Schedule commences on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.\n  (4) Item 22 of the Schedule commences on the first anniversary of the day on which the transfer time occurs.\n  (5) Item 37 of the Schedule commences at the transfer time or at the beginning of 9 May 1996, whichever is later.\n  (6) Items 1 and 48 of the Schedule commence on the 10th anniversary of the day on which the transfer time occurs.\n\n#### 3 Interpretation\n\n  In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:\n\n> Bank body means:\n\n    (a) the Commonwealth Bank, the Commonwealth Development Bank of Australia Limited or the Commonwealth Bank Officers Superannuation Corporation; or\n    (b) a body corporate that is a subsidiary (as defined in Division 6 of Part 1.2 of the Corporations Law) of the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n> Commonwealth Bank means the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.\n\n> transfer time means the time when the Commonwealth ceases to have the status of being the holder of shares in the Commonwealth Bank that carry more than 50% of the total voting rights attached to the voting shares in the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n## Part 3—Transitional and saving\n\n### Division 1—Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988\n\n#### 5 Interpretation\n\n  (1) Unless the contrary intention appears, expressions used in this Division that are also used in the SRC Act have the same respective meanings as in that Act.\n  (2) In this Division:\n\n> SRC Act means the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988.\n\n#### 6 SRC Act continues to apply to Commonwealth Bank etc. for certain purposes\n\n  If a Bank body ceases to be a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of the SRC Act at the transfer time, the SRC Act continues to apply in relation to the Bank body to the extent, and in the manner, set out in sections 7 to 11 of this Act.\n\n#### 7 SRC Act continues to apply for previous injuries etc.\n\n  (1) The SRC Act continues to apply after the transfer time in relation to:\n    (a) injuries suffered by employees of the Bank body before the transfer time; and\n    (b) loss of, or damage to, property incurred by employees of the Bank body before the transfer time;\n  including employees who have stopped being employees of the Bank body before the transfer time.\n  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the SRC Act continues to apply as if:\n    (a) the Bank body continued to be a Commonwealth authority; and\n    (b) the chief executive officer (however described) of the Bank body continued to be the principal officer of a Commonwealth authority.\n\n#### 8 Payment of premiums\n\n  (1) After the transfer time, Division 4A of Part VII of the SRC Act applies to the Bank body as if:\n    (a) the Bank body continued to be a Commonwealth authority; and\n    (b) the Bank body were not required to pay a premium under that Division in respect of the part of a financial year that occurs after the transfer time; and\n    (c) the following word and paragraph were added at the end of subsection 96H(1) of the SRC Act:\n    “; or (f) in the case of an authority—the authority is not required to pay a premium under this Division in respect of part of a financial year.”.\n  (2) If an amount of premium payable by the Bank body in respect of a period before the transfer time remains unpaid, the amount is a debt due to the Commonwealth by the Bank body and is payable to Comcare.\n\n#### 9 Part VIIIA of the SRC Act\n\n  Part VIIIA of the SRC Act continues to apply to the Bank body after the transfer time as if any licence granted to the Bank body under that Part were revoked at the transfer time.\n\n#### 10 Refund of licence fee\n\n  (1) If the Bank body has paid a licence fee under section 107R of the SRC Act in respect of the licence fee year in which the transfer time occurs, then the Bank body is entitled to be paid a refund of the amount worked out using the following formula:\n  ![](image.002.png)\n  where:\n\n> Number of refund days means the total number of days in the period beginning at the transfer time and ending on the last day of the licence fee year in which the transfer time occurs.\n\n  (2) In this section:\n\n> licence fee year means the year beginning on the date of commencement of a licence granted under section 107J of the SRC Act and ending on the day before the anniversary of that date.\n\n#### 11 Amendment of declarations\n\n  (1) If a notice was published in the Gazette before the transfer time declaring the Bank body to be a body corporate to which the SRC Act applies for the purposes of the definition of Commonwealth authority in subsection 4(1) of the SRC Act, then the notice has effect after the transfer time as if it did not contain a reference to the Bank body.\n  (2) Subsection (1) does not, by implication, prevent the amendment or revocation of the notice.\n\n#### 12 Section 128A of the SRC Act\n\n  Section 128A of the SRC Act continues to apply to the Commonwealth Bank after the transfer time as if the Commonwealth Bank continued to be a prescribed Commonwealth authority for the purposes of that section.\n\n#### 13 Notification of amount of salary etc.\n\n  (1) This section applies to a Bank body that was a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of the SRC Act immediately before the transfer time.\n  (2) The chief executive officer (however described) of the Bank body must notify the Commission, within 28 days after the transfer time, of the amount of salary, wages or pay paid to employees of the Bank body in the period starting on 1 July in the financial year in which the transfer time occurred and ending at the transfer time.\n\n### Division 2—Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973\n\n#### 14 Interpretation\n\n  In this Division:\n\n> DFRDB Act means the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973.\n\n#### 15 Deferred benefits\n\n  (1) This section applies if, immediately before the transfer time, an employee of a Bank body was a person to whom deferred benefits were applicable under section 78 of the DFRDB Act.\n  (2) For the purposes of Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act, the employee is taken to continue in public employment, after the transfer time, so long as the employee continues to be employed by a Bank body.\n  (3) This section is subject to Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act.\n\n#### 16 Periods of eligible employment\n\n  If, immediately before the transfer time, a particular period of employment of a person by a Bank body was a period of eligible employment for the purposes of Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act, that period of employment continues to be a period of eligible employment for the purposes of that Division.\n\n### Division 3—Miscellaneous\n\n#### 17 Saving previous operation of section 109 of the Commonwealth Banks Act\n\n  The repeal of section 109 of the Commonwealth Banks Act 1959 does not affect:\n    (a) the vesting of property in the Commonwealth Bank under that section before the repeal; or\n    (b) the incurring of liabilities by the Commonwealth Bank under that section before the repeal.\n\n#### 18 Application of bad debt provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act\n\n  (1) In applying Subdivision 165‑C or 166‑C of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to decide whether a Bank body can deduct an amount for a bad debt in the year of income in which the completion time occurred, or in a later year of income, it must be assumed that the persons who beneficially owned the shares in the Commonwealth Bank immediately after the completion time were also the beneficial owners of the shares at all times before the completion time.\n  (2) In this section:\n\n> completion time means the time when the Commonwealth ceases to be a shareholder in the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n#### 19 Regulations\n\n  (1) The Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters:\n    (a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or\n    (b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.\n  (2) In particular, regulations may be made in relation to matters of a transitional or saving nature arising out of the sale of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank, or otherwise arising out of the enactment of this Act.\n  (3) Subsection 12(2) (retrospective application of legislative instruments) of the Legislation Act 2003 does not apply to regulations that are made under this section and that commence at or after the transfer time.\n\n## Part 4—Exemption from certain taxes\n\n#### 20 Exemption from certain State and Territory taxes\n\n  (1) No tax is payable under a law of a State or Territory in respect of an exempt matter or anything connected with an exempt matter.\n  (2) An authorised person may, by signed writing, certify that:\n    (a) a specified matter or thing is an exempt matter; or\n    (b) a specified thing was done in connection with a specified exempt matter.\n  (3) For all purposes and in all proceedings, a certificate under subsection (2) is evidence of the matter stated in the certificate.\n  (4) A document that appears to be a certificate under subsection (2) is taken to be such a certificate and to have been properly given unless the contrary is established.\n  (5) In this section:\n\n> authorised person means:\n\n    (a) the Minister; or\n    (b) the Secretary of the Department; or\n    (c) a person who:\n    (i) is an SES employee, or acting SES employee, in the Department; and\n    (ii) is authorised in writing by the Secretary of the Department for the purposes of this section.\n\n> exempt matter means any of the following:\n\n    (a) the sale by the Commonwealth of any of its shares in the Commonwealth Bank (other than a sale of those shares to the Commonwealth Bank);\n    (b) an agreement relating to a sale that is covered by paragraph (a);\n    (c) the transfer of any of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank to a person other than the Commonwealth Bank;\n    (d) the receipt of money by the Commonwealth in respect of a sale that is covered by paragraph (a).\n\n> tax means stamp duty, or any other tax, fee, duty, levy or charge, but does not include:\n\n    (a) a fee payable under the Corporations Law of a State or Territory; or\n    (b) a tax, fee, duty, levy or charge specified in a notice signed by the Minister and published in the Gazette.","sortOrder":5},{"sectionNumber":"5","sectionType":"section","heading":"Interpretation","content":"#### 5 Interpretation\n\n  (1) Unless the contrary intention appears, expressions used in this Division that are also used in the SRC Act have the same respective meanings as in that Act.\n  (2) In this Division:\n\n> SRC Act means the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988.","sortOrder":6},{"sectionNumber":"6","sectionType":"section","heading":"SRC Act continues to apply to Commonwealth Bank etc. for certain purposes","content":"#### 6 SRC Act continues to apply to Commonwealth Bank etc. for certain purposes\n\n  If a Bank body ceases to be a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of the SRC Act at the transfer time, the SRC Act continues to apply in relation to the Bank body to the extent, and in the manner, set out in sections 7 to 11 of this Act.","sortOrder":7},{"sectionNumber":"7","sectionType":"section","heading":"SRC Act continues to apply for previous injuries etc.","content":"#### 7 SRC Act continues to apply for previous injuries etc.\n\n  (1) The SRC Act continues to apply after the transfer time in relation to:\n    (a) injuries suffered by employees of the Bank body before the transfer time; and\n    (b) loss of, or damage to, property incurred by employees of the Bank body before the transfer time;\n  including employees who have stopped being employees of the Bank body before the transfer time.\n  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the SRC Act continues to apply as if:\n    (a) the Bank body continued to be a Commonwealth authority; and\n    (b) the chief executive officer (however described) of the Bank body continued to be the principal officer of a Commonwealth authority.","sortOrder":8},{"sectionNumber":"8","sectionType":"section","heading":"Payment of premiums","content":"#### 8 Payment of premiums\n\n  (1) After the transfer time, Division 4A of Part VII of the SRC Act applies to the Bank body as if:\n    (a) the Bank body continued to be a Commonwealth authority; and\n    (b) the Bank body were not required to pay a premium under that Division in respect of the part of a financial year that occurs after the transfer time; and\n    (c) the following word and paragraph were added at the end of subsection 96H(1) of the SRC Act:\n    “; or (f) in the case of an authority—the authority is not required to pay a premium under this Division in respect of part of a financial year.”.\n  (2) If an amount of premium payable by the Bank body in respect of a period before the transfer time remains unpaid, the amount is a debt due to the Commonwealth by the Bank body and is payable to Comcare.","sortOrder":9},{"sectionNumber":"9","sectionType":"section","heading":"Part VIIIA of the SRC Act","content":"#### 9 Part VIIIA of the SRC Act\n\n  Part VIIIA of the SRC Act continues to apply to the Bank body after the transfer time as if any licence granted to the Bank body under that Part were revoked at the transfer time.","sortOrder":10},{"sectionNumber":"10","sectionType":"section","heading":"Refund of licence fee","content":"#### 10 Refund of licence fee\n\n  (1) If the Bank body has paid a licence fee under section 107R of the SRC Act in respect of the licence fee year in which the transfer time occurs, then the Bank body is entitled to be paid a refund of the amount worked out using the following formula:\n  ![](image.002.png)\n  where:\n\n> Number of refund days means the total number of days in the period beginning at the transfer time and ending on the last day of the licence fee year in which the transfer time occurs.\n\n  (2) In this section:\n\n> licence fee year means the year beginning on the date of commencement of a licence granted under section 107J of the SRC Act and ending on the day before the anniversary of that date.","sortOrder":11},{"sectionNumber":"11","sectionType":"section","heading":"Amendment of declarations","content":"#### 11 Amendment of declarations\n\n  (1) If a notice was published in the Gazette before the transfer time declaring the Bank body to be a body corporate to which the SRC Act applies for the purposes of the definition of Commonwealth authority in subsection 4(1) of the SRC Act, then the notice has effect after the transfer time as if it did not contain a reference to the Bank body.\n  (2) Subsection (1) does not, by implication, prevent the amendment or revocation of the notice.","sortOrder":12},{"sectionNumber":"12","sectionType":"section","heading":"Section 128A of the SRC Act","content":"#### 12 Section 128A of the SRC Act\n\n  Section 128A of the SRC Act continues to apply to the Commonwealth Bank after the transfer time as if the Commonwealth Bank continued to be a prescribed Commonwealth authority for the purposes of that section.","sortOrder":13},{"sectionNumber":"13","sectionType":"section","heading":"Notification of amount of salary etc.","content":"#### 13 Notification of amount of salary etc.\n\n  (1) This section applies to a Bank body that was a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of the SRC Act immediately before the transfer time.\n  (2) The chief executive officer (however described) of the Bank body must notify the Commission, within 28 days after the transfer time, of the amount of salary, wages or pay paid to employees of the Bank body in the period starting on 1 July in the financial year in which the transfer time occurred and ending at the transfer time.","sortOrder":14},{"sectionNumber":"Division 2","sectionType":"division","heading":"Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973","content":"An Act to facilitate the sale of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank, and for related purposes\n\n## Part 1—Preliminary\n\n#### 1 Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Commonwealth Bank Sale Act 1995.\n\n#### 2 Commencement\n\n  (1) Subject to this section, this Act commences on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.\n  (2) Part 3, and all the items of the Schedule (except items 1, 12, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 31, 37 and 48), commence at the transfer time.\n  (3) Item 12 of the Schedule commences on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.\n  (4) Item 22 of the Schedule commences on the first anniversary of the day on which the transfer time occurs.\n  (5) Item 37 of the Schedule commences at the transfer time or at the beginning of 9 May 1996, whichever is later.\n  (6) Items 1 and 48 of the Schedule commence on the 10th anniversary of the day on which the transfer time occurs.\n\n#### 3 Interpretation\n\n  In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:\n\n> Bank body means:\n\n    (a) the Commonwealth Bank, the Commonwealth Development Bank of Australia Limited or the Commonwealth Bank Officers Superannuation Corporation; or\n    (b) a body corporate that is a subsidiary (as defined in Division 6 of Part 1.2 of the Corporations Law) of the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n> Commonwealth Bank means the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.\n\n> transfer time means the time when the Commonwealth ceases to have the status of being the holder of shares in the Commonwealth Bank that carry more than 50% of the total voting rights attached to the voting shares in the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n## Part 3—Transitional and saving\n\n### Division 1—Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988\n\n#### 5 Interpretation\n\n  (1) Unless the contrary intention appears, expressions used in this Division that are also used in the SRC Act have the same respective meanings as in that Act.\n  (2) In this Division:\n\n> SRC Act means the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988.\n\n#### 6 SRC Act continues to apply to Commonwealth Bank etc. for certain purposes\n\n  If a Bank body ceases to be a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of the SRC Act at the transfer time, the SRC Act continues to apply in relation to the Bank body to the extent, and in the manner, set out in sections 7 to 11 of this Act.\n\n#### 7 SRC Act continues to apply for previous injuries etc.\n\n  (1) The SRC Act continues to apply after the transfer time in relation to:\n    (a) injuries suffered by employees of the Bank body before the transfer time; and\n    (b) loss of, or damage to, property incurred by employees of the Bank body before the transfer time;\n  including employees who have stopped being employees of the Bank body before the transfer time.\n  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the SRC Act continues to apply as if:\n    (a) the Bank body continued to be a Commonwealth authority; and\n    (b) the chief executive officer (however described) of the Bank body continued to be the principal officer of a Commonwealth authority.\n\n#### 8 Payment of premiums\n\n  (1) After the transfer time, Division 4A of Part VII of the SRC Act applies to the Bank body as if:\n    (a) the Bank body continued to be a Commonwealth authority; and\n    (b) the Bank body were not required to pay a premium under that Division in respect of the part of a financial year that occurs after the transfer time; and\n    (c) the following word and paragraph were added at the end of subsection 96H(1) of the SRC Act:\n    “; or (f) in the case of an authority—the authority is not required to pay a premium under this Division in respect of part of a financial year.”.\n  (2) If an amount of premium payable by the Bank body in respect of a period before the transfer time remains unpaid, the amount is a debt due to the Commonwealth by the Bank body and is payable to Comcare.\n\n#### 9 Part VIIIA of the SRC Act\n\n  Part VIIIA of the SRC Act continues to apply to the Bank body after the transfer time as if any licence granted to the Bank body under that Part were revoked at the transfer time.\n\n#### 10 Refund of licence fee\n\n  (1) If the Bank body has paid a licence fee under section 107R of the SRC Act in respect of the licence fee year in which the transfer time occurs, then the Bank body is entitled to be paid a refund of the amount worked out using the following formula:\n  ![](image.002.png)\n  where:\n\n> Number of refund days means the total number of days in the period beginning at the transfer time and ending on the last day of the licence fee year in which the transfer time occurs.\n\n  (2) In this section:\n\n> licence fee year means the year beginning on the date of commencement of a licence granted under section 107J of the SRC Act and ending on the day before the anniversary of that date.\n\n#### 11 Amendment of declarations\n\n  (1) If a notice was published in the Gazette before the transfer time declaring the Bank body to be a body corporate to which the SRC Act applies for the purposes of the definition of Commonwealth authority in subsection 4(1) of the SRC Act, then the notice has effect after the transfer time as if it did not contain a reference to the Bank body.\n  (2) Subsection (1) does not, by implication, prevent the amendment or revocation of the notice.\n\n#### 12 Section 128A of the SRC Act\n\n  Section 128A of the SRC Act continues to apply to the Commonwealth Bank after the transfer time as if the Commonwealth Bank continued to be a prescribed Commonwealth authority for the purposes of that section.\n\n#### 13 Notification of amount of salary etc.\n\n  (1) This section applies to a Bank body that was a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of the SRC Act immediately before the transfer time.\n  (2) The chief executive officer (however described) of the Bank body must notify the Commission, within 28 days after the transfer time, of the amount of salary, wages or pay paid to employees of the Bank body in the period starting on 1 July in the financial year in which the transfer time occurred and ending at the transfer time.\n\n### Division 2—Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973\n\n#### 14 Interpretation\n\n  In this Division:\n\n> DFRDB Act means the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973.\n\n#### 15 Deferred benefits\n\n  (1) This section applies if, immediately before the transfer time, an employee of a Bank body was a person to whom deferred benefits were applicable under section 78 of the DFRDB Act.\n  (2) For the purposes of Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act, the employee is taken to continue in public employment, after the transfer time, so long as the employee continues to be employed by a Bank body.\n  (3) This section is subject to Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act.\n\n#### 16 Periods of eligible employment\n\n  If, immediately before the transfer time, a particular period of employment of a person by a Bank body was a period of eligible employment for the purposes of Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act, that period of employment continues to be a period of eligible employment for the purposes of that Division.\n\n### Division 3—Miscellaneous\n\n#### 17 Saving previous operation of section 109 of the Commonwealth Banks Act\n\n  The repeal of section 109 of the Commonwealth Banks Act 1959 does not affect:\n    (a) the vesting of property in the Commonwealth Bank under that section before the repeal; or\n    (b) the incurring of liabilities by the Commonwealth Bank under that section before the repeal.\n\n#### 18 Application of bad debt provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act\n\n  (1) In applying Subdivision 165‑C or 166‑C of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to decide whether a Bank body can deduct an amount for a bad debt in the year of income in which the completion time occurred, or in a later year of income, it must be assumed that the persons who beneficially owned the shares in the Commonwealth Bank immediately after the completion time were also the beneficial owners of the shares at all times before the completion time.\n  (2) In this section:\n\n> completion time means the time when the Commonwealth ceases to be a shareholder in the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n#### 19 Regulations\n\n  (1) The Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters:\n    (a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or\n    (b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.\n  (2) In particular, regulations may be made in relation to matters of a transitional or saving nature arising out of the sale of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank, or otherwise arising out of the enactment of this Act.\n  (3) Subsection 12(2) (retrospective application of legislative instruments) of the Legislation Act 2003 does not apply to regulations that are made under this section and that commence at or after the transfer time.\n\n## Part 4—Exemption from certain taxes\n\n#### 20 Exemption from certain State and Territory taxes\n\n  (1) No tax is payable under a law of a State or Territory in respect of an exempt matter or anything connected with an exempt matter.\n  (2) An authorised person may, by signed writing, certify that:\n    (a) a specified matter or thing is an exempt matter; or\n    (b) a specified thing was done in connection with a specified exempt matter.\n  (3) For all purposes and in all proceedings, a certificate under subsection (2) is evidence of the matter stated in the certificate.\n  (4) A document that appears to be a certificate under subsection (2) is taken to be such a certificate and to have been properly given unless the contrary is established.\n  (5) In this section:\n\n> authorised person means:\n\n    (a) the Minister; or\n    (b) the Secretary of the Department; or\n    (c) a person who:\n    (i) is an SES employee, or acting SES employee, in the Department; and\n    (ii) is authorised in writing by the Secretary of the Department for the purposes of this section.\n\n> exempt matter means any of the following:\n\n    (a) the sale by the Commonwealth of any of its shares in the Commonwealth Bank (other than a sale of those shares to the Commonwealth Bank);\n    (b) an agreement relating to a sale that is covered by paragraph (a);\n    (c) the transfer of any of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank to a person other than the Commonwealth Bank;\n    (d) the receipt of money by the Commonwealth in respect of a sale that is covered by paragraph (a).\n\n> tax means stamp duty, or any other tax, fee, duty, levy or charge, but does not include:\n\n    (a) a fee payable under the Corporations Law of a State or Territory; or\n    (b) a tax, fee, duty, levy or charge specified in a notice signed by the Minister and published in the Gazette.","sortOrder":15},{"sectionNumber":"14","sectionType":"section","heading":"Interpretation","content":"#### 14 Interpretation\n\n  In this Division:\n\n> DFRDB Act means the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973.","sortOrder":16},{"sectionNumber":"15","sectionType":"section","heading":"Deferred benefits","content":"#### 15 Deferred benefits\n\n  (1) This section applies if, immediately before the transfer time, an employee of a Bank body was a person to whom deferred benefits were applicable under section 78 of the DFRDB Act.\n  (2) For the purposes of Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act, the employee is taken to continue in public employment, after the transfer time, so long as the employee continues to be employed by a Bank body.\n  (3) This section is subject to Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act.","sortOrder":17},{"sectionNumber":"16","sectionType":"section","heading":"Periods of eligible employment","content":"#### 16 Periods of eligible employment\n\n  If, immediately before the transfer time, a particular period of employment of a person by a Bank body was a period of eligible employment for the purposes of Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act, that period of employment continues to be a period of eligible employment for the purposes of that Division.","sortOrder":18},{"sectionNumber":"Division 3","sectionType":"division","heading":"Miscellaneous","content":"An Act to facilitate the sale of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank, and for related purposes\n\n## Part 1—Preliminary\n\n#### 1 Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Commonwealth Bank Sale Act 1995.\n\n#### 2 Commencement\n\n  (1) Subject to this section, this Act commences on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.\n  (2) Part 3, and all the items of the Schedule (except items 1, 12, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 31, 37 and 48), commence at the transfer time.\n  (3) Item 12 of the Schedule commences on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.\n  (4) Item 22 of the Schedule commences on the first anniversary of the day on which the transfer time occurs.\n  (5) Item 37 of the Schedule commences at the transfer time or at the beginning of 9 May 1996, whichever is later.\n  (6) Items 1 and 48 of the Schedule commence on the 10th anniversary of the day on which the transfer time occurs.\n\n#### 3 Interpretation\n\n  In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:\n\n> Bank body means:\n\n    (a) the Commonwealth Bank, the Commonwealth Development Bank of Australia Limited or the Commonwealth Bank Officers Superannuation Corporation; or\n    (b) a body corporate that is a subsidiary (as defined in Division 6 of Part 1.2 of the Corporations Law) of the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n> Commonwealth Bank means the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.\n\n> transfer time means the time when the Commonwealth ceases to have the status of being the holder of shares in the Commonwealth Bank that carry more than 50% of the total voting rights attached to the voting shares in the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n## Part 3—Transitional and saving\n\n### Division 1—Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988\n\n#### 5 Interpretation\n\n  (1) Unless the contrary intention appears, expressions used in this Division that are also used in the SRC Act have the same respective meanings as in that Act.\n  (2) In this Division:\n\n> SRC Act means the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988.\n\n#### 6 SRC Act continues to apply to Commonwealth Bank etc. for certain purposes\n\n  If a Bank body ceases to be a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of the SRC Act at the transfer time, the SRC Act continues to apply in relation to the Bank body to the extent, and in the manner, set out in sections 7 to 11 of this Act.\n\n#### 7 SRC Act continues to apply for previous injuries etc.\n\n  (1) The SRC Act continues to apply after the transfer time in relation to:\n    (a) injuries suffered by employees of the Bank body before the transfer time; and\n    (b) loss of, or damage to, property incurred by employees of the Bank body before the transfer time;\n  including employees who have stopped being employees of the Bank body before the transfer time.\n  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the SRC Act continues to apply as if:\n    (a) the Bank body continued to be a Commonwealth authority; and\n    (b) the chief executive officer (however described) of the Bank body continued to be the principal officer of a Commonwealth authority.\n\n#### 8 Payment of premiums\n\n  (1) After the transfer time, Division 4A of Part VII of the SRC Act applies to the Bank body as if:\n    (a) the Bank body continued to be a Commonwealth authority; and\n    (b) the Bank body were not required to pay a premium under that Division in respect of the part of a financial year that occurs after the transfer time; and\n    (c) the following word and paragraph were added at the end of subsection 96H(1) of the SRC Act:\n    “; or (f) in the case of an authority—the authority is not required to pay a premium under this Division in respect of part of a financial year.”.\n  (2) If an amount of premium payable by the Bank body in respect of a period before the transfer time remains unpaid, the amount is a debt due to the Commonwealth by the Bank body and is payable to Comcare.\n\n#### 9 Part VIIIA of the SRC Act\n\n  Part VIIIA of the SRC Act continues to apply to the Bank body after the transfer time as if any licence granted to the Bank body under that Part were revoked at the transfer time.\n\n#### 10 Refund of licence fee\n\n  (1) If the Bank body has paid a licence fee under section 107R of the SRC Act in respect of the licence fee year in which the transfer time occurs, then the Bank body is entitled to be paid a refund of the amount worked out using the following formula:\n  ![](image.002.png)\n  where:\n\n> Number of refund days means the total number of days in the period beginning at the transfer time and ending on the last day of the licence fee year in which the transfer time occurs.\n\n  (2) In this section:\n\n> licence fee year means the year beginning on the date of commencement of a licence granted under section 107J of the SRC Act and ending on the day before the anniversary of that date.\n\n#### 11 Amendment of declarations\n\n  (1) If a notice was published in the Gazette before the transfer time declaring the Bank body to be a body corporate to which the SRC Act applies for the purposes of the definition of Commonwealth authority in subsection 4(1) of the SRC Act, then the notice has effect after the transfer time as if it did not contain a reference to the Bank body.\n  (2) Subsection (1) does not, by implication, prevent the amendment or revocation of the notice.\n\n#### 12 Section 128A of the SRC Act\n\n  Section 128A of the SRC Act continues to apply to the Commonwealth Bank after the transfer time as if the Commonwealth Bank continued to be a prescribed Commonwealth authority for the purposes of that section.\n\n#### 13 Notification of amount of salary etc.\n\n  (1) This section applies to a Bank body that was a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of the SRC Act immediately before the transfer time.\n  (2) The chief executive officer (however described) of the Bank body must notify the Commission, within 28 days after the transfer time, of the amount of salary, wages or pay paid to employees of the Bank body in the period starting on 1 July in the financial year in which the transfer time occurred and ending at the transfer time.\n\n### Division 2—Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973\n\n#### 14 Interpretation\n\n  In this Division:\n\n> DFRDB Act means the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973.\n\n#### 15 Deferred benefits\n\n  (1) This section applies if, immediately before the transfer time, an employee of a Bank body was a person to whom deferred benefits were applicable under section 78 of the DFRDB Act.\n  (2) For the purposes of Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act, the employee is taken to continue in public employment, after the transfer time, so long as the employee continues to be employed by a Bank body.\n  (3) This section is subject to Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act.\n\n#### 16 Periods of eligible employment\n\n  If, immediately before the transfer time, a particular period of employment of a person by a Bank body was a period of eligible employment for the purposes of Division 3 of Part IX of the DFRDB Act, that period of employment continues to be a period of eligible employment for the purposes of that Division.\n\n### Division 3—Miscellaneous\n\n#### 17 Saving previous operation of section 109 of the Commonwealth Banks Act\n\n  The repeal of section 109 of the Commonwealth Banks Act 1959 does not affect:\n    (a) the vesting of property in the Commonwealth Bank under that section before the repeal; or\n    (b) the incurring of liabilities by the Commonwealth Bank under that section before the repeal.\n\n#### 18 Application of bad debt provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act\n\n  (1) In applying Subdivision 165‑C or 166‑C of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to decide whether a Bank body can deduct an amount for a bad debt in the year of income in which the completion time occurred, or in a later year of income, it must be assumed that the persons who beneficially owned the shares in the Commonwealth Bank immediately after the completion time were also the beneficial owners of the shares at all times before the completion time.\n  (2) In this section:\n\n> completion time means the time when the Commonwealth ceases to be a shareholder in the Commonwealth Bank.\n\n#### 19 Regulations\n\n  (1) The Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters:\n    (a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or\n    (b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.\n  (2) In particular, regulations may be made in relation to matters of a transitional or saving nature arising out of the sale of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank, or otherwise arising out of the enactment of this Act.\n  (3) Subsection 12(2) (retrospective application of legislative instruments) of the Legislation Act 2003 does not apply to regulations that are made under this section and that commence at or after the transfer time.\n\n## Part 4—Exemption from certain taxes\n\n#### 20 Exemption from certain State and Territory taxes\n\n  (1) No tax is payable under a law of a State or Territory in respect of an exempt matter or anything connected with an exempt matter.\n  (2) An authorised person may, by signed writing, certify that:\n    (a) a specified matter or thing is an exempt matter; or\n    (b) a specified thing was done in connection with a specified exempt matter.\n  (3) For all purposes and in all proceedings, a certificate under subsection (2) is evidence of the matter stated in the certificate.\n  (4) A document that appears to be a certificate under subsection (2) is taken to be such a certificate and to have been properly given unless the contrary is established.\n  (5) In this section:\n\n> authorised person means:\n\n    (a) the Minister; or\n    (b) the Secretary of the Department; or\n    (c) a person who:\n    (i) is an SES employee, or acting SES employee, in the Department; and\n    (ii) is authorised in writing by the Secretary of the Department for the purposes of this section.\n\n> exempt matter means any of the following:\n\n    (a) the sale by the Commonwealth of any of its shares in the Commonwealth Bank (other than a sale of those shares to the Commonwealth Bank);\n    (b) an agreement relating to a sale that is covered by paragraph (a);\n    (c) the transfer of any of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank to a person other than the Commonwealth Bank;\n    (d) the receipt of money by the Commonwealth in respect of a sale that is covered by paragraph (a).\n\n> tax means stamp duty, or any other tax, fee, duty, levy or charge, but does not include:\n\n    (a) a fee payable under the Corporations Law of a State or Territory; or\n    (b) a tax, fee, duty, levy or charge specified in a notice signed by the Minister and published in the Gazette.","sortOrder":19},{"sectionNumber":"17","sectionType":"section","heading":"Saving previous operation of section 109 of the Commonwealth Banks Act","content":"#### 17 Saving previous operation of section 109 of the Commonwealth Banks Act\n\n  The repeal of section 109 of the Commonwealth Banks Act 1959 does not affect:\n    (a) the vesting of property in the Commonwealth Bank under that section before the repeal; or\n    (b) the incurring of liabilities by the Commonwealth Bank under that section before the repeal.","sortOrder":20},{"sectionNumber":"18","sectionType":"section","heading":"Application of bad debt provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act","content":"#### 18 Application of bad debt provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act\n\n  (1) In applying Subdivision 165‑C or 166‑C of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to decide whether a Bank body can deduct an amount for a bad debt in the year of income in which the completion time occurred, or in a later year of income, it must be assumed that the persons who beneficially owned the shares in the Commonwealth Bank immediately after the completion time were also the beneficial owners of the shares at all times before the completion time.\n  (2) In this section:\n\n> completion time means the time when the Commonwealth ceases to be a shareholder in the Commonwealth Bank.","sortOrder":21},{"sectionNumber":"19","sectionType":"section","heading":"Regulations","content":"#### 19 Regulations\n\n  (1) The Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters:\n    (a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or\n    (b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.\n  (2) In particular, regulations may be made in relation to matters of a transitional or saving nature arising out of the sale of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank, or otherwise arising out of the enactment of this Act.\n  (3) Subsection 12(2) (retrospective application of legislative instruments) of the Legislation Act 2003 does not apply to regulations that are made under this section and that commence at or after the transfer time.","sortOrder":22},{"sectionNumber":"Part 4","sectionType":"part","heading":"Exemption from certain taxes","content":"## Part 4—Exemption from certain taxes","sortOrder":23},{"sectionNumber":"20","sectionType":"section","heading":"Exemption from certain State and Territory taxes","content":"#### 20 Exemption from certain State and Territory taxes\n\n  (1) No tax is payable under a law of a State or Territory in respect of an exempt matter or anything connected with an exempt matter.\n  (2) An authorised person may, by signed writing, certify that:\n    (a) a specified matter or thing is an exempt matter; or\n    (b) a specified thing was done in connection with a specified exempt matter.\n  (3) For all purposes and in all proceedings, a certificate under subsection (2) is evidence of the matter stated in the certificate.\n  (4) A document that appears to be a certificate under subsection (2) is taken to be such a certificate and to have been properly given unless the contrary is established.\n  (5) In this section:\n\n> authorised person means:\n\n    (a) the Minister; or\n    (b) the Secretary of the Department; or\n    (c) a person who:\n    (i) is an SES employee, or acting SES employee, in the Department; and\n    (ii) is authorised in writing by the Secretary of the Department for the purposes of this section.\n\n> exempt matter means any of the following:\n\n    (a) the sale by the Commonwealth of any of its shares in the Commonwealth Bank (other than a sale of those shares to the Commonwealth Bank);\n    (b) an agreement relating to a sale that is covered by paragraph (a);\n    (c) the transfer of any of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank to a person other than the Commonwealth Bank;\n    (d) the receipt of money by the Commonwealth in respect of a sale that is covered by paragraph (a).\n\n> tax means stamp duty, or any other tax, fee, duty, levy or charge, but does not include:\n\n    (a) a fee payable under the Corporations Law of a State or Territory; or\n    (b) a tax, fee, duty, levy or charge specified in a notice signed by the Minister and published in the Gazette.","sortOrder":24}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":7,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act remains tightly focused on its stated purpose: facilitating the privatisation of the Commonwealth Bank and managing the transitional legal consequences for employees, related entities, and tax obligations. There is no evidence of scope creep beyond the original intent of enabling and smoothing the share sale process."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple staggered commencement dates tied to different trigger events (Royal Assent, transfer time, proclamation, specific calendar dates, and anniversaries), requiring careful tracking of which provisions apply when","Cross-references to multiple other Acts (Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988; Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973; Income Tax Assessment Act 1997; Corporations Law; Commonwealth Banks Act 1959; Legislation Act 2003), meaning the Act cannot be understood in isolation","Two distinct 'time' concepts — 'transfer time' (majority shareholding lost) and 'completion time' (all Commonwealth shares sold) — which trigger different legal consequences","Deemed continuity provisions (treating the privatised bank 'as if' it were still a Commonwealth authority for specific purposes) create legally fictional scenarios that are difficult to apply in practice","The document itself is structurally repetitive, with entire sections reproduced multiple times, making it difficult to identify the authoritative version of any given provision","Tax exemption provisions interact with State and Territory law, creating a federal-state legal interplay","Applies to a web of related 'Bank bodies' including subsidiaries, requiring identification of which corporate entities fall within scope at any given time","Retrospective ownership assumption in the bad debt tax provisions (section 18) requires applying a legal fiction backwards in time across financial years"],"plain_english_summary":"The Commonwealth Bank Sale Act 1995 enabled the Australian Government to privatise its majority stake in the Commonwealth Bank by defining the “transfer time” when government control ended. It protected pre-transfer employee compensation and deferred military pension rights, carved out tax and stamp duty exemptions for the Commonwealth, and reshaped tax treatment around bad debts. It affected CBA staff, the bank itself, state governments and taxpayers by legally underpinning the move from public to private ownership."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"s. 9 and s. 10","severity":"low","reasoning":"The fiction in s. 9 (revocation at transfer time) and the fiction in s. 10 (licence fee year continues post-transfer time for refund calculation) pull in opposite directions. If the licence is revoked at the transfer time, the licence fee year arguably ends at that point, potentially yielding zero refund days and defeating the purpose of s. 10.","confidence":0.62,"description":"Section 9 deems the Bank body's licence under Part VIIIA of the SRC Act to have been revoked at the transfer time, yet section 10 then provides a refund mechanism for licence fees paid in respect of the licence fee year in which the transfer time occurs. The refund formula depends on 'Number of refund days' running from the transfer time to the end of the licence fee year — but if the licence is treated as revoked at the transfer time, there is a question as to whether the licence fee year itself has any continuing legal existence for the purpose of computing the refund."},{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"s. 18(1)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"The fiction that post-sale shareholders 'were also the beneficial owners of the shares at all times before the completion time' is logically impossible to the extent it reaches back to periods when those shareholders did not exist, when the shares did not exist in their current form, or when the Commonwealth Bank was a purely statutory body without tradeable shares. The provision is also practically unworkable because the class of persons who are post-completion beneficial owners is not identified or limited — it could theoretically include subsequent on-market purchasers who were not part of the privatisation at all.","confidence":0.71,"description":"Section 18 mandates a retroactive fiction: the post-completion-time beneficial owners of Commonwealth Bank shares are deemed to have been the beneficial owners 'at all times before the completion time.' This is a retroactive impossibility — it requires treating persons who did not yet own the shares as having owned them at all prior times, including times before those persons may have existed, before the Commonwealth Bank itself was corporatised, or before the relevant tax provisions existed."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"s. 2(2) and s. 3 (definition of 'transfer time')","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Transitional provisions in Part 3 are designed to manage the consequences of privatisation, but they only come into legal existence at the transfer time itself. Any obligation requiring advance action (e.g. arranging for continued SRC Act coverage, notifying the Commission under s. 13 within 28 days) cannot have been legally imposed before commencement, creating a gap between the practical need to prepare and the legal authority to act.","confidence":0.55,"description":"Part 3 commences 'at the transfer time', which is defined as the moment the Commonwealth drops below 50% voting control. However, Part 3 contains obligations that must logically have been complied with before or at that moment (e.g. structural arrangements, notifications). A Part that commences at the very instant the triggering event occurs cannot impose obligations that require prior preparation — those obligations are, in effect, impossible to comply with before they are legally in force."},{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"s. 13(2)","severity":"low","reasoning":"While the data would exist as a matter of fact, the legal obligation to report it is only created at the moment commencement occurs. This is a structural oddity: the Act cannot have required the CEO to prepare for an obligation that did not legally exist until commencement.","confidence":0.5,"description":"Section 13 requires the chief executive officer of a Bank body to notify the Commission within 28 days after the transfer time of salary amounts paid up to the transfer time. However, s. 13 itself forms part of Part 3, which under s. 2(2) commences at the transfer time. The obligation therefore comes into existence at the transfer time but requires reporting of data from before that time — data that the CEO had no statutory duty to compile or preserve under this Act prior to its commencement."},{"type":"other","section":"s. 3 (definition of 'Bank body', paragraph (b))","severity":"low","reasoning":"Post-privatisation, the Commonwealth Bank could create or dissolve subsidiaries without reference to the Commonwealth. The Act's obligations (e.g. SRC Act continuity) would attach to or detach from entities based purely on private corporate action, with no Commonwealth oversight mechanism provided in the Act.","confidence":0.6,"description":"The definition of 'Bank body' includes subsidiaries of the Commonwealth Bank as defined in the Corporations Law. After the transfer time, the Commonwealth Bank is no longer under Commonwealth control. The definition of 'Bank body' therefore dynamically expands or contracts depending on the Commonwealth Bank's own corporate decisions about subsidiaries — decisions entirely outside Commonwealth control — potentially creating an indeterminate and uncontrollable class of entities subject to the Act's obligations."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"s. 10 (refund formula)","severity":"high","reasoning":"A legislative provision that imposes a specific mathematical formula but expresses that formula only by reference to an inaccessible image creates a situation where neither the Bank body nor a court can determine the amount of the refund from the text of the Act alone. While the formula can be inferred (likely a pro-rata calculation), the Act on its face does not specify it, which is a drafting absurdity.","confidence":0.85,"description":"The refund formula in s. 10(1) references an image file ('image.002.png') that is not reproduced in the legislative text. The formula is therefore legally unknowable from the face of the Act alone, rendering the operative mechanism of s. 10 void for uncertainty."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"s. 3 (definition of 'transfer time')","section_b":"s. 18(2) (definition of 'completion time')","confidence":0.72,"description":"The Act uses two distinct temporal markers — 'transfer time' (when the Commonwealth drops below 50% voting control) and 'completion time' (when the Commonwealth ceases to be a shareholder at all) — without clearly delineating which provisions apply in the intermediate period when the Commonwealth holds between 0% and 50% of shares. Several provisions in Part 3 (particularly the SRC Act continuity provisions) refer only to 'transfer time', while s. 18 operates from 'completion time', potentially leaving a legal gap or overlap for the intermediate period."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"s. 8(1)(a) (Bank body treated as Commonwealth authority for premium purposes)","section_b":"s. 8(1)(b) (Bank body not required to pay premiums after transfer time)","confidence":0.65,"description":"Section 8(1) simultaneously deems the Bank body to continue to be a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of Division 4A of Part VII of the SRC Act (paragraph (a)), while also exempting it from paying any premium under that same Division in respect of the post-transfer period (paragraph (b)). The authority status is maintained only to then immediately negate the principal financial obligation that flows from that status, creating an internally contradictory fiction."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"s. 9 (Part VIIIA licence deemed revoked at transfer time)","section_b":"s. 8(1)(a) (Bank body continues to be treated as Commonwealth authority)","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 8 treats the Bank body as a continuing Commonwealth authority for premium purposes after the transfer time, while s. 9 simultaneously treats any licence held by the Bank body under Part VIIIA of the SRC Act as revoked at the transfer time. These two sections apply different legal fictions to the same entity at the same moment: one extends its Commonwealth authority status, the other strips a key entitlement flowing from that status. The Act provides no principled basis for maintaining some consequences of Commonwealth authority status while extinguishing others at the same instant."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"s. 11(1) (Gazette notice has effect as if it did not contain reference to Bank body)","section_b":"s. 7 (SRC Act continues to apply as if Bank body remained a Commonwealth authority)","confidence":0.75,"description":"Section 11(1) provides that, after the transfer time, the Gazette notice declaring the Bank body to be a Commonwealth authority has effect as if it never referred to the Bank body — effectively retrospectively removing the Bank body from its declared status. Section 7, however, requires the SRC Act to continue to apply to the Bank body as if it were still a Commonwealth authority. These provisions pull in opposite directions: s. 11 erases the Bank body's Commonwealth authority status from the public record, while s. 7 maintains that very status for substantive purposes, creating an entity that is simultaneously a Commonwealth authority (for s. 7) and not one (for s. 11)."}]},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: facilitating the sale of the Commonwealth Bank and managing the transition of employee entitlements and tax implications. No significant scope creep detected."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple staggered commencement dates tied to the 'transfer time' (sale date), with some provisions delayed 1 year or 10 years","Extensive cross-referencing to other Acts: Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988; Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973; Income Tax Assessment Act 1997; Commonwealth Banks Act 1959; Corporations Law","Hypothetical legal constructs ('as if' the bank were still a Commonwealth authority) in sections 7, 8, 9, 12, and 15","Formula-based calculation for licence fee refunds with defined variables","Nested definitions: 'Bank body' captures subsidiaries via Corporations Law definitions","Two distinct temporal markers: 'transfer time' (loss of majority control) vs 'completion time' (complete divestment) in section 18"],"plain_english_summary":"This legislation facilitated the privatisation of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in 1996. It does three main things:\n\n**1. Defines when the privatisation happens**\nThe 'transfer time' is the moment the Australian Government sells enough shares to lose majority control (more than 50% of voting rights). Different parts of the Act kick in at different times—some immediately, some on the sale date, some years later.\n\n**2. Protects employees after the sale**\nThe Act ensures bank workers don't lose their existing rights when the bank goes private:\n- **Workers' compensation**: Employees injured while the bank was government-owned remain covered by the Commonwealth's workers' comp scheme (Comcare), even after privatisation. The bank gets a partial refund on its licence fees for this scheme.\n- **Defence force benefits**: Former defence personnel working at the bank keep their special superannuation benefits and continue to be treated as public sector employees for those purposes.\n\n**3. Gives tax exemptions for the sale**\nThe Commonwealth doesn't have to pay stamp duty or other state/territory taxes on the share sale. Senior public servants can issue certificates to confirm these exemptions.\n\n**4. Technical fixes**\n- Allows the bank to claim tax deductions for bad debts as if ownership hadn't changed\n- Preserves property transfers that happened under old laws\n- Lets the Governor-General make regulations for any transitional issues\n\n**Who it affects**: Commonwealth Bank employees (past and present), the bank itself, the Commonwealth Government, and state/territory revenue offices."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":5,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act’s scope is narrowly confined to facilitating the sale and handling transitional, tax and benefit consequences tied to the transfer time. It preserves specified pre‑transfer obligations and entitlements and creates limited administrative powers (ss6–13, s20, s19) rather than expanding ongoing Commonwealth duties beyond those explicitly set out."},"complexity_factors":["Timing triggers and staggered commencements: multiple commencement points tied to the defined 'transfer time' and specific anniversaries (s2) increase operational complexity.","Central definition of transfer time: a single legal event (s3) activates many transitional rules, concentrating legal effects on that moment.","Transitional preservation of SRC Act entitlements and liabilities: continued application for pre‑transfer injuries, property loss and licensing rules requires cross‑reference to SRC Act provisions (ss6–13).","Premium and refund mechanics: special treatment of premium obligations and formulaic licence‑fee refunds create accounting and compliance tasks (ss8, 10).","Pension and employment continuity rules under DFRDB Act: carry‑over of deferred benefits and eligible employment periods requires interaction with DFRDB provisions (ss14–16).","Tax exemption and certification regime: broad exemption for sale‑related matters with administrative certification power vested in Minister/Secretary and authorised SES staff (s20(1)–(5)).","Regulation‑making power with a carve‑out on retrospective instruments: Governor‑General may prescribe transitional matters, but Legislation Act retrospective rule is expressly excluded for regulations commencing at/after transfer time (s19(1)–(3)).","Tax and income‑tax interaction: specific assumption for bad‑debt deduction ownership across completion time introduces a legal fiction that affects tax treatment (s18)."],"plain_english_summary":"This Act facilitates the sale of the Commonwealth’s shares in the Commonwealth Bank by defining the transfer time and putting in place transitional and saving rules to carry forward certain pre‑transfer obligations and entitlements. It preserves application of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act and certain retirement benefit rules for events before transfer, creates premium/refund mechanics and exempts specified sale‑related transactions from State and Territory taxes.\n\nIt affects the Commonwealth Bank (and subsidiaries), their employees, Comcare, State/Territory tax authorities and the Minister/Secretary. Outstanding premiums remain payable to the Commonwealth (s8). The Minister/Secretary may certify tax‑exempt transactions (s20) and the Governor‑General may make regulations (s19)."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/commonwealth-bank-sale-act-1995","history":"/api/acts/commonwealth-bank-sale-act-1995/history","analysis":"/api/acts/commonwealth-bank-sale-act-1995/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/commonwealth-bank-sale-act-1995/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/commonwealth-bank-sale-act-1995/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/commonwealth-bank-sale-act-1995/documents"}}