{"id":"C1973A00083","name":"Superannuation Act (No. 2) 1973","slug":"superannuation-act-no-2-1973","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"83 of 1973","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":2552,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1973A00083-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-29","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Superannuation Act (No. 2) 1973","content":"Superannuation Act (No. 2) 1973\n\nNo. 83 of 1973\n\nAN ACT\n\nTo amend the Superannuation Act 1922–1971, as amended by the Superannuation Act 1973.\n\n\\[Assented to 19 June 1973\\]\n\nBE IT ENACTED by the Queen, the Senate and the House of Representatives of Australia, as follows:—\n\nShort title and citation.\n\n1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Superannuation Act (No. 2) 1973.\n\n(2) The Superannuation Act 1922–1971, as amended by the Superannuation Act 1973, is in this Act referred to as the Principal Act.\n\n(3) Section 1 of the Superannuation Act 1973 is amended by omitting sub-section (3).\n\n(4) The Principal Act, as amended by this Act, may be cited as the Superannuation Act 1922–1973.\n\n  \n\nCommencement.\n\n2. (1) Subject to sub-section (2), this Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.\n\n(2) The amendments of the Principal Act made by sections 4 to 11 (inclusive) of this Act shall be deemed to have come into operation on 1st October, 1972.\n\nInterpretation.\n\n3. Section 4 of the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by omitting from the definition of “Approved authority” in sub-section (1) the words “the Canberra Community Hospital Board” and substituting the words “the Canberra Hospital Management Board”;\n\n(b) by inserting in sub-section (6), after the words “the Minister administering the Act or other law by or under which the approved authority is constituted”, the words or a person authorized in writing by the Minister so administering that Act or that other law to exercise his powers under this sub-section,”; and\n\n(c) by omitting from sub-section (6) the words “direct that that person” and substitute the words “direct that the first-mentioned person”.\n\nMembers of the Defence Force.\n\n4. Section 4aa of the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by omitting from sub-section (2) the words “to the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Fund” (first occurring) and substituting the words “to the Commonwealth under the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973” and\n\n(b) by omitting from sub-section (2) the words “to the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Fund” (last occurring) and substituting the words “to the Commonwealth under that Act”.\n\n5. (1) Section 35a of the Principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted:—\n\nDeferment of contributions of contributors under Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act.\n\n“35a. Where an employee becomes liable to contribute to the Commonwealth under the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973, his liability to make contributions to the Superannuation Fund is deferred until, for any reason (including death)—\n\n(a) he ceases (otherwise than by reason of the operation of section eighteen of the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973) to be liable to contribute to the Commonwealth under that Act; or\n\n(b) he ceases to be an employee,\n\nwhichever first occurs, but, upon his so ceasing to be liable or so ceasing to be an employee, the amount of the deferred contributions shall be paid to the Superannuation Fund.”.\n\n  \n\n(2) Where an amount of deferred contributions becomes payable to the Superannuation Fund under section 35a of the Principal Act as amended by this Act in respect of an employee, there shall also be paid to the Fund the amount of any deferred contributions in respect of the employee the liability for which was deferred under section 35a of the Superannuation Act 1922–1968, or of that Act as amended and in force from time to time, before the repeal effected by sub-section (1) of this section.\n\nPension not payable in respect of children, in certain circumstances.\n\n6. Section 48a of the Principal Act is amended by adding at the end thereof the following sub-section:—\n\n“(2) Where—\n\n(a) a person (in this sub-section referred to as ‘the contributor’) to whom retirement pay or invalidity pay was payable under the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973 has become a contributor;\n\n(b) the person has died since he became a contributor and child’s pension is payable under the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973 to a person by virtue of the contributor having been a person to whom retirement pay or invalidity pay was so payable; and\n\n(c) pension would, but for this section, be payable under this Act in respect of the person to whom the child’s pension is payable by reason of the contributor’s having been a contributor,\n\nthe last-mentioned pension is not payable.”.\n\n7. Section 48c of the Principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted:—\n\nPension to or in respect of certain contributors under Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act.\n\n“48c. (1) Where—\n\n(a) the liability of an employee to make contributions to the Superannuation Fund has been deferred by virtue of section thirty-five a of this Act; and\n\n(b) before he has ceased to be liable to contribute to the Commonwealth under the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973 he ceases to be an employee and becomes entitled to a pension under this Act by reason that he was retired on the ground of invalidity or of physical or mental incapacity to perform his duties.\n\nhis entitlement to that pension is suspended until such time as he ceases to be liable to contribute to the Commonwealth under the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973, but, if he dies before he so ceases to be liable to contribute to the Commonwealth under that Act, he shall, for the purposes of sections forty-seven and forty-eight of this Act, be deemed to have been a pensioner at the time of his death in receipt of pension at the rate at which pension would, but for this sub-section, have been payable to him at that time.\n\n  \n\n“(2) Where—\n\n(a) the liability of an employee to make contributions to the Superannuation Fund has been deferred by virtue of section thirty-five a of this Act and—\n\n(i) he ceases to be such an employee and, upon so ceasing, becomes entitled to a pension under this Act by reason that he was retired on the ground of invalidity or of physical or mental incapacity to perform his duties and—\n\n(a) he has been or is discharged from the Defence Force on the ground of invalidity or of physical or mental incapacity to perform his duties, section thirty-six of the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973 applies to him and, in the opinion of the Board, the ground on which he was retired as an employee is related to the ground on which he was discharged from the Defence Force; or\n\n(b) he dies after ceasing to be an employee but before being discharged from the Defence Force from causes that, in the opinion of the Board, are related to the ground on which he was retired as an employee; or\n\n(ii) he dies—\n\n(a) before being discharged from the Defence Force; or\n\n(b) after having been discharged from the Defence Force on the ground of invalidity or of physical or mental incapacity to perform his duties, from causes that, in the opinion of the Board, are related to the ground on which he was discharged from the Defence Force; and\n\n(b) the rate of any pension payable to or in respect of him under this Act (including pension that became payable before he was discharged from the Defence Force) is less than the rate of any corresponding benefit that, but for section thirty-six or forty-six of the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973, would be payable to or in respect of him under that Act,\n\nthe Board may increase the rate of the pension payable under this Act to such extent as it considers appropriate in the circumstances.\n\n“(3) Where—\n\n(a) the liability of an employee to make contributions to the Superannuation Fund has been deferred by virtue of section thirty-five a of this Act; and\n\n(b) at any time after the death of the person benefit under the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973 would, but for section thirty-six or forty-six of that Act, be payable in respect of him under that Act but no pension is payable in respect of him under this Act at that time,\n\n  \n\nthe Board may pay such benefit corresponding to the benefit under that Act as it considers appropriate in the circumstances.\n\n“(4) An employee who is liable to contribute to the Commonwealth under the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973 shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed not to have ceased to be liable to contribute to the Commonwealth by reason only of the operation of section eighteen of that Act in relation to him.”.\n\nRights under other Acts and State Acts.\n\n8. Section 68 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting after the words “Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948–1959” the words “or under the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973”.\n\nTransfer value payable in respect of previous employment.\n\n9. Section 119d of the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by omitting from sub-paragraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of sub-section (1) the word “and” (last occurring); and\n\n(b) by inserting in sub-section (1), after sub-paragraph (ii) of paragraph (a), the following sub-paragraph:—\n\n“(iia) in the case of the superannuation scheme constituted by the provisions of the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973—to a transfer value payable in respect of the employee under Division 3 of Part IX of that Act or to a refund of contributions and a lump sum payable under sub-section (2) of section thirty-two of that Act; and”.\n\nTransfer value.\n\n10. Section 119s of the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by inserting in paragraph (a) of sub-section (4), after the words “Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948–1971”, the words “or had not ceased to be an eligible member of the Defence Force as defined by section three of the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973”; and\n\n(b) by inserting in paragraph (b) of sub-section (4), after the words “Part VIc of that Act”, the words “or under Division 3 of Part IX of the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973\n\nDeferred benefit.\n\n11. Section 119t of the Principal Act is amended—\n\n(a) by inserting in paragraph (a) of sub-section (8), after the words “Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948–1971”, the words “or had not ceased to be an eligible member of the Defence Force as defined by section three of the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973”; and\n\n(b) by omitting from paragraph (b) of sub-section (8) the words “that Act,” and substituting the words “whichever of those Acts is applicable,”.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":5,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act stays squarely within its original purpose: updating the existing Commonwealth public service superannuation scheme to accommodate the newly created Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973. All amendments are tightly focused on coordination between the two schemes, preventing double payments, and administrative housekeeping. There is no expansion into new policy territory or new categories of beneficiary beyond those already contemplated by the principal Act."},"complexity_factors":["Heavy cross-referencing across at least four separate Acts (Superannuation Act 1922–1971, Superannuation Act 1973, Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973, Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948–1971)","Retrospective commencement for sections 4–11, backdated to 1 October 1972, creating temporal complexity","Deeply nested conditional logic in the substituted section 48c — particularly subsection (2), which contains sub-paragraphs branching into further sub-sub-paragraphs labelled (a) and (b) at multiple levels","Interaction between suspension, deferral, and revival of pension entitlements creates layered conditional triggers","Dual-status contributors (public servants who are also Defence Force members) require tracking across two parallel legislative schemes simultaneously","Board discretion provisions in substituted section 48c(2) and (3) introduce an evaluative element with no fixed formula","Multiple references to specific section numbers of external Acts (e.g. ss. 18, 32, 36, 46 of the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973) that must be read in conjunction to understand the full effect"],"plain_english_summary":"## Superannuation Act (No. 2) 1973 — Plain English Summary\n\nThis is a **short amending Act** — it doesn't create a new scheme but instead makes targeted changes to the existing Commonwealth public service superannuation (retirement savings) framework. Here's what it actually does:\n\n---\n\n### What problem was it solving?\n\nThe **Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973** had just been created, establishing a new retirement scheme specifically for Australian Defence Force members. This Act updates the older **public service superannuation scheme** (dating back to 1922) to properly connect with — and avoid conflicts with — that new Defence Force scheme.\n\n---\n\n### Key things this Act does:\n\n- **Updates a name**: Changes a reference from the \"Canberra Community Hospital Board\" to the \"Canberra Hospital Management Board\" — a simple administrative fix reflecting a renamed body.\n\n- **Broadens ministerial delegation**: Allows a minister to authorise someone else (in writing) to exercise certain powers over employees of approved authorities — a practical administrative flexibility measure.\n\n- **Defers (pauses) superannuation contributions for Defence Force members**: If a public servant joins the Defence Force and starts contributing to the Defence Force retirement scheme, their contributions to the public service superannuation fund are **put on hold** until they leave the Defence Force or stop being a public servant. When that happens, all the accumulated deferred contributions are paid into the superannuation fund in one go.\n\n- **Prevents double-dipping on children's pensions**: If a child is already receiving a pension under the Defence Force scheme because their parent contributed to that scheme, they **cannot also receive** a pension under the public service scheme for the same parent. This stops the same child getting paid twice from two government schemes.\n\n- **Coordinates invalidity (disability) pensions**: If a public servant who is also a Defence Force member becomes disabled, complex rules ensure they aren't unfairly disadvantaged. If their entitlement under one scheme is reduced or cancelled (under specific sections of the Defence Force Act), the public service superannuation board can **top up** their pension to make up the difference. The board also has power to pay equivalent benefits in cases where someone would otherwise fall through the cracks.\n\n- **Links transfer value rules to the new Defence Force scheme**: When calculating what someone is owed if they move between employment schemes (called a \"transfer value\"), the new Defence Force scheme is now formally recognised alongside the old one.\n\n- **Backdates some changes**: Several of the above amendments are backdated to **1 October 1972** — meaning they apply as if they had always been law from that date, ensuring people who were affected during that period are not disadvantaged.\n\n---\n\n### Who does this affect?\n\n- **Commonwealth public servants** who are also serving in the Australian Defence Force (a relatively small but important group)\n- **Dependants (especially children)** of those dual-status contributors\n- **Approved authorities** (government bodies whose staff can join the public service super scheme), including the renamed Canberra hospital board\n\n---\n\n### Why does it matter?\n\nWithout this Act, the creation of the new Defence Force retirement scheme would have left gaps and inconsistencies — people could have been required to contribute to two schemes simultaneously, children could have received double pensions, and disabled veterans moving between schemes could have lost entitlements. This Act tidies up those loose ends."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"circular_definition","section":"Section 1(3)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 1(2) defines the 'Principal Act' as the Superannuation Act 1922–1971 'as amended by the Superannuation Act 1973'. Section 1(3) then amends the Superannuation Act 1973 itself by removing sub-section (3) of its section 1. That deleted sub-section (3) of the 1973 Act was almost certainly the citation/consolidation clause. Removing it via a subsequent amending act is logically tangled: the 1973 Act's citation provision is being surgically excised by the very Act that relies on the 1973 Act's existence to define its own scope. While technically achievable, it creates a definitional bootstrapping problem — the foundation is being modified by the structure built on top of it.","confidence":0.72,"description":"This Act amends the Superannuation Act 1973 by omitting sub-section (3) of its section 1 — but the Superannuation Act 1973 is the very Act whose amendments define the 'Principal Act' that this Act then further amends. The Act is partially modifying its own definitional precondition."},{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 2(2)","severity":"high","reasoning":"Retroactive commencement to 1 October 1972 means that obligations created by ss.4–11 — including contribution deferral mechanics, pension suspension, and transfer value entitlements — are deemed to have existed for ~8 months before the Act was even passed. Individuals whose circumstances changed between October 1972 and June 1973 (e.g. employees who died, retired, or were discharged) would have their rights and liabilities determined by rules they could not possibly have known about. For example, s.5's new s.35A imposes a duty to pay deferred contributions to the Superannuation Fund upon ceasing employment — a liability that, retroactively, would already have crystallised for some employees before the Act existed. Similarly, s.7's new s.48c suspends pension entitlements retroactively. These are not merely technical adjustments; they alter substantive financial rights retrospectively.","confidence":0.85,"description":"Sections 4 to 11 are deemed to have come into operation on 1 October 1972 — roughly eight months before the Act received Royal Assent on 19 June 1973. Several of those sections impose financial obligations (e.g. deferred contribution payments under s.5, pension suspensions under s.7) that would have been retroactively imposed on individuals who had no notice of them and no ability to comply."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 5 (new s.35A) read with Section 5(2)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 5(2) reaches back to catch deferred contributions that arose under the old s.35A, referencing 'the Superannuation Act 1922–1968, or of that Act as amended and in force from time to time'. The Principal Act in this amending Act is defined as the 1922–1971 version. Citing the 1922–1968 version as a separate instrument is technically accurate (it was a real citation) but introduces interpretive uncertainty: does 'as amended and in force from time to time' before the repeal bridge the gap to 1971? The drafting is inelegant and may leave contributors who had deferred obligations under the 1969–1971 amendments in an unclear position.","confidence":0.65,"description":"Section 5(1) repeals and replaces s.35A of the Principal Act. Section 5(2) then refers to deferred contributions under 's.35A of the Superannuation Act 1922–1968' or 'that Act as amended'. But the Act being amended is cited as the Superannuation Act 1922–1971 (per s.1(2)). The reference to the 1922–1968 version creates an ambiguity about which vintage of the provision governs prior deferred contributions."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"Section 7 (new s.48c(1))","severity":"medium","reasoning":"The provision creates a legal fiction that a person was 'a pensioner at the time of his death in receipt of pension' for the purposes of survivor benefits under ss.47 and 48. However, the same sub-section is the very instrument that suspended that pension. The person was, by operation of law, not receiving pension. The Act then deems them to have been receiving what it simultaneously prohibited them from receiving. While legal fictions are common drafting tools, this one is internally self-defeating: the suspension clause and the receipt fiction appear in the same breath, creating a provision that both withholds and grants the same status.","confidence":0.78,"description":"A person whose pension entitlement is 'suspended' under s.48c(1) until they cease contributing under the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973 is, if they die before that cessation, deemed to have been a pensioner 'in receipt of pension' at the time of death — despite the section explicitly stating their pension was suspended and therefore not being received. The fiction of receipt is applied to a benefit that the same provision declares was not payable."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 7 (new s.48c(2))","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Legislative drafting conventions require unique identifiers at each level of a provision. In s.48c(2), the structure is: (a)(i)(a), (a)(i)(b), (a)(ii)(a), (a)(ii)(b), and (b). A cross-reference to 'paragraph (a)' in this sub-section is ambiguous as between the outer paragraph (a) and the inner sub-paragraphs also labelled (a). This is not a mere stylistic inelegance — it could cause genuine interpretive problems in litigation or administrative decision-making about which condition is being satisfied.","confidence":0.9,"description":"Sub-section (2) uses a dual sub-paragraph lettering scheme where both the outer paragraphs and one layer of inner paragraphs are labelled '(a)' and '(b)'. Specifically, paragraph (a)(i) contains sub-items labelled (a) and (b), which are the same labels as the outer paragraph (a) and paragraph (b). This creates genuine ambiguity in cross-referencing — a reference to 'paragraph (a)' is irresolvably ambiguous."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Section 6 (new s.48a(2))","severity":"low","reasoning":"While this is less a logical absurdity than a structural awkwardness, the provision creates a situation where entitlement to a pension under the Principal Act is extinguished by conditions (death, and a concurrent entitlement under another Act) that cannot be predicted or managed by the contributor. The contributor cannot 'comply' with or plan around a provision that only activates posthumously and depends on administrative determinations made after their death. This is not fatal to the legislation but is a design flaw that creates uncertainty for dependants.","confidence":0.6,"description":"The provision denies a child's pension under the Principal Act where a child's pension is already payable under the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973. However, it applies where the contributor 'has died since he became a contributor' — meaning the provision only activates after death. There is no mechanism for a living contributor to know in advance whether this denial will apply, making prospective compliance or planning impossible."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"high","section_a":"Section 2(1)","section_b":"Section 2(2)","confidence":0.88,"description":"Section 2(1) provides that the Act comes into operation on the day of Royal Assent (19 June 1973). Section 2(2) then deems ss.4–11 to have come into operation on 1 October 1972 — before the Act existed. These two sub-sections establish irreconcilable commencement dates for the same provisions: one prospective from Royal Assent, one retrospective to a date eight months prior."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 5 (new s.35A) — deferral of contributions","section_b":"Section 7 (new s.48c(1)) — suspension of pension entitlement","confidence":0.75,"description":"Section 35A defers an employee's contribution liability to the Superannuation Fund while they are contributing under the DFRDB Act. Section 48c(1) separately suspends their pension entitlement for the same period. The combined effect is that an employee in this position is simultaneously not contributing to the Superannuation Fund AND not entitled to draw benefits from it — yet their membership and accrual notionally continues. It is unclear how benefit entitlements accrue or are calculated during a period where neither contributions are made nor benefits are accessible, creating an internal tension between the contribution and benefit frameworks."},{"severity":"high","section_a":"Section 6 (new s.48a(2)) — pension not payable to child in certain circumstances","section_b":"Section 7 (new s.48c(1)) — deemed pensioner status for survivor benefit purposes","confidence":0.8,"description":"Section 48a(2) denies a pension under the Principal Act to a child where a child's pension is already payable under the DFRDB Act. Section 48c(1) deems a deceased contributor to have been a pensioner 'in receipt of pension' for the purposes of ss.47 and 48 (which include survivor and children's pensions). If the deeming provision in 48c(1) triggers survivor pension rights under s.48 of the Principal Act, but 48a(2) then extinguishes those very rights where DFRDB Act benefits are also payable, the two sections are working in direct opposition — one creates the entitlement by fiction, the other immediately destroys it. The net result may be that the 48c(1) fiction is entirely negated by 48a(2) in the most common dual-scheme scenarios."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 1(2) — definition of Principal Act","section_b":"Section 5(2) — reference to Superannuation Act 1922–1968","confidence":0.67,"description":"The Principal Act is defined in s.1(2) as the Superannuation Act 1922–1971 as amended by the Superannuation Act 1973. Section 5(2) refers back to prior deferred contributions under 'the Superannuation Act 1922–1968, or of that Act as amended and in force from time to time'. This creates a definitional inconsistency: the Act's own definition of the foundational instrument (1922–1971) does not align with the historical citation used in s.5(2) (1922–1968), leaving a gap covering the 1969–1971 amendments that may not be bridged by the phrase 'as amended and in force from time to time'."}]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/superannuation-act-no-2-1973","history":"/api/acts/superannuation-act-no-2-1973/history","analysis":"/api/acts/superannuation-act-no-2-1973/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/superannuation-act-no-2-1973/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/superannuation-act-no-2-1973/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/superannuation-act-no-2-1973/documents"}}