What it does
The Judges' Pensions Act 1971 (SA) establishes a defined-benefit pension scheme for Judges of South Australian courts and for certain judicial officers, together with survivor benefits for their spouses, domestic partners, and eligible children. The Act sets out the conditions under which a Judge becomes entitled to a pension upon retirement, resignation, or invalidity, and also provides for preserved pensions for Judges who resign before age 60 with at least 15 years of judicial service (section 6A). Where a Judge or former Judge dies leaving a spouse or domestic partner, the survivor receives a pension for life at two-thirds of the notional pension of the deceased (section 8). If the deceased is survived by both a spouse and a domestic partner, any survivor benefit is divided between them in a ratio based on the relative lengths of cohabitation, with separate periods of less than three months disregarded (section 9). Child benefits are payable in respect of eligible children of a deceased Judge or former Judge, calculated as a fraction of the notional pension (sections 10A to 10F). The Act also provides for the adjustment of pensions in line with the Adelaide Consumer Price Index twice yearly (section 14A), a minimum pension floor of 50 per cent of salary for certain Judges (section 11), and a mechanism for commutation of part of a pension to pay the deferred superannuation contributions surcharge (section 17A). Crucially, the Act contains an entire Part 2A (sections 17B to 17O) that facilitates the division of pension interests under the Commonwealth Family Law Act 1975, enabling payment splits between separating spouses or domestic partners. A pension is not payable to a Judge who is removed from office unless the Governor otherwise directs (section 13), and is generally not payable to a Judge first appointed within five years of the age of retirement unless the Governor directs otherwise (section 5). The Act is funded from the Consolidated Account or a special deposit account under the Public Finance and Audit Act 1987 (section 14). Its purpose is to provide judicial pension benefits that reflect the unique constitutional position of the judiciary and to ensure that the independence of the judiciary is supported through secure retirement benefits.