This Determination, titled the Parliamentary Superannuation Age Factors (Surcharge) Determination 2015 (No. 2), fixes numeric "age factors" to be applied under section 22B of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948 (the Act). The instrument is made by the Parliamentary Retiring Allowances Trust under subsection 22B(1) of the Act, and is dated 12 August 2015 (signed by the Trust’s trustees Michael Francis McCormack and Philip Ruddock). The instrument commences the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments (s 2(a)), and it expressly revokes the earlier Superannuation Pension Conversion Factors Determination No. 2/2004 made on 9 December 2004 (s 2(b)).

Mechanically, the Determination replaces the earlier conversion/age factor schedule by specifying four discrete tables in the Schedule (Tables A-D) and directs that the age factor for a person, for the purposes of section 22B, is determined from those tables based on three categorical variables: the person’s sex (male or female), the type of pension (retirement pension or invalidity pension), and the person’s age when the benefit becomes payable (s 3). The Schedule supplies numeric age factors at one-year intervals (age at last birthday prior to start of pension) from age 20 through age 80 inclusive, separated into the four tables: male retirement (Table A), female retirement (Table B), male invalid (Table C) and female invalid (Table D).

The Determination does not itself state the arithmetic formula in which those age factors are used; it is made "for the purposes of section 22B" (s 3), so the factors operate as inputs to whatever conversion, surcharge or calculation mechanism section 22B of the Act prescribes. The instrument also contains the administrative detail that legislative instruments are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (note). In short, the mechanical change is the replacement of the previous set of numeric age/conversion factors with the new set contained in Tables A-D, with commencement upon FRLI registration and revocation of the 2004 determination (ss 1-3).

The Determination rests on a small set of interlocking concepts, each explicitly set out in the instrument.

• Authority and provenance. The Parliamentary Retiring Allowances Trust makes the Determination under subsection 22B(1) of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948. The document records the date and signatories (12 August 2015, trustees Michael McCormack and Philip Ruddock), and records that it will commence after registration on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments (s 2(a)). The instrument revokes a prior instrument made under the same power (s 2(b)).

• Purpose-limited numerical schedule. Section 3 defines the "age factor for a person" as being "determined under Tables A, B, C and D of the Schedule to this Determination" and explicitly ties choice of table to three discrete attributes: biological sex (male or female), whether the benefit is a retirement pension or an invalidity pension, and the person's age when the benefit becomes payable (s 3). The Schedule contains four named tables (A-D), each of which lists "Age at last birthday prior to start of pension" and a corresponding "Age Factor" at single-year intervals.

• Domain and granularity. The schedule provides factors for ages stated as "Age at last birthday prior to start of pension" and lists factors for ages 20 through 80 inclusive in each table. The granularity is annual, with the age measure taken as "last birthday prior to start of pension" rather than age in years and fractions.

• Relationship to the Act. The Determination is framed narrowly: it does not seek to amend the Act; instead it supplies the numerical parameters that the Act (in s 22B) requires the Trust to determine. The instrument therefore functions as a delegated instrument providing parameter values for statutory benefit calculations.

• Administrative traceability. There is an express note pointing users to the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments for registration and public access (note). The instrument explicitly revokes the 2004 Determination, so the new schedule is the operative one once the instrument commences.

Those are the core technical concepts present in the source. The Determination does not contain a policy statement, explanatory memorandum, actuarial report or worked examples; it consists of the legal instrument language plus the four numerical tables.

The Determination affects three categories of actors directly because of its role as an input to section 22B of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948.

• Members and former members of Parliament (and other beneficiaries under the Act) who are entitled to retirement pensions or invalidity pensions under the Act. The Determination prescribes the "age factor" to be used "for the purposes of section 22B" when a benefit becomes payable (s 3). Any individual whose benefit calculations under the Act depend on the age factor will therefore be affected in the sense that the numeric multiplier or divisor used in their calculation will be taken from these tables.

• The Parliamentary Retiring Allowances Trust and its trustees. The Trust is the maker of the Determination under s 22B(1) (instrument signed by the trustees and dated 12 August 2015). Practical responsibility for applying the schedules in benefit calculations, keeping records, using the correct table (A-D) and age measure, and ensuring the revocation of the previous schedule is operationally effective rests with the Trust and the administrators acting under its authority.

• Officials and advisers who prepare or audit superannuation calculations for the Trust, the Department or members. Actuarial and payroll staff who calculate pension conversions, compute ongoing pension amounts, or verify compliance with the Act must rely on the numerical values in the Schedule for persons whose benefits are governed by s 22B.

Indirect effects that follow from these direct impacts can include:

• Timing decisions by members. Because the Determination ties the factor to "age at last birthday prior to start of pension" (s 3 and Schedule headings), the precise timing of when a pension is taken may change the applicable factor at the one-year granularity the tables provide. The Determination itself does not prescribe how individuals should act, but it changes the numerical inputs that affect the financial consequences of timing.

• Administration and recordkeeping burden. The Trust, payroll and actuarial teams must update their systems to apply the new tables and to note the revocation of the 2004 instrument (s 2(b)). The instrument also requires registration on the FRLI to commence (s 2(a)), meaning administrators must ensure the registration occurs and the commencement date is tracked.

The Determination does not identify or modify entitlement rules in the Act beyond supplying the age-factor parameters. It does not itself change who is eligible for pensions or how section 22B operates beyond replacing the numeric values used under that section.

The Determination is short and does not create freestanding duties or offences; instead it imposes a binding numerical specification that must be applied under section 22B of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948. The relevant duties and procedural obligations that follow from the instrument as supplied are:

• Duty to apply the correct table and age measure. Section 3 directs that "the age factor for a person is determined under Tables A, B, C and D of the Schedule ... based on: (a) whether the person is male or female; (b) whether the benefit is a retirement pension or an invalidity pension; and (c) the age of the person when the benefit becomes payable." That creates an operational duty on administrators and trustees to select the correct table among A-D, and within that table select the row corresponding to the person's "age at last birthday prior to start of pension" as shown in the Schedule headings. The instrument therefore dictates the selection criteria the Trust must use when performing calculations required by s 22B.

• Duty to replace the previous factors. Section 2(b) revokes the Superannuation Pension Conversion Factors Determination No. 2/2004. Administrators must therefore cease using the 2004 instrument's values (or any interim set) once this Determination commences, and adopt the new Schedule values in all relevant calculations.

• Duty to observe commencement formalities. Section 2(a) states the Determination commences the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments. The Trust and administrators must therefore observe the commencement date as determined by FRLI registration and ensure the new factors are applied from that date forward.

• Rights of affected persons. The Determination itself does not create dispute-resolution procedures or appeal rights; rights relating to pensions,such as entitlement questions, calculations, review or challenge,remain governed by the Act and any existing administrative or judicial review mechanisms. The instrument sets the numerical inputs; any right to challenge a calculation would therefore be exercised by reference to the Act and usual review channels rather than the Determination itself. The Determination does not specify any review, review period or internal appeal procedure.

• Recordkeeping and transparency. The instrument makes clear that legislative instruments are registered on FRLI (note). Administrators therefore have the obligation, implicit in good governance and in public access to instruments, to ensure the instrument is located on FRLI and that calculations refer to the registered instrument and its commencement date.

The Determination does not specify any penalties, sanctions or enforcement mechanisms within its text. It is a delegated legislative instrument that provides numerical parameters (the four tables of age factors) for application under section 22B of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948. The document contains only three operative clauses and the Schedule; none of these clauses creates offences, specifies pecuniary penalties, or establishes an enforcement regime.

Consequently, any enforcement, sanction or rectification would arise under the Act or existing administrative or legal mechanisms that govern the Trust and the operation of parliamentary superannuation, not under this Determination itself. The instrument’s role is to supply data; it does not purport to alter investigative powers, criminal or civil penalties, or dispute resolution pathways. For example:

• If an incorrect age factor were used in calculating a person’s pension, the statutory avenues for correcting an administrative error, seeking internal review, or judicial review (if available) would be engaged as provided under the Act and general administrative law. The Determination does not set or limit those avenues.

• The Trust’s governance framework or the Act may contain duties, breaches, or rectification powers relevant to trustees’ administration; this Determination does not create or modify those legal tools.

• The instrument requires registration on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments for commencement (s 2(a)); registration is an administrative formality governed by the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 and FRLI processes, but the Determination does not itself impose enforcement measures around registration beyond the commencement provision.

Users seeking to determine enforcement consequences for misapplication of these tables must therefore consult the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948, the Trust’s governance instruments, and relevant administrative law remedies. The Determination functions as a source of binding numerical parameters once in force; the legal consequences of errors in application flow from the underlying statutory and governance framework rather than from any sanctions in the Determination.

The Determination is explicitly a delegated instrument made under subsection 22B(1) of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948 and therefore interacts with that Act in the narrow role of providing numerical parameters for section 22B calculations (s 3). Its interaction with other legal instruments and regimes, as set out in the source, is limited but concrete.

• Interaction with the Act. The Determination’s sole substantive legal relationship is with s 22B of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948. Section 3 states that the age factor is determined under the Schedule "for the purposes of section 22B", thereby making the Determination an input to benefits calculation under the Act. The Determination does not alter the Act’s substantive entitlement rules; it supplies the numeric factors the Act requires be fixed by the Trust.

• Revocation of earlier instrument. Section 2(b) revokes the Superannuation Pension Conversion Factors Determination No. 2/2004 made by the Trust on 9 December 2004 under the same statutory power. That revocation creates a direct interaction with statutory history and any administrative practice that relied on the 2004 instrument: from commencement of the 2015 Determination, the 2004 factors are no longer operative for the purposes of s 22B.

• Registration and the Legislative Instruments Act regime. The Determination expressly links commencement to registration on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments (s 2(a)). The note at the end of the instrument directs readers to FRLI and refers to the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. That ties the instrument into the broader federal regime for registration, publication and the legal status of legislative instruments. Registration on FRLI is necessary for the Determination to commence and become available to interested parties.

• No cross-references to other Acts or rules in the instrument text. The Determination does not mention or modify any other statutory provisions, regulations, tax rules, social security interfaces, or privacy obligations. Any interactions with other laws (for example, taxation of benefits, social security means tests or privacy of member data) are not addressed in the Determination and must be considered separately under those regimes.

• Administrative compatibility. Operationally, administrators must ensure that payroll and actuarial systems apply the new factors; those systems may themselves be subject to obligations under financial disclosure, recordkeeping, audit and governance laws. The Determination’s instruction to use particular numerical values therefore must be implemented in a way consistent with those other legal obligations; the instrument itself does not establish or alter those complementary duties.

The Determination’s amendment history, as provided in the source document, is concise and explicit.

• New instrument in 2015. The instrument is titled Parliamentary Superannuation Age Factors (Surcharge) Determination 2015 (No. 2) and is dated 12 August 2015 with trustee signatures, indicating the date of execution by the Parliamentary Retiring Allowances Trust. The instrument contains its own commencement rule (s 2(a)), which ties commencement to registration on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

• Revocation of the 2004 instrument. Section 2(b) expressly revokes the Superannuation Pension Conversion Factors Determination No. 2/2004, which had been made by the Parliamentary Retiring Allowances Trust on 9 December 2004 under subsection 22B(1) of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948. The revocation is immediate upon commencement of this Determination, meaning the 2004 factors cease to apply from the day this Determination commences.

• No further amendments or prior history recorded. The document does not record any earlier amendments to the 2004 Determination beyond the stated revocation, nor does it record any earlier versions of the 2015 instrument. The source contains no schedule of subsequent amendments, no transitional provisions beyond the revocation, and no savings clauses. Therefore the amendment history contained in the instrument itself is limited to the replacement relationship between the 2004 and 2015 determinations.

• Registration on FRLI. Section 2(a) requires commencement to occur the day after registration on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments. That implies that, operationally, the instrument’s entry into force is triggered by a separate registration step under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 and the FRLI processes. The instrument’s recorded date of 12 August 2015 is the date of signature; the actual legal commencement date depended on FRLI registration.

• No in-text versioning of the Schedule. The Schedule itself contains the four tables of age factors that are the substantive content of the instrument. The Determination does not include in-text amendment clauses or sunset provisions; any future amendment or revocation would require a further instrument under the same statutory power.

If users need a complete legislative history beyond what this instrument records, the note directs them to FRLI where legislative instruments and compilations are registered and available (note). The instrument itself provides a minimal amendment trail: it supersedes the 2004 Determination and becomes effective on FRLI registration.

The instrument as supplied contains no references to litigation, court decisions, or disputes that interpret or apply these age factors. There are no cases cited in the text, no judicial determinations referenced, and no mention of any existing or anticipated litigation in relation to the Determination or its predecessor. The Determination is a numeric parameter-setting instrument and the source document records only administrative facts: who made it, when it was signed, its commencement rule, its revocation of the 2004 instrument, and the four tables of factors.

Consequently, from the instrument itself, there is no litigation history to report. Any actual or hypothetical disputes arising from the application of these factors,errors in computation, challenges to which table applies, allegations of misapplication in a particular beneficiary’s calculation,would be matters that would have to be found in case law or administrative decisions outside the text of this Determination; such material is not present in the supplied source.

Practitioners needing to know whether these factors have been the subject of judicial review, statutory interpretation, or administrative appeals will need to consult court and tribunal databases or FRLI commentary and instrument records, because the Determination itself contains no litigation narrative or cross-references to any decisions.

The Determination appears straightforward but contains several technical features and omissions that merit attention when applying it in practice. These points are drawn directly from the instrument’s wording and Schedule.

• Table selection depends on three explicit criteria. Section 3 requires the administrator to determine the age factor using Tables A-D based on (a) whether the person is male or female; (b) whether the benefit is a retirement pension or an invalidity pension; and (c) the age of the person when the benefit becomes payable. Administrators must therefore have contemporaneous, reliable records of the person’s sex classification and the pension type to select the correct table. There is no provision in the Determination for non-binary or other classifications; the tables are binary (male/female). The instrument itself does not provide guidance where an individual’s classification is uncertain or changed; the text simply specifies male or female (s 3).

• Age measure is "age at last birthday prior to start of pension". Each table is headed "Age at last birthday prior to start of pension", so the relevant age for table-selection is explicitly the last birthday before pension commencement. That is a specific technical choice: it is not age rounded to nearest year, not age in years and fractions, but last birthday. Practitioners must therefore be careful when a person’s commencement date falls close to their birthday: the applicable factor is based on the last birthday prior to start.

• Domain limits: ages 20-80 only. Each table lists factors for ages 20 through 80 inclusive. The Determination does not specify factors for persons younger than 20, older than 80, or for persons whose age cannot be measured by last birthday for any reason. The instrument contains no explicit transitional or fallback rule for ages outside the tabulated range. Practitioners will therefore need to look to the Act, Trust policies or other guidance for how to treat cases outside the 20-80 range; the Determination itself does not resolve that gap.

• Small numerical differences can matter. The tables show often small differences between adjacent ages and between sexes (differences can be as little as 0.1 or 0.2 in many places). Because these numbers are likely inputs to conversion or surcharge arithmetic under s 22B, small differences can translate into material differences in annual pension rates or lump-sum conversions depending on the formula used by the Act. The Determination provides no rounding rules or precision guidance other than the table entries themselves.

Compliance in practice requires applying the Determination’s procedural commands and integrating the Schedule into the Trust’s benefit-calculation processes. The following actions are grounded in the instrument text and reflect steps trustees, administrators and advisers should take.

• Verify commencement and FRLI registration. Section 2(a) sets commencement as the day after registration on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments. Before using the tables, confirm the FRLI registration date for this Determination and apply the new age factors only from the correct commencement date. Retain a copy of the FRLI registration entry as part of the compliance record.

• Use the correct statutory authority. The Determination is made under subsection 22B(1) of the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948. Ensure that any calculations invoking these tables are properly framed as exercises "for the purposes of section 22B" so that the numerical inputs are applied in the statutory context the Act requires (s 3).

• Select the correct table. Section 3 requires selection among Tables A-D based on: (a) whether the person is male or female; (b) whether the benefit is a retirement pension or an invalidity pension; and (c) the age of the person when the benefit becomes payable. Document the factual basis for selecting a particular table (e.g. member records showing sex classification, certificate/medical files supporting an invalidity pension, pension commencement date to determine age at last birthday).

• Apply age as "age at last birthday prior to start of pension". The Schedule is headed with that phrase; use the person’s last birthday prior to pension start to choose the row in the relevant table. Where a pension commencement date is the person’s birthday, confirm the wording "prior to start of pension" means the last birthday before the pension starts; record how the date-of-commencement is interpreted and applied.

• Record and document calculation inputs and outputs. Because the tables are numeric parameters that feed into statutory calculations, keep clear records of: which table was used and why; the age row selected; the exact numeric factor applied; the date the Determination was applied; and any rounding or arithmetic steps taken when applying the factor under the Act. These records will be necessary for audits, internal governance, and any future dispute or review.

• Handle ages outside the table range. The Schedule provides factors for ages 20-80 inclusive. If a case falls outside those ages, do not assume the Determination supplies an applicable factor. Instead, consult the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Act 1948, Trust policy, legal advisers or the Trust’s actuary to determine the correct approach; the Determination itself is silent on out-of-range ages.