Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Declaration No. 6

The instrument is short and focused on a single statutory mechanism: numeric substitution in a Schedule to a parent Act using an executive declaration power. The principal concepts and textual elements to record are these.

• Enabling power and instrument type. The declaration is made under s 3d of the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988 (preamble). The file header shows it as a Statutory Rule (Statutory Rules 1991 No. 1231). That combination identifies the instrument as subordinate legislation, made by the Minister under an express power in primary legislation, and recorded as a Statutory Rule.

• Temporal scope. The substitution of amounts is expressly limited to the period commencing 1 July 1991 and ending at the end of 30 June 1992 (s 2). The instrument therefore operates as an annual (or period-specific) modification rather than a permanent amendment to the Schedule for all time.

• Referential amendment. The instrument does not amend the Act text directly. Instead, it operates by reference: it directs that the Table in the Schedule to the Act "is to have effect" for the specified period "as if the amount specified in column 3 of an item in the following table were substituted for the amount specified in the Table in that Schedule that corresponds to the amount specified in column 2 of the item" (s 2). The mechanism is a substitution-by-reference: the Schedule remains the operative document, but whose numbers are temporarily replaced for the period defined.

• Specific numeric changes. The Table in the Declaration sets out column 2 (existing Schedule amounts) and column 3 (substituted amounts). Several entries are annotated "twice occurring" in column 2. The instrument gives exact replacement figures, changing $440 to $452, $13.20 to $13.56, $709 to $721, $21.27 to $21.63, and $1,063.50 to $1,081.50. These are precise numeric substitutions; the instrument does not provide rounding rules or additional calculation methods beyond these discrete replacements.

• Revocation. Section 3 revokes a prior declaration identified in the instrument as "The Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Declaration No. 1 2". The instrument also identifies the prior statutory rule in the Notes (Statutory Rules 1990 No. 172). The revocation is expressed in a single sentence and removes whatever operative effect the earlier declaration had for the period(s) to which it applied.

• Publication. The instrument records the date of gazettal: it was notified in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 21 June 1991 (Notes). That notice date is separate from the date of signature (5 June 1991) and the stated period of effect (which begins 1 July 1991).

• Absence of policy text and penalties. The declaration contains no legislative history, explanatory memorandum, or statement of policy objectives within its four operative clauses. It also contains no penalty, enforcement, or review provisions; those matters remain with the parent Act or other applicable law.

Interpreting the Declaration requires reading it together with the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988 and its Schedule, because the Declaration changes the Schedule by reference for the defined period and does not reproduce the rest of the Schedule or the Act.

The instrument does not name beneficiaries, payers, government agencies, or other classes of persons in express terms. Its practical effect is nevertheless targeted at the classes of persons to whom the Schedule in the parent Act applies. From the text alone the following, logically grounded, statements can be made about who is affected.

• Persons, entities or payments determined by the Schedule. The Declaration substitutes amounts into "the Table in the Schedule to that Act" for a defined period (s 2). Anyone whose rights, entitlements or obligations are determined by the numbers in that Schedule will be affected to the extent the Schedule uses the substituted figures for the period 1 July 1991 to 30 June 1992. The instrument does not itself identify particular beneficiary categories; the identification requires consulting the Schedule and the Act.

• The Commonwealth's financial administrators. Because the Declaration is made by the Minister for Finance under a statutory power and substitutes figures used in a statutory Schedule, officials responsible for administering the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988,payroll sections, superannuation trust administrators, accounting teams and any agency charged with applying the Schedule,must adopt the substituted amounts for the defined period. The text instructs that the Table "is to have effect" as if the substitution were made, which imposes a rule of application that administrative parts of government will be expected to follow.

• Parties under contractual or statutory arrangements referencing the Schedule. Private parties whose contracts, collective agreements or statutory entitlements reference the Schedule amounts will be indirectly affected to the extent those instruments incorporate the Schedule figures by reference. The Declaration does not itself amend private contracts, but replacing the statutory amounts for the period will change the legal baseline that some agreements may incorporate.

• Entities previously governed by the revoked declaration. Section 3 revokes an earlier declaration (described as "No. 1 2" and connected in the Notes to Statutory Rules 1990 No. 172). Persons or entities relying on the earlier declaration need to note that it is revoked and the new substituted amounts govern the period specified.

• No new persons are created or removed from coverage by this instrument alone. The Declaration makes numeric substitutions and a revocation; it does not amend eligibility, definitions, coverage, or the legal classes who are covered by the Act. Those elements remain those of the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988 and its Schedule.

Because the instrument substitutes specific monetary figures, its practical impact on any affected person depends on how many of the substituted units apply to them, how often they fall due (some items are labelled "twice occurring"), and whether contracts or administrative systems draw their amounts from the Schedule. The instrument does not disclose how many recipients exist, the total fiscal cost, or the underlying policy justification for the numerical changes.

The Declaration itself creates a narrow set of operative legal effects; duties and rights arise mainly by reference to the parent Act and the substituted Schedule amounts. From the instrument the following key duties and rights may be extracted.

• Duty to apply substituted amounts for the defined period. Section 2 requires that "the Table in the Schedule to that Act is to have effect in relation to the period commencing on 1 July 1991 and ending at the end of 30 June 1992 as if" the listed substitutions were made. The practical duty flowing to administrative bodies and officers is to treat the Schedule as if it contained the substituted numbers when computing payments, entitlements or obligations for that period. That duty is phrased as a statutory imperative: the Schedule is to have effect with the substitutions.

• Continuation of other Schedule rules. The Declaration does not replace or alter any non-numeric content of the Schedule or the Act. Any procedural duties, eligibility rules, timing rules or definitions in the Schedule remain in force and continue to govern rights and obligations, except insofar as they rely on the numeric amounts that are now substituted for the stated period.

• Revocation removes the previous declaration's force. Section 3 revokes the earlier declaration identified in the instrument. Where entities had relied on that prior declaration (Statutory Rules 1990 No. 172 as noted), their right to rely on those substituted numbers is ended as of the revocation. The instrument does not state retrospective application of the revocation or savings clauses; it simply revokes the prior instrument.

• No new substantive rights created by this declaration alone. The Declaration modifies numbers that may determine monetary entitlements, but it does not create new classes of beneficiaries or new legal causes of action. Rights to receive a productivity benefit, and duties to make payments, remain defined by the parent Act and the Schedule; the Declaration only changes the amounts used for a specified period.

• No penalties or enforcement provisions are inserted. The Declaration contains no penalty, offence, or enforcement clause. Any enforcement rights and duties,such as recovery of overpayments, compliance obligations, appeal routes or civil penalties,remain governed by the parent legislation and any other applicable Commonwealth law. The Declaration does not change those procedural or remedial frameworks.

• Temporal limitation on duties. The duty to apply substituted numbers is time-bound: it applies only for the 12-month period stated (1 July 1991 to 30 June 1992). After that period the Schedule must be read with whatever replacement instrument, or the base Schedule, applies. The Declaration does not state what happens beyond that period; it simply defines the scope and time for this numeric substitution.

Operationally, the most immediate duty is administrative: identify where the Schedule numbers are used in payments or entitlements and update systems, documentation and calculations to use the substituted figures for the stated period.

The Declaration contains no penalty or enforcement clauses. It does not create new offences, monetary penalties or compliance mechanisms in its own text. The instrument performs a numeric substitution operation and a revocation; it is silent on enforcement.

From the instrument alone the following points are clear.

• No direct enforcement text. Sections 1 to 3 of the Declaration set out citation, substitution and revocation. There is no section that prescribes penalties, infringement notices, criminal offences or specific recovery procedures in the instrument itself. Any enforcement action connected to non-application of the substituted figures must therefore rely on the enforcement regime in the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988 or general administrative law and finance law mechanisms.

• Enforcement and remedies remain tied to the parent Act and general law. The Declaration is made under s 3d of the parent Act. The parent Act will determine how compliance is policed, whether there are sanctions for non-compliance, how overpayments and underpayments are treated and whether there are administrative review or appeal processes. The Declaration does not alter those frameworks; it instructs that the Schedule is to take effect with substituted figures for the stated period.

• Practical enforcement risk for administrators. Because the instrument changes the amounts to be applied, administrators who fail to adopt the substituted figures during the stated period could create underpayment or overpayment liabilities. The instrument does not indicate whether repayments or reconciliations are required where an incorrect figure was used prior to gazettal. Pragmatically, agencies will need to reconcile their use of figures for the period 1 July 1991 to 30 June 1992 in accordance with the parent Act and any financial management rules, but such obligations arise from the Act and financial law rather than from the Declaration's text.

• Publication and legal notice. The instrument was notified in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 21 June 1991 (Notes). Publication in the Gazette is the conventional method for providing legal notice of subordinate instruments. The instrument’s notification may be relevant to questions of knowledge and administrative compliance timelines, but the Declaration itself does not set a commencement date other than the substitution period. The Minister signed the instrument on 5 June 1991.

Practitioners seeking the precise enforcement consequences for incorrect application of amounts must look to the enforcement, recovery and dispute-resolution provisions in the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988 and related financial management legislation. The Declaration does not change those remedies; it supplies numeric updates.

The Declaration is explicitly connected to and derives its effect from the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988. It is a subordinate instrument (a Statutory Rule) and therefore interacts with the legal framework in several narrow ways identifiable from the instrument.

• Operative dependency on the parent Act. The Declaration is made "under section 3d of the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988" (preamble). The text of s 2 instructs that the Table in the Schedule to the Act "is to have effect in relation to the period commencing on 1 July 1991 and ending at the end of 30 June 1992 as if" the specified numerical substitutions were made. That means the Declaration has legal effect only because the parent Act provides an enabling power to make such substitutions; it does not itself change the text of the parent Act beyond giving effect to the power conferred.

• Subordinate legislation relationship. The Declaration is recorded as Statutory Rules 1991 No. 1231. As a statutory rule, it will be subject to any statutory controls on delegated legislation found elsewhere in Commonwealth law,procedural requirements for tabling, publication and whether disallowance by Parliament applies,though those procedural matters are not set out in this instrument. The Notes record gazettal (21 June 1991) which is the usual publication step.

• Revocation of earlier subordinate instrument. Section 3 revokes a prior declaration described in the instrument. The Notes identify the prior statutory rule as Statutory Rules 1990 No. 172. That interaction is straightforward: the new declaration supersedes the earlier subordinate instrument for the purposes stated. The scope and effect of the revocation will depend on the terms of the earlier instrument and any savings or transitional provisions in the parent Act; none are contained in this Declaration.

• No direct amendment to other Commonwealth laws. The instrument’s text is narrowly framed; it neither purports to amend other Acts nor to vary other subordinate instruments apart from revoking the prior declaration. The numerical changes apply only to the Schedule within the parent Act and only for the defined period. Other laws that reference the Schedule will be affected only insofar as they adopt the Schedule's figures by reference.

• Interaction with contracts and industrial instruments. Where private contracts, industrial awards, enterprise agreements or other statutory instruments incorporate or otherwise reference the Schedule's figures, the substituted numbers will change the statutory baseline. The Declaration does not alter contractual terms directly, but it will have the indirect effect of changing statutory figures used in calculations if those private instruments rely on the statutory Schedule. Whether that interaction changes substantive contractual rights will depend on the terms of those contracts and the way they incorporate statutory figures.

• Fiscal and administrative law context. The Declaration does not itself create appropriations or budget authority. Any fiscal consequences from applying larger substituted figures will need to be met within existing appropriation and financial management frameworks. The instrument does not purport to create funding; it states a legal obligation to use substituted numbers for the period. How that legal obligation is funded or adjusted administratively will be a matter for public finance management and agencies, not the Declaration’s text.

In short, the Declaration operates within the delegated-legislation relationship to the parent Act; it substitutes numbers in the Schedule for a fixed period and revokes a prior substitute instrument. Its interactions with other legal instruments depend on how those instruments incorporate the Schedule and on the enforcement and funding frameworks located in the parent Act and in Commonwealth financial law.

The Declaration itself contains only a single revocation provision and no further amendments. The instrument records the following historical and procedural points.

• This instrument is Statutory Rules 1991 No. 1231. It is dated 5 June 1991 and signed by the Minister for Finance (RALPH WILLIS). It was notified in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 21 June 1991 (Notes). Those dates reflect the instrument’s creation and public notification.

• Section 3 revokes an earlier declaration identified in the instrument as "The Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Declaration No. 1 2 is revoked." The Notes pair that revocation with a prior registration: "Statutory Rules 1990 No. 172." A reader seeking the amendment chain should therefore treat SR 1990 No. 172 as the immediately preceding subordinate instrument in the sequence that this Declaration replaces or supersedes.

• The Declaration substitutes specific numerical amounts into the Table in the Schedule to the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988 for the period 1 July 1991 to 30 June 1992 (s 2). This type of declaration appears to be used to update numeric entries in a Schedule on a period-by-period basis. The instrument does not, however, contain any history of prior substitutions other than the single revocation of the prior statutory rule referenced in the Notes.

• No other amendments are made in this instrument. The Declaration does not modify the text of the parent Act beyond the effect of substituting the specified amounts in the Schedule for the stated period. It does not contain saving, transitional or retrospective clauses beyond the temporal application specified in s 2.

• For any comprehensive amendment history of the Schedule or the parent Act, the practitioner must consult the parent Act's legislative history and the series of Statutory Rules that have previously substituted figures into the Schedule. This Declaration indicates at least a two-step sequence: the prior SR 1990 No. 172 and this SR 1991 No. 1231, but it does not provide a complete chronology.

Because the instrument is short and narrow, its amendment history within the instrument consists only of the revocation of the prior subordinate instrument. For a full audit trail, a reader should obtain SR 1990 No. 172 and earlier declarations made under s 3d of the parent Act.

The Declaration contains no reference to litigation. It records dates, the substitution table and the revocation of an earlier declaration. From the instrument alone the following observations can be made about litigation history.

• No cases or disputes are recorded in the instrument. The text does not mention judicial review, appeals, or any ongoing or past litigation. There is no statement of contested application or litigation outcomes related to these substituted figures.

• Absence of litigation does not imply absence of dispute. The instrument does not address whether the substitution of figures has been or could be the subject of judicial review, appeals, or disputes about interpretation. It simply effects a numeric substitution under the authority of the parent Act.

• To establish whether there has been any litigation challenging the substance, scope, or procedural validity of this Declaration, its revocation, or the parent Act's exercise of s 3d power, a practitioner must search judicial decisions and administrative review records that fall outside the text of the instrument. The Declaration itself gives no indication that it was litigated or challenged.

• Practical importance of timing for any legal proceedings. The instrument was gazetted on 21 June 1991 and applies for the 12-month period starting 1 July 1991. Any legal proceedings concerning application of the substituted figures for that period would likely engage questions of whether an administrative agency complied with the Declaration, whether entitlements were correctly calculated, and whether the parent Act authorized the substitution. Those are issues for litigation records and case law, none of which are referred to in this instrument.

• Where a practitioner needs to know whether courts have interpreted the meaning of phrases used in this instrument, such as "twice occurring" as it appears in the table, that will require case law research because the Declaration is silent on interpretive points.

In sum, the Declaration contains no litigation history; determining whether there is any judicial or tribunal material that relates to it requires research outside the instrument.

The instrument’s brevity and reliance on external documents create several practical interpretive issues and administrative risks. These follow directly from the text and are matters a practitioner should note.

• The Declaration substitutes amounts "as if" they were in the Schedule; it does not reproduce the Schedule in full. Practitioners must cross-check the parent Act’s Schedule to identify precisely which items correspond to the column 2 amounts listed in the Declaration. The instrument instructs substitution where the Schedule has amounts that "correspond to the amount specified in column 2 of the item" (s 2). That requires matching identical numeric entries in the Schedule. If the Schedule contains multiple entries with the same numeric amount (hence the "twice occurring" annotations in the Declaration), attention is needed to ensure the substitutions are applied to the correct entries.

• Ambiguity in the revocation reference. Section 3 states "The Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Declaration No. 1 2 is revoked." The spacing and punctuation in the printed text could generate uncertainty about which numbered prior declaration is being revoked. The Notes, however, explicitly identify the prior statutory rule as Statutory Rules 1990 No. 172. Practitioners should confirm the full identifying citation of the revoked instrument (SR 1990 No. 172) rather than relying solely on the abbreviated wording in s 3.

• "Twice occurring" annotation. Several column 2 entries are annotated "twice occurring". The instrument does not explain whether that refers to the number of payments per year, duplication of identical line items in the Schedule, or some other structural feature. The term is not defined in the Declaration. Correct application therefore requires consulting the Schedule in the parent Act to understand what "twice occurring" modifies. Misreading the annotation could result in incorrect multiplicative application of the substituted amounts.

• Temporal limit. The substitution applies only for the period 1 July 1991 to 30 June 1992. After that date the Declaration's substitutions cease to have effect unless another declaration is made. If administrators or accountants fail to revert their systems at the end of the period, overpayments or reporting errors could occur. Systems must therefore be updated for both commencement and cessation dates.

• No express transitional or savings provisions. The Declaration revokes the earlier instrument and imposes substituted amounts for a future period beginning 1 July 1991. The Declaration contains no savings clause addressing payments made between signature and gazettal, or errors made before the substitution took effect. That leaves open potentially awkward administrative questions (for example, whether payments made between 1 July and the date of administrative adjustment need to be reconciled), to be resolved under the parent Act and general administrative procedures.

• Fiscal and operational consequences are not explained. The instrument contains no statement of how increased amounts are to be financed, who bears budget risk, or whether agencies may need appropriation adjustments. Practitioners should not assume the Declaration creates or provides funding; it changes the legal entitlement figures and the financial consequence will depend on agency budgeting and appropriation arrangements.

• Reliance on the Schedule in other instruments. Because private contracts and industrial instruments sometimes incorporate statutory figures, substituting the Schedule amounts could have knock-on effects on private obligations. The Declaration does not address those downstream consequences.

• Publication and knowledge timing. The signature date (5 June 1991) and gazettal date (21 June 1991) are both before the start of the effect period (1 July 1991). For internal compliance planning this is helpful, but practitioners should confirm whether agencies received adequate advance notice and whether payroll cycles allow the substitution to be implemented without retroactive calculation.

Each of these "gotchas" follows from the Declaration’s text and its narrow mechanism of substituting numbers into an externally maintained Schedule. Resolving them requires consulting the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988 (including its Schedule), the prior Statutory Rule (SR 1990 No. 172), and relevant administrative guidance.

Compliance under this Declaration is primarily an administrative exercise: find where the Schedule’s numeric items are used and replace those figures with the substituted amounts for the defined period. The Declaration itself defines the substitution and the time window. The following practical checklist and steps are grounded in the Declaration’s text and address the principal compliance tasks a government agency, superannuation administrator, payroll team or legal adviser should undertake.

1. Confirm the legislative baseline.

   • Obtain the Superannuation (Productivity Benefit) Act 1988 and its Schedule, and identify each table entry that matches the column 2 amounts listed in the Declaration. Section 2 instructs that substitution is to be applied to entries in the Schedule that correspond to the column 2 amounts. Exact matching is required.

2. Map the Declaration table to Schedule entries.

   • Match the Schedule entries that bear the numeric amounts $440, $13.20, $709, $21.27 and $1,063.50. Note the "twice occurring" annotations in the Declaration and determine from the Schedule whether these items appear in two places or whether they represent two payments per period. Do not assume the meaning of "twice occurring" until the Schedule is consulted.

3. Implement numeric substitutions in operational systems for the stated period.

   • For the period commencing 1 July 1991 and ending 30 June 1992, update payroll, superannuation calculation engines, accounting entries, user instructions, claim forms and any published tables so that the substituted amounts are used in place of the original Schedule amounts. The Declaration expressly requires that the Schedule "is to have effect" with the substituted figures for that period (s 2).

4. Revocation awareness.

   • Note that section 3 revokes an earlier declaration recorded as Statutory Rules 1990 No. 172 (Notes). Cross-check SR 1990 No. 172 to confirm what changes are being displaced and whether any transitional actions are required as a result of the revocation.

5. Record keeping and audit trail.

   • Document the substitution, including date of implementation, systems changed, and the reasoning linking the substitution to s 2 of the Declaration. Retain the Gazette notice (21 June 1991) and the instrument (SR 1991 No. 1231) as part of the legal authority for the changes.

6. Financial reconciliation.

   • Identify whether any payments made before the update require adjustment. The Declaration does not contain express transitional provisions. Where payments covering the relevant period have already been made using old figures, follow the procedures set out in the parent Act, agency financial rules or internal financial control policies to reconcile underpayments or overpayments.

7. Contract and award check.

   • Determine whether private contracts, awards or industrial instruments that reference the Schedule are affected. If so, advise relevant internal or private stakeholders about the substituted numbers and assess any obligation to adjust payments or notify counterparties.

8. Communications.

   • Notify affected staff, payroll providers and any external parties whose entitlements are calculated from the Schedule. Provide clear guidance on the applicable figures, the period of effect, and any action required by recipients or payers.

9. End-date procedures.

   • Because the substitution is time-limited, schedule a reverse-update or a follow-up action to revert systems at the end of 30 June 1992 unless a new declaration provides replacement figures. Ensure cut-off dates and payroll cycles are handled to prevent carry-over errors.

10. Seek legal clarification if uncertain.

    • If the meaning of "twice occurring", the scope of the applicable Schedule entries, or the identification of the revoked prior declaration is unclear, obtain legal advice and consult the parent Act and the revoked instrument (SR 1990 No. 172) to remove ambiguity before implementing financial adjustments.

Follow these steps to convert the instrument’s legal obligation into operational compliance. The Declaration itself prescribes the substituted amounts and the period; compliance tasks are about accurately mapping, applying and recording those substitutions and managing any financial reconciliation arising from prior actions.