23rd Mar 2020, 5:03 PM – Representatives Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus Bill 2020 and related bills - Consideration in Detail - Superannuation release

The majority voted in favour of disagreeing with the opposition amendments, which were introduced by Whitlam MP Stephen Jones (Labor). This means that the amendments failed.

What did the amendments do?

Mr Jones explained the purpose of the amendments, which relate to provisions that give workers early access to funds from their superannuation. Mr Jones argued that the provisions are "poorly implemented":

We are advised by the government that 1.6 million applicants are expected to take avail of the new provisions within this schedule. Those 1.6 million applicants will make their application to access superannuation through the myGov portal. [...]

We are deeply concerned because of the mechanisms around which this schedule will operate. The 1.6 million applicants go to myGov, they make their applications through myGov and myGov sends it through to the regulator, who, in this instance, is the ATO—and the ATO is the assessing authority. Most people will think, 'Well, if the ATO is the approving authority, a payment can be easily issued from the ATO'—but this is not the case. The ATO sends a notice to the trustees of the member's superannuation fund, saying, 'Please pay this money into this member's bank account.' That sounds reasonable. The only problem is the superannuation accounts don't have that information. With all the goodwill in the world, the minister might wish they did and the parliament may wish they did, but the simple fact of the matter is they don't. They don't have that information.

[...] Labor's amendments ... ensure that, when the ATO contacts the superannuation fund, and says, 'This fund member is eligible to receive early relief,' the ATO must provide the superannuation fund with all the information that they have that will enable the superannuation fund to make an early release of the funds.

Deakin MP Michael Sukkar (Liberal) responded by saying that "Our clear advice from Treasury is that this amendment is just completely unnecessary."

What do these bills do?

These bills were introduced to "implement the Government’s economic response to the spread of the Coronavirus, which the Government announced between 12 and 22 March 2020." You can find a copy of the bills' text on the bills' homepages by clicking on the bill hyperlinks provided on this page (each bill has its own hyperlink), or read about the Government's intentions with the bill on the explanatory memorandum. Due to the speed with which the bills went through parliament, there is currently no bills digest.