THE DFWA MONTHLY UPDATE
 

	PO Box 4166, KINGSTON ACT 2604 Telephone:   02 6265 9530    Facsimile:  02 6265 9776 Web page:  http//www.rdfwa.org.au  Patron:  His Excellency Major General Michael Jeffery AC CVO MC (Retd) Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia	ISSUE 223   October 2007
The Update is a monthly E-Letter (except for January) produced by the Defence Force Welfare Association (DFWA) containing items which are of interest to the Service and ex-Service community.  It is distributed to politicians, media outlets, senior Service officers and DFWA branches.  Branches are encouraged to distribute Update further to Association members and other interested people or organisations.  Update is also posted on the DFWA website.

Tax on Invalidity Pensions   The DFWA has become concerned that, although some tax concessions have been legislated by the Government with respect to superannuation (eg non-dependants of ADF and AFP killed “in the line of duty” and tax-free access to super for anyone with a terminal illness), in January the Government refused to provide any concessions under Simpler Super to ADF personnel who are on permanent Class A invalidity pensions.  These personnel will never work again as a result of military service, and are therefore “retired” in a much fuller sense of the term than its definition by Treasury. It is difficult to see why non-dependants should get tax concessions when serving personnel who are permanently incapacitated because of their military service, do not !  The Association has written to the Prime Minister and issued a press release on the matter.

 Veteran Family Study Research Program   As a result of a lengthy struggle by the ex-service group Children of Vietnam Veterans Study (COVVS), Mr Billson released a report relating to Vietnam veterans’ children in August, and announced funding for a “Vietnam Veteran Family Study”.  The Association issued a statement welcoming the announcement but called for similar family health studies to be undertaken whenever Australian forces are deployed. On 4 October Mr Billson issued a statement seeking researchers for a general Veteran Family Study to undertake “A study into the intergenerational health effects of war service”, ie all war service.

 Military Superannuation Indexation  The Association continues to work closely with the Superannuated Commonwealth Officers Association (SCOA) to run a series of newspaper advertisements in marginal seats that have a high proportion of Commonwealth pensioners, to get pensioners who are disgruntled with CPI indexation of their retirement pensions to contact their local candidates. In addition, there has been a series of public meetings to invite candidates to address the issue.

 The Review of Military Superannuation   At the time of writing, there has been no announcement about the outcome of the Review of Military Superannuation, although the recommendations have been with the Minister since 30 June and the full report since 31 July.

 The Superannuation Legislation Amendment Act 2007 restores the superannuation pensions widows lost on remarriage prior to 1977.  The Act also finally made the superannuation benefits for spouses of veterans who married after age 60 and later died the same as they had been for the public service schemes since 1 July 2003, ie the length of time the widow had to be married to claim a full reversionary spouse pension has been reduced from five to three years (and pro rata if married for less than three years).

The arrangements for widows to claim their superannuation entitlements are still unclear and the DFWA has written to the Minister seeking advice.  Widows are encouraged to contact ComSuper on 1300 001 877  (www.comsuper.gov.au)   to seek advice on these matters (referring to the Superannuation Legislation Amendment Act 2007) and also to pass contact details to your local DFWA Branch, in order to be contacted as soon as the arrangements are known to the Association.

Response from Political parties.  The DFWA recently wrote to the major political parties on a range of issues.  The only response received to date – from the ALP – is reproduced below:

Labor believes that defence superannuation is a vital factor in the nation’s ability to recruit and retain talented and capable people for the Australian Defence Force. It is also a key entitlement for ex-service personnel. For these reasons, defence superannuation is an issue on which Government policy-making must be transparent and open to engagement with serving and former defence personnel.

The Howard Government has made a number of reforms to superannuation, most of which are supported by Labor. However, there is clearly much more to be done to address a range of longstanding issues in defence’s superannuation.

Issues of great concern to the defence and ex-service community include indexation, invalidity benefits, overall taxation arrangements, outdated life tables, and alignment between the preservation age for ADF members and the normal ADF compulsory retirement age.

Labor has been urging the Howard Government to ensure that defence superannuants are not left worse off by the recent ‘Better Superannuation’ reforms. In particular, the new proportioning rule imposed a new tax on Military Super members’ part commutation lump sums for those who retire earlier.  The Howard Government has finally brought in regulations to address this problem for MSBS members, although regulations for the DFRDB scheme have not yet been tabled*.

Labor has been calling on the Howard Government to release the report of the Military Superannuation Review, to enable proper discussion on how current arrangements could be improved, and how these longstanding problems could be addressed.  It is concerning that the Howard Government has refused to be answerable to the public and to the Opposition on these issues.

The Howard Government has been promising the ex-service community all year that this review would address their concerns. It is unacceptable that the Government has had this report since July but has continued to refuse to release it.

This is not the first time that the Howard Government has hidden an independent review into an important policy area.  The Clarke Review into veterans’ entitlements in 2004 was not released for some time and the Government then ignored most of its recommendations.   Labor hopes that this is not the Government’s strategy in 2007 and is calling for both the report and the Howard Government’s response to be released before the election.  Not to do so would confirm that the Government is not prepared to be open and honest with the many Australians who are deeply affected by these issues.

Should Labor win government, it will be able to consider and review a range of these matters properly.  It is time that this was done. Serving and former defence personnel deserve no less.

Best wishes, 

Alan Griffin MP Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Shadow Minister for Defence Science and Personnel

Senator Nick Sherry Shadow Minister for Superannuation Intergenerational Finance, Banking and Financial Services

 * DFWA Note: The regulations for the DFRDB Scheme - Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 2) 2007 and associated Income Tax Amendment Regulations - were made on 26 April 2007.

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