Nunn review roll-outs

The announcement made by Defence Minister Robert Hill on March 4 will improve superannuation arrangements for about 3800 ADF personnel, improve maternity leave arrangements and safeguard current wage-fixing arrangements for ADF personnel.

Not included in the Minister's announcement, but another recommendation of the Nunn Review that is to be implemented, is abolition of the MSBS Retention Benefit.

Superannuation
Once the necessary amendments have been made, the Qualification and Skill Components of Flying Allowance, Submarine Service Allowance, Specialist Operations Allowance and Special Action Forces Allowance, will become superannuable. While the change may result in a slight drop in actual take home pay, there will be significant gains in regard to lump sum payments and pension entitlements of ADF personnel.

Maternity Leave at Half-Pay
ADF members proceeding on maternity leave will now have the option of converting their 12-week entitlement to 24 weeks at half pay. Members will recall the Federation has been campaigning for this change since mid-2002, when the entitlement to maternity leave at half-pay was provided to Defence civilians and we welcome its introduction. Our next challenge will be to have this entitlement extended to 14 weeks full pay/28 weeks half pay, as has been the case for their civilian counterparts since January this year. The Federation put this to the CDF when we met with him on March 10, and we hope the additional weeks will flow on to ADF members in the not too distant future.

DFRT Role Preserved
The Federation is pleased to see the Government chose not to adopt the recommendations of the Nunn Review in regard to the nature and role of the Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal (DFRT). This is a clear indication that the views of the Federation and all who made submissions on the Nunn Review were taken seriously and not dismissed. This continues to recognise the unique nature of ADF employment and safeguards their wage-fixing arrangements well into the future, whatever they may be.

MSBS Retention Benefit
The MSBS Retention Benefit that is currently available to members who have completed 15 years continuous full-time service and satisfy the rank criteria of sergeant/major (or specified category) and commit to serve a further five years, has been assessed as ineffective and is to be discontinued. We understand the original intent behind Nunn recommendation that led to that decision was to provide greater flexibility for the Service Chiefs to target specific employment categories requiring retention incentives. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

The legislative changes required to discontinue the MSBS Retention Benefit is expected to take up to two years but regardless of that, the change will not affect current MSBS contributors.

• For further information contact the Armed Forces Federation (02) 6260 5100 or 1800 806 861.
  E-mail: Arffa@bigpond.com

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