Eligible
ADF members are in line for significant benefits following Government
decision on the recommendations of the Nunn Review. The major
changes include:
- The
Qualification and Skills elements of Flying, Specialist Operations,
Special Action Forces and Submarine Service Allowances will
be made superannuable.
-
Up to 24 weeks of Maternity Leave will be able to be taken at
half pay.
-
A new flexible salary structure for ADF Officers is to be adopted.
- The
MSBS Retention Bonus will be discontinued for new ADF members,
with a clause to protect the entitlement for all existing members.
There
will be no change in the role or functions of the Defence Force
Remuneration Tribunal.
The Nunn Review was an external review of ADF Remuneration conducted
in 2001, which resulted in range of recommendations covering the
pay-fixing arrangements for the ADF, Reserve remuneration, changes
to salary and allowance structures and conditions of service including
housing, leave and superannuation.
Allowances
The Government’s decision means that 100 per cent of the Qualification
and Skill (Q&S) element of the major environmental allowances
will be counted as salary for the purposes of superannuation,
once necessary regulatory changes have been completed.
Those allowances are Flying, Special Action Forces, Specialist
Operations, including Commandos, 2nd TAG, Clearance Divers, the
IRR and Submarine Service Allowance.
The decision to only superannuate the Qualification and Skill
elements of these allowances is consistent with the broad industrial
principle that payment for enhanced work value or skills over
extended periods should be considered to be part of salary (and
therefore relevant for superannuation purposes).
Making the Q&S elements of allowances superannuable will begin
when the applicable regulations have been gazetted, and the DEFPAY
computer system has been programmed to cater for the changes.
Personnel will be informed of a date of effect as soon as it is
known.
There will be no retrospectivity and anyone in receipt of these
allowances who leaves the ADF before the changes take effect will
not be eligible for the superannuation benefit arising from the
process.
To address specific shortages of Air Traffic Control officers
and Aerospace Engineers, the Minister for Defence recently established
two retention allowances.
These allowances are payable in recognition of work force shortage
and the need to enhance attraction and retention of members.
They address key departure points and attraction deficits and
will not be superannuable.
Flexible Pay Structure
Many of the recommendations in the Nunn Review were incorporated
into the ADF Remuneration Reform Project (RRP), which is being
progressed within Defence.
The Government’s decision means that work on the development of
a flexible officer pay structure is to continue. This part of
the project is to reform the structure and is not a pay case.
After development is sufficiently progressed communication will
occur on the model and its possible application to ADF Officers.
The Directorate of Military Salary and Allowance (Policy) website
will be updated as each aspect is agreed.
MSBS Retention Benefit
The MSBS Retention Benefit will cease for future ADF members.
The MSBS Retention Benefit provides one year’s salary as a (taxable)
bonus to those MSBS members of the rank of PO or LCDR (or specified
category) who reach 15 years of continuous service and agree to
undertake a further five years service.
Allowances are not included as part of salary for the purposes
of calculating the bonus. As a retention benefit, the MSBS bonus
has proven ineffective and will be discontinued.
The benefit will be protected for all currently serving MSBS personnel
to ensure that none are disadvantaged. Implementation will require
changes to the MSBS Act, which may take up to two years to achieve,
and all members who are in the MSBS scheme up to the date of legislative
change will be protected, and have unfettered access to the bonus.
Only members who join after the date of legislative change will
have the current entitlement removed.
Leave
The decision to allow ADF members to take Maternity Leave at half
pay will allow members to chose between taking 12 weeks on full-pay
or up to 24 weeks on half-pay or a mixture of both. This provision
has been enacted and was effective from March 1, 2004.
The Nunn Review made a number of recommendations in relation to
rationalising the number of types of leave and leave administration.
The Government agreed to a further internal review of ADF Leave,
which is under way.
The review aims to look at how to reduce the current complexity
in the taking and recording of leave, to reduce overheads and
make the system simpler to operate. It will examine options to
rationalise the current leave types through amalgamation, and
examine, environmental, war service and compassionate and carers
leave.
Remuneration Tribunal
The DFRT will be maintained as a separate statutory Tribunal responsible
for determining specified elements of ADF remuneration.
The role and the governance of the Tribunal will remain as it
is, and the office of the Defence Force Advocate will remain.
More information about the impact of Government’s decision on
the Nunn Review recommendations will be available on the Defence
intranet at http://intranet.defence.gov.au/pac/.
Review produces positives
The Armed Forces Federation takes a closer look at the Nunn Review
in its regular monthly column.
After much poking, prodding and encouragement over many months,
the Government has finally announced some positive news for ADF
personnel flowing from the Nunn Review.
The announcement, made by Defence Minister Senator Robert Hill
and Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence Mal Brough on
March 4, will improve superannuation arrangements for around 3800
ADF personnel, improve maternity leave arrangements and safeguard
current wage-fixing arrangements.
Not included in the Minister’s announcement, but another recommendation
of Nunn that is to be implemented, is abolition of the MSBS Retention
Benefit.
Superannuation
Once the necessary amendments have been made to the MSBS rules
and DFRDB regulations, 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.
The Federation has been seeking this change for many years now
and we welcome its implementation as quickly as possible.
Maternity Leave
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.
DFRT Role Preserved
The Federation is pleased to see the Government chose not to adopt
the recommendations of Nunn in regard to the nature and role of
the DFRT.
This continues to recognise the unique nature of ADF employment
and safeguards their wage-fixing arrangements.
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 PO/LCDR (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.
Contact the Armed Forces Federation on 02-6260 5100 or 1800 806861
or email Arffa@bigpond.com.
