Debates Day 3 - Thursday 19 November 2015
Parliamentary Record 24
Debates for 12th Assembly 2012 - 2016; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 12th Assembly 2012 - 2016
2015-11-19
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
English
Debates
Hansard Office
Darwin
application/pdf
Attribution International 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
http://hdl.handle.net/10070/267729
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/441540
DEBATES Thursday 19 November 2015 7396 Considering members are now treated just like any other Territorian, it came as a surprise to a number of newly-elected members to be advised by the Clerk of the Assembly that they could not hold superannuation from their compulsory contributions in a self-managed superannuation fund. The act being amended in the Assembly today expressly prohibited it, which required the Clerk to enforce it. The Clerk brought this to my attention as Speaker. I subsequently wrote to the government suggesting it consider an amendment on the basis that there is no good policy rationale and the change will cement members of the Assembly as being totally aligned with other Territorians in their contributions and ability to choose an approach to their retirement planning through either an established superannuation scheme or through a self-managed scheme. On that basis I am pleased to support the legislation before the Assembly today. On the passage of this bill and its enactment into law, it will be even more apparent that members, just like everyone else, have to manage their affairs to ensure they can retire either on their departure from the Assembly or from a subsequent occupation. Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I thank again the opposition and other members supporting this legislation. In particular, I urge members to heed the advice of the Opposition Leader, who said he is happy to support this, but urges members to seriously seek financial advice before entering into a selfmanaged super fund. That is sage advice, Leader of the Opposition. There are differences in operating your own superannuation fund certain complexities and the like. I am not giving financial advice but it is not an easy thing to manage your own super fund. I go further than the Opposition Leader did and suggest that members should, if they are operating a self-managed superannuation fund, take advice from the Clerk in relation to how their investments are declared. Of course, with a regular retail or industry fund, there is very little say where money is directly invested. In many regards, those investments are very much at arms length of the member. With a self-managed super fund, members could find themselves in certain circumstances with conflicts and the like when making direct investments that should be declared to the parliament. Madam Speaker, having said that, on this side of the House we believe in personal choice and that people should be able to make their own decisions about their own investments. For that reason I commend the bill to the House. Motion agreed to; bill read a second time. Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time. Motion agreed to; bill read a third time. MINISTERIAL STATEMENT October Business Month Mr STYLES (Business): Madam Speaker, the Country Liberals government is pursuing a vision for the Territory with an economy, lifestyle and environment that is the envy of the nation. We recognise that an innovative, dynamic, skilled and responsive local business community is vital to ensuring economic growth. The private sector is the engine of economic growth and local businesses are central to our economic activity. This year we celebrated the 21 st year of October Business Month, a Country Liberals government initiative that, apart from acknowledging the significance of local businesses, delivered an exciting range of events that provided professional development opportunities, encouraged networking and provided owners new ideas to inspire and grow their businesses. October Business Month, as we know it today, spans across 31 days delivering across all regions of the Territory. It has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1994 when originally known as Small Business Month where 699 people attended 12 organised events, including the launch of International Business Week, leadership seminars and a weekend focusing on women in business. The then Country Liberals government, through its Department of Industries and Development, saw that as a part of its work with both established and prospective business operators, the promotion of an entire month for business people would be beneficial to a fastgrowing Northern Territory economy. The Country Liberals government based the event on the belief that businesses and individuals, not government, are the true creators of wealth and employment in the Northern Territory and around the world, and that businesses, however small, are the driver of the nations economy, underpinning growth and innovation and providing jobs for all Australians. As the Territorys Business minister, I am proud of October Business Month and the work of my department in delivering such a mammoth event in support of local business. October Business Month gives Territory businesses access to topclass speakers and events, which otherwise might not have visited the Territory because of our size