This bad enough that literally every single law in Queensland is invalid from the moment the upper house was removed from the law making process, but passing laws at 2:30am seriously??? !!! ???
Just another dodgy 'money for mates' law passed while the slave population are sleeping.
See article from 1 Dec 2016 by brisbanetimes.com.au of the headline:
Public servant super laws passed overnight
The LNP opposition has accused the government of rushing through laws to get its hands on public servants' superannuation.
About 2.30am on Thursday, the government passed its Revenue and Other Legislation Amendment Bill.
The Queensland government has passed laws that will change how some public servants' superannuation is calculated.
Shadow Treasurer Scott Emerson said the changes could leave a
public servant with more than 30 years' service $210,000 worse off.
"These
changes will leave core public servants like teachers, police and
nurses tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket," Mr Emerson said.
"In some cases this will cost public servants hundreds of thousands of dollars."
He accused the government of rushing through the laws late at night.
"(Treasurer Curtis Pitt) was caught trying to sneak through a change
that could leave some public servants hundreds of thousands of dollars
worse off," Mr Emerson said during the debate.
"We are seeing this Treasurer raiding public servants' superannuation."
The largely procedural bill includes a change to the State Public Sector (Superannuation) Act,
which gives a government superannuation officer the power to change the
multiple that dictates how much money an eligible worker receives from
the fund when they go to cash out upon retirement.
The bill
previously would have given the treasurer of the day the powers - but Mr
Pitt introduced an amendment to that aspect overnight.
Currently,
the formula is roughly the final salary of the worker multiplied by the
multiple, which increases depending on the number of years of service -
an increase in salary has an "immediate" increase in the accrued
benefit for scheme members.
Workers eligible for the scheme could
negotiate to use allowances to increase their overall salary; for
example, a public servant with a base wage of $90,000 could negotiate to
include $30,000 in allowances in their take home pay, bumping their
salary to $120,000.
Under the changes, workers can no longer have
their negotiated allowance payments count towards their overall pay,
which lowers the multiple used.
Mr Pitt said the bill formalised
the "existing administrative process to manage unfunded windfall benefit
gains resulting from artificial salary increases".
"This amendment applies only to employees with defined benefit accounts," Mr Pitt said.
"There
is no effect on the benefits accrued before the artificial increase in
salary and there is no change to the treatment of normal salary growth,
promotions or existing allowances."
Mr Pitt said if an employee
believed a decision to adjust their multiple was an inappropriate
application of the law, they could appeal under the Judicial Review Act.
He said the bill was no secret and accused the LNP of scaremongering.
"Sometimes
an employee's permanent salary is increased artificially - for
instance, because irregularly paid amounts such as loading are
included," Mr Pitt said.
"This creates an immediate increase in the employee's defined benefits entitlement.
"While
there is an immediate increase for those employees with a defined
benefit account, those other employees with an accumulation account
receive no such increase.
"That is not fair ... It is about making
sure that co-workers who sit next to each other are treated in the same
and equitable way."
The LNP did not oppose the bill, but opposed clause 68, which addressed the ability to change multiples.
The bill also allows state government and council workers to choose their own superannuation fund.
