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Background Superannuation arrangements for judges appointed before 1 July 1999 are specified in the Judges' Contributory Pensions Act 1968 (Judges' Act). There is no “Judges' Superannuation Fund” as such. Rather, the member contributions (at the rate of five per cent of salary) are deposited in, and all benefits are met from, the Consolidated Fund. The Judges' Act provides that the Judges' Trust Account maintained within the Special Deposits and Trust Fund is used for this purpose. The judges' scheme is a defined benefit scheme that was closed to new entrants with effect from 1 July 1999. For the purposes of this section, a reference to the judges’ scheme includes the entitlements of the Solicitor-General as the Solicitor-General Act 1983 provides entitlements similar to those that apply to judges. Trustee As there is no superannuation fund as such, the judges’ scheme does not have a trustee. The scheme is administered by the Department of Treasury and Finance on behalf of the Treasurer. Scheme Design The judges’ scheme provides for a pension, equal to 50 per cent of the judges’ salary, following:
The judges’ scheme provides for a reversionary pension to be payable to the widow of a judge who dies whilst in office or to the widow of a retired judge. This pension is two-thirds of the pension payable to the primary pensioner. A reversionary pension may also be converted to a lump sum payment. Pensions payable under the judges’ scheme are indexed once a year in accordance with movements in Tasmanian judicial salaries. Tasmanian judicial salaries, which are adjusted with effect from 1 July each year, are based on the salary of the Chief Justice of Tasmania, which is determined by the Auditor-General as the average of the salary of the Chief Justice of South Australia and the salary of the Chief Justice of Western Australia as at 31 May of the year in question. Membership Membership of the judges’ scheme including, where appropriate, the Solicitor-General, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Master of the Supreme Court, is shown in Table 15. Judges and statutory legal officers appointed after 1 July 1999 are not members of the judges’ scheme and are therefore not included in this table. Table 15 Membership of the judges’ scheme
Funding As the contributions made by judges are paid into the Consolidated Fund, the judges' scheme is classed as an unfunded scheme, with the entire benefit being met by the Treasurer on an emerging cost basis. Liabilities The liabilities of the judges’ scheme are outlined in Table 16. There were no actuarial reviews of the judges’ scheme for the years ended 30 June 1996 and 30 June 1997.
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