Superannuation amendments for local government

The Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (the Act) was passed by the Queensland Parliament on 23 May 2024 and received assent on 6 June 2024. Its provisions commenced on 1 July 2024.

The Local Government Legislation (Superannuation) Amendment Regulation 2024 (the Regulation) was approved by the Governor-in-Council on 13 June 2024. Its provisions commenced on 1 July 2024.

The Act and the Regulation amend the superannuation scheme for local government and local government entity employers set out in the:

They also make changes to other local government matters.

Reforms made by the Act and Regulation

The Act and Regulation make several reforms to the superannuation scheme for local government and local government entity employees, including to:

provide permanent employees who are accumulation members flexibility to determine the rate of their employee superannuation contributions, including to make no contribution.
align the definition of ‘salary’ in the LGR with the equivalent Commonwealth concept, ensuring a consistent understanding across the local government sector of employees’ superannuation entitlements.
revise the employer superannuation contribution rate for special permanent employees to increase in line with the upcoming increases to the Commonwealth superannuation guarantee.
establish a consistent employer superannuation contribution rate of 14% for all permanent Brisbane City Council employees under the age of 75.
update the name of LGIAsuper in the LGA to reflect that it now trades as Brighter Super.

The Regulation also removes local government chief executive officers’ power to deduct from the salary or wages of a local government employee as a disciplinary action.

It also revises the manner in which local governments are prescribed as ‘large local governments’ for the purpose of mandating whether a local government must have an audit committee.

The local governments which are required to have an audit committee are unchanged.

Consultation

We developed the amendments in consultation with local government sector stakeholders including:

Brighter Super
Brisbane City Council
the Local Government Association of Queensland
Local Government Managers Australia
The Services Union
the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.

Local governments were provided fact sheets, a checklist, and a template form to support implementation of the changes.

More information

If you’re a local government employee and you wish to discuss how these changes affect you, please contact your local government’s HR or payroll team.

For more information regarding the amendments, contact the appropriate Local Government Division regional office:

Northern office: Email northernlgd@dsdilgp.qld.gov.au or call (07) 4758 3472
Southern office : Email southernlgd@dsdilgp.qld.gov.au or call (07) 3452 6762

Resources

Last updated: 18 Jun 2024