E : Our People
This section describes the employment and post-employment benefits provided to Finance employees engaged under the Department of Finance Enterprise Agreement 2015-2018 and Public Service Act 1999.
As part of its Administered operations, Finance facilitates payment of salary and related benefits to staff employed by current and former Members of Parliament under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 (MOP(S) Act) as well as payment of post-employment benefits for former Parliamentarians and Prime Ministers under relevant legislation.
Superannuation payments made to former Commonwealth employees which are also administered by Finance on behalf of the Government are not included in the tables below. These are disclosed in Note C3.
In the following note disclosures, Departmental and Administered items are included together for presentation purposes only and these balances should not be compared.
E2 : Employee provisions
Policy and measurement
Leave provisions
Leave provisions includes provisions for annual leave and long service leave (LSL).
Key judgements and estimates
Leave provisions
The provision for LSL for employees engaged under the Public Service Act 1999 has been determined by reference to the short hand method as set out in the Resource Management Guide No. 125 Commonwealth Entities Financial Statements Guide. The estimate of the present value of the liability takes into account attrition rates and pay increases through promotion and inflation.
The provision for LSL for employees engaged under the MOP(S) Act is determined by reference to an actuarial assessment every three years, with the most recent assessment in 2017.
Post-employment benefits
Finance has made judgements in relation to the valuation of post-employment benefits such as entitlements of former Prime Ministers and former Senators and Members.
Changes to Life Gold Pass travel announced in the 2014-15 Budget came into effect during 2017 with the introduction of the Parliamentary Entitlements Legislation Amendment Act 2017. This legislation has resulted in significant reductions in Life Gold Pass (now parliamentary retirement) travel, as only retired former Prime Ministers and their spouse or de facto partner remain eligible for travel. The legislation was also renamed fromMembers of Parliament (Life Gold Pass) Act 2002 to Parliamentary Retirement Travel Act 2002.
This provision will be transferred from Finance to IPEA following proclamation of the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017, expected by the end of 2017.
| Departmental | Administered | |||
| 30 June | 30 June | 30 June | 30 June | |
| 2017 | 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | |
| $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | |
| Leave provisions | ||||
| Long service leave | 35,101 | 36,491 | 14,147 | 16,130 |
| Other leave | 23,302 | 25,058 | 22,038 | 19,335 |
| Post-employment benefits | - | - | 200,824 | 277,037 |
| Total employee provisions | 58,403 | 61,549 | 237,009 | 312,502 |
