DE FACTO COUPLES — SUPERANNUATION SPLITTING
552. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Attorney General:
I refer to the injustice in Western Australia's
legal system that means that when a de facto couple separates, they are unable to divide their superannuation entitlements
when finalising a property settlement. Why has the Attorney General's
government been able to fast-track ticket scalping legislation and prioritise
electoral reform legislation to rip regional representation from the
Parliament, but is yet to introduce this much-needed legislative change?
Mr J.R.
QUIGLEY replied:
I
became the Attorney General in March 2017 and one of the first things I did was
to get on to the commonwealth to see whether it would pass the legislation to
allow superannuation splitting. It took right through until December 2020. It
took complete pestering of the commonwealth for the entire first term of me
being in office to get movement over there,
and it was not until December that it eventually passed the legislation. It
also included provisions relating to bankruptcy concerning divorcing
people, especially de facto couples, so we have to redraft some legislation in Western
Australia and that currently has priority at the Parliamentary Counsel's
Office.