Western Australian Consolidated Acts

JUDGES' SALARIES AND PENSIONS ACT 1950 - SECT 6

6 .         Pensions of judges

        (1)         Where a judge who has attained the age of 60 years retires, before the commencement of the 1987 Act, after serving as a judge for not less than 10 years, he is entitled to a pension at a rate equal to 50% of his final salary.

        (2)         Where a judge, not being a judge to whom subsection (1) applies, retires before the commencement of the 1987 Act and the Minister certifies that his retirement is due to permanent disability or infirmity, he is entitled — 

            (a)         if his retirement occurs before he has completed 6 years’ service as a judge to a pension at a rate equal to 40% of his final salary; or

            (b)         in any other case, to a pension at a rate equal to 40% of his final salary at an additional rate equal to 2% of his final salary for each complete year of his service as a judge in excess of 5 years of such service, but so that the rate of his pension shall not exceed 50% of his final salary.

        (2a)         Where a judge who has attained the age of 60 years retires, on or after the commencement of the 1987 Act, after serving as a judge for not less than 10 years, he is entitled to a pension at a rate equal to 60% of the current judicial salary.

        (2aa)         Where a judge who has attained the age of 55 years but has not attained the age of 60 years retires, on or after the commencement of the Judges’ Salaries and Pensions Amendment Act 1990 ¹ , after serving as a judge for not less than 10 years, he is entitled to a pension — 

            (a)         at a rate equal to 50% of the current judicial salary; and

            (b)         at an additional rate equal to 2% of the current judicial salary for each year by which his age exceeds 55 years,

                but so that the rate of his pension shall not exceed 60% of the current judicial salary.

        (2ab)         Where a judge retires on attaining the age of 70 years having served as a judge for less than 10 years, the judge is entitled to a pension at a rate equal to the percentage ( P% ) of the current judicial salary calculated using the formula —

                where —

        D 1         is the length of service as a judge, expressed in days;

        D 2         is the number of days in the period of 10 years ending on the day on which the judge retires.

        (2b)         Where a judge, not being a judge to whom subsection (2a), (2aa) or (2ab) applies, retires on or after the commencement of the 1987 Act and the Minister certifies that his retirement is due to permanent disability or infirmity, he is entitled — 

            (a)         if his retirement occurs before he has completed 6 years’ service as a judge to a pension at a rate equal to 50% of the current judicial salary; or

            (b)         in any other case, to a pension at a rate equal to 50% of the current judicial salary and at an additional rate equal to 2% of the current judicial salary for each complete year of his service as a judge in excess of 5 years of such service, but so that the rate of his pension shall not exceed 60% of the current judicial salary.

        (2c)         Unless the Governor decides otherwise no pension is payable under this section to a judge who has been removed under section 55 of the Constitution Act 1889 , or section 9 of the Supreme Court Act 1935 .

        (3)         Subject to subsection (3a), if a person entitled to receive, or in receipt of, a pension under this Act — 

            (a)         holds any judicial office under the Crown in right of Western Australia, of the Commonwealth or of another State or a Territory for which he is remunerated out of the moneys of the Crown, then the pension otherwise receivable under this Act by that person shall be reduced by an amount equal to the amount of the salary remuneration received by that person in respect of that judicial office;

            (b)         is in receipt of a pension received by that person by reason of having held the office of a judge within the meaning of section 2(3)(b)(i) (in this paragraph referred to as the other judicial pension ), then the pension otherwise receivable under this Act by that person shall be reduced by an amount equal to the amount of the other judicial pension; or

            (c)         is in receipt of any pension under the Superannuation and Family Benefits Act 1938  ² received by that person by reason of having been a contributor within the meaning of that Act, then the pension otherwise receivable under this Act by that person shall be reduced by an amount equal to the State share of his pension payable in respect of service as an employee within the meaning of that Act  ³ .

        (3a)         If a person entitled to receive, or in receipt of, a pension under this Act holds the office of auxiliary judge, then, while that person holds that office, subsection (3) does not apply to or in relation to that person in respect of that office.

        (3b)         Service as an auxiliary judge does not constitute service as a judge for the purposes of this section.

        (3c)         In subsections (3a) and (3b) — 

        auxiliary judge means auxiliary judge referred to in section 11AA of the Supreme Court Act 1935 .

        (4)         In subsection (3)(c) — 

        State share of his pension has the meaning given by the definition of that expression in section 80(4) ⁴ of the Superannuation and Family Benefits Act 1938 ² , references in that definition to a “pensioner” and “the pensioner” being construed as references to the person referred to in subsection (3)(c) ³ .

        [Section 6 inserted by No. 45 of 1961 s. 2; amended by No. 99 of 1970 s. 3; No. 13 of 1973 s. 3; No. 35 of 1979 s. 3; No. 82 of 1987 s. 5; No. 12 of 1989 s. 6; No. 62 of 1990 s. 5; No. 23 of 1997 s. 15; No. 65 of 2003 s. 100; No. 33 of 2007 s. 4.]