Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) In this section,
unless the contrary intention appears —
Index means the table described as the Consumer
Price Index Numbers — All Groups, Perth that is published by
the Commonwealth Statistician under the authority of the Census and Statistics
Act 1905 (as amended or re-enacted from time to time) of the
Commonwealth;
pay-day means a day on which a fortnightly
instalment of a pension is payable.
(2) Subject to this
section, every pension payable under this Act to a former contributor shall be
adjusted by the Board in the period of 6 months ending on
31 December 1985 and thereafter in each period of 6 months
ending on 30 June or 31 December, in accordance with this section.
(3) The percentage (if
any) by which pensions shall be adjusted in each period referred to in
subsection (2) shall be that which the Board declares, as soon as is
practicable in that period, to be the percentage by which the Index for the
quarter ending at the commencement of that period is greater than the Index
for the quarter ending 6 months before the commencement of that period.
[(4) deleted]
(5) The adjustment of
a pension under this section in any period shall be made —
(a)
subject to subsection (7), by increasing the rate at which, immediately
before the making of the adjustment, the pension was payable by the percentage
declared under subsection (3) in that period; and
(b) so
as to operate from and including the first pay-day occurring not less than
3 months after the commencement of that period.
(6) An adjustment of a
pension shall not be made under this section in a period if the pension comes
into force in that period or less than 3 months before the commencement
of that period.
(7) Where a pension
comes into force not less than 3 months but less than 6 months
before the commencement of a period, the adjustment of the pension under this
section in that period shall be by one-half of the amount of the increase that
would otherwise apply under subsection (5)(a).
(8) Where the Index
for the quarter ending at the commencement of a period referred to in
subsection (2) is not greater than the Index for the quarter ending
6 months before the commencement of that period, the Board shall declare
that it is the same or, the percentage by which it is less, as the case may
be, and —
(a) no
adjustment in pensions shall be made under this section in that period; and
(b)
where applicable, the percentage by which it is less shall first be taken into
account before making a subsequent adjustment in pensions under this section.
[(9) deleted]
(10) The State shall
credit to the Fund the balance of the amount required for the payment of any
increase in pension provided for by this section after first taking into
account all amounts available for the purpose in the Indexation Account.
(11) The Consolidated
Fund is hereby permanently appropriated to the extent necessary for the
purposes of this section.
[Section 46C inserted by No. 75 of 1973
s.11; amended by No. 30 of 1984 s.7; No. 78 of 1985 s.4; No. 6
of 1993 s.11; No. 49 of 1996 s.64; No. 57 of 1997 s.117(2) and (3).]