SOLOMON ISLANDS

GOVERNORS-GENERAL (PENSIONS AND BENEFITS) (AMENDMENT) ACT 2012

(NO. 5 OF 2012)

PASSED by the National Parliament this twentieth-fourth day of October 2012.
(This printed impression has been carefully compared by me with the Bill passed by Parliament and found by me to be a true copy of the Bill).

Taeasi Sanga (Mrs)
Clerk to National Parliament

ASSENTED to in Her Majesty's name and on Her Majesty's behalf this fifth day of November 2012.

Sir Frank Utu Ofagioro Kabui
Governor-General

Dated of Commencement: date of Publication in the Gazette.

AN ACT TO AMEND THE GOVERNORS-GENERAL (PENSIONS AND BENEFITS) ACT 2007.

ENACTED by the National Parliament of Solomon Islands.
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GOVERNORS-GENERAL (PENSIONS AND BENEFITS) (AMENDMENT) ACT 2012

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Governors-General (Pensions and Benefits) (Amendment) Act 2012.

Section 10 amended

2. The Governors-General (Pensions and Benefits) Act 2007 (hereinafter referred to as the "principal Act") is amended in section 10 –

(a) by renumbering the existing provision as subsection (1); and

(b) by adding the following new subsection –

"(2) If no official residence is provided in accordance with subsection (1), a Governor-General on retirement shall be entitled to a monthly housing allowance at a rate equivalent to the upper limit of the range prescribed or determined from time to time by the Members of Parliamentary (Entitlements) Commission in respect of Cabinet Ministers irrespective of whether the Governor-General lives in his own house".

Section 11 amended

3. The principal Act is amended in section 11 –

(a) by renumbering the existing provision as subsection (1); and

(b) by adding the following new subsections –

"(2) If no official vehicle is provided in accordance with subsection (1), a Governor-General on retirement shall be entitled to a monthly transport allowance at a rate determined or prescribed from time to time by the Members of Parliamentary (Entitlements) Commission in respect of Cabinet Ministers irrespective of whether the Governor-General owns a private vehicle.

(3) Where a Governor-General is provided with an official vehicle in accordance with subsection (1), the cost of fuel, maintenance or running costs shall be met by the Government."

Addition of new section 11A.

4. The principal Act is hereby amended by adding after section 11 the following as section 11A –

"Entitlements under section 10 and 11 to continue

11A. The entitlements or benefits granted to a Governor-General on retirement under sections 10 and 11 shall continue to be enjoyed by the surviving spouse of the Governor-General after his or her death unless such surviving spouse remarries, in which event such entitlement or benefit shall cease".

Repeal and replacement of section 12.

5. Section 12 of the principal Act is hereby repealed and the following new section substituted –

"Medical treatment

12. A Governor-General on retirement shall be entitled to medical treatment free of charge. This entitlement or benefit shall continue to be enjoyed by the surviving spouse of the Governor-General after his or her death unless such surviving spouse remarries, in which event such entitlement or benefit shall cease".

Retrospective effect

6. The amendment made to the principal Act by section 2 of this Act shall be deemed for all purposes to have come into effect on 1st January 2012.
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