Senator FIFIELD (Victoria—Manager of Government Business in the Senate and Assistant Minister for Social Services) (15:55): I give notice that, on the next day of sitting, I shall move: That the provisions of paragraphs (5) to (8) of standing order 111 not apply to the following bills, allowing them to be considered during this period of sittings: Defence Force Retirement Benefits Legislation Amendment (Fair Indexation) Bill 2014 Marriage Amendment (Celebrant Administration and Fees) Bill 2014 Marriage (Celebrant Registration Charge) Bill 2014. I also table a statement of reasons justifying the need for these bills to be considered during these sittings and seek leave to have the statement incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The statement read as follows— STATEMENT OF REASONS FOR INTRODUCTION AND PASSAGE IN THE 2014 AUTUMN SITTINGS DEFENCE FORCE RETIREMENT BENEFITS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (FAIR INDEXATION) BILL Purpose of the Bill The bill gives effect to a Government election commitment to change the manner in which Defence Forces Retirement Benefits and Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits retirement pay is indexed on the first pay day on or after 1 July 2014, by amending the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948 and the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973 . Reasons for Urgency Introduction and passage in the 2014 Autumn sittings will ensure that the necessary authority is in place to develop changes to extant systems in order to enable the changed indexation arrangements to apply to retirement pay on the first pay day on or after 1 July 2014. For this to happen, ComSuper, the administrator of the military superannuation schemes (and the Government ' s schemes for its civilian employees), will need to engage external information technology resources to build, test and deploy new system arrangements to enable it to use a different indexation methodology for a particular cohort of its client base. In this regard, there are approximately 211,000 military pensioners, of which approximately 56,000 may be impacted by changed indexation arrangements. In addition to system changes, ComSuper will also need to put in place internal arrangements to enable customer service staff to address the impacts of the change and update member communication products. It is expected that developing and putting in place the above systems and processes will require significant lead time. STATEMENT OF REASONS FOR INTRODUCTION AND PASSAGE IN THE 2014 AUTUMN SITTINGS Marriage (Celebrant Registration Charge) Bill Marriage Amendment (Celebrant Administration and Fees) Bill Purpose of the Bills The bills introduce cost recovery arrangements for the Commonwealth Marriage Celebrants Program from the commencement of the 2014-15 financial year, including: the introduction of an annual celebrant registration charge (cost recovery levy) for Commonwealth‑registered marriage celebrants; the introduction of a registration application fee for aspiring marriage celebrants; the introduction of an exemption application processing fee for processing requests for exemptions from the annual celebrant registration charge, the registration application fee and for applications for exemptions from ongoing professional development; and revise and update provisions of the Marriage Act to increase the efficiency of the Marriage Celebrants Program The Program is administered by my department. The arrangements will recover the costs of my department's administration of the Program. Cost recovery was delayed as a result of the bills not passing the previous Parliament before it was prorogued. Legislation to implement the reforms was introduced into Parliament during the 2013 Winter sitting period. The bills were passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate Standing Committee for Legal and Constitutional Affairs recommended passage of the bills without amendment. However, the Senate did not consider the Bills prior to Parliament being prorogued. These bills are the same as those previously considered by the Senate Committee except to update commencement provisions and make amendments to enable the Attorney‑General to approve a number of administrative marriage related forms rather than having them prescribed in the MarriageRegulations 1963. Reasons for Urgency To implement cost recovery at the beginning of the 2014-15 financial year, these bills will need to be introduced and passed during the 2014 Autumn sitting period. This will enable corresponding amendments to the Marriage Regulations 1963 to be made in time for implementation.