The Senate yesterday pushed through the controversial Pensions (Superannuation Funds and Retirement Schemes) Act, paving the way for the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to become the regulator of the funds and schemes.

The passage of the amendments and the regulations were facilitated by a favourable report from a select committee of the Senate, chaired by government senator Noel Monteith, which strongly supported the amendments to the bill but raised numerous concerns about the regulations.

The amended bill and the regulations will now go back to the Lower House for approval.

Minister of Information, Senator Burchell Whiteman, in his contribution to the debate on the bill, criticised detractors of the controversial legislation, saying that the government was ensuring that the provisions were in the interest of the poor.

Senator Whiteman was obviously angered by recent criticisms of the legislation in the press as well as faint expressions from a full public gallery, which suggested that the government senators were not taking concerns raised by the Opposition members seriously.

His remarks were made as the Senate approved two amendments to the principal Act, as well as the regulations which will guide the Financial Services Commission's (FSC) control of the funds and the schemes, during a marathon sitting yesterday, lasting from shortly after 10:00 am to shortly after 6:00 pm.

"I want to object to that very strongly," Senator Whiteman told the Senate. "The seriousness of the Act is not determined by the look on the faces of the senators in the chamber. The government has taken actions in support of these developments and in support of the protection of people.

"The fact that this government undertook a review of pension arrangements in this country, and brought a bill to Parliament to deal with pensions and the management of pensions, that to me is where the seriousness comes in," said Whiteman.
Whiteman also took exception to claims that the government was only seeking to take away people's pension money.

He said that by virtue of having the FSC regulating with a heavy hand, and which needed money to fund its operations, there was a need to put a levy on the asset base of the investments funds. However, he said that this was not an attempt to deny pensioners of what is rightfully theirs or starve them of funds which could otherwise be coming to them.

He said that regulation was to ensure that things were run right for those who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of what is being run.

He added that to avoid putting the FSC at risk, somebody had to fund it and, "one has to accept that there is going to be a method of funding which will include a levy on some aspects of the operations".

Said Whiteman: "So please don't give an argument as though we are robbing a pensioner of a whole pile of money in order to support the operation of the regulation. When you reduce it to that kind of simple statement, I hope that people will better understand what we are about," Whiteman told the Senate.

He noted that for nearly two years since the passage of the bill, the enforcement of the provisions have been delayed by the slow process of approval of the regulations.

"We have lost all that and who knows what has been lost to workers during that time," Senator Whiteman said. He told senators that he looked forward to the day when the funds and schemes would be more self-regulatory and the FSC a leaner operation.

Government senators, including Trevor Munroe and Navel Clarke, were willing to await the review of the bill which will precede phase two of the implementation of the new pension regime later this year. However, Opposition members Shirley Williams, Anthony Johnson and Dorothy Lightbourne raised concerns about several aspects of the regulations which they wished to be dealt with immediately.