For Australia, the Agreement applies to the laws on the Social Security benefits listed in Article 2.1(b)(i) and to the laws on Superannuation Guarantee (SG) in Article 2.1(b)(ii). The "age pension" referred to in Article 2.1(b)(i)(A) is payable at age 65 to men and age 61 ½ (as of 2001) to women and is referred to in these annotations as an "old-age pension".
In accordance with Article 1.1(e), the provisions of Part II of the Agreement, which eliminate dual Social Security coverage and taxation, do not apply to the Australian benefit programs listed in Article 2.1(b)(i) since these benefits are financed entirely from general revenues and not from earmarked payroll taxes. Instead, Part II applies to the Superannuation Guarantee, which is the Government-regulated program requiring employers either to pay contributions to employee retirement plans at specified minimum rates or pay a special SG charge. As a result, when a worker is subject to U.S. laws and exempt from Australian laws in accordance with Part II, the worker's employer will be exempt from the SG requirements.
The benefit provisions in Part III of the Agreement establish rules for determining eligibility for the Australian Social Security benefits listed in Article 2.1(b)(i) in the case of people who have divided their careers between Australia and the United States. Since the SG program requires that Superannuation benefits be immediately vested, the provisions of Part III do not affect SG benefits.