Sydney, Australia, 13 November – The Cook Islands Minister of Foreign Affairs & Immigration, the Hon. Tingika Elikana, and Australia’s Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, the Hon. Stephen Jones, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the two Governments on Shared Retirement Savings Portability in Sydney.
The signing of the MoU is the culmination of senior officials’ discussions over recent years and delivers on both Governments' commitment in the Cook Islands-Australia ‘Oa Tumanava partnership agreement, which aimed to explore reciprocal superannuation portability arrangements and strengthen connections between the peoples of the Cook Islands and Australia.
Officials are expected to complete domestic processes in the coming months to effect necessary legal changes and secure agreement by both countries, which will support the commencement of the scheme.
Speaking at the signing, Minister Elikana said, “We welcome Australia’s commitment to this agreement, which delivers on our joint pledge in ‘Oa Tumanava. This will benefit Cook Islanders who return home to retire, and Australians who work in the Cook Islands for a period. It’s a significant outcome for our people, most of whom reside beyond our reefs in New Zealand and Australia. It supports their return home when they choose to.”
As of Australia’s last census, around 28,000 Cook Islanders reside in Australia, and a small but growing number of Australians now work in the Cook Islands.
The agreement addresses a gap in the existing Trans-Tasman Retirement Savings Portability scheme that prevented Cook Islanders from transferring superannuation earned in Australia to the Cook Islands, while also being unable to access their accumulated superannuation under the Departing Australia Superannuation Payment (DASP). The new portability scheme will allow those who move to the Cook Islands permanently to transfer their superannuation to the Cook Islands National Superannuation Fund. Workers with retirement savings accumulated in the Cook Islands will be able to transfer their savings to Australia upon permanent migration.
This portability scheme with Australia builds on the Cook Islands Special Portability Arrangement created with New Zealand in 1993, which has been enhanced with amendments in 2015 and 2018 and is limited to the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau.
“This is a welcome outcome of our close collaboration with Australian counterparts under Pillar One of ‘Oa Tumanava – strengthening our people-to-people links. It has been realised through the concerted efforts of our Ministry of Finance & Economic Management, Cook Islands National Superannuation Fund officials, and their Australian counterparts,” said MFAI Secretary Tepaeru Herrmann. “We look forward to supporting the completion of domestic processes to enable the scheme’s commencement, and further updates will be provided in due course.”
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