Government has passed amendments to partially suspend matching contributions to the Public Service Superannuation Fund.

The Public Service Superannuation Temporary Amendment Act 2015 will temporarily reduce the matching contribution to the fund to 6.75 per cent, saving around $5 million.

Detailing the amendment, Finance Minister Bob Richards said the legislation would provide short term relief for the Government’s deficit reduction plans, noting that the contributions will eventually be paid into the fund and there will be no impact on member’s pensions in the future.

Shadow Finance Minister David Burt said the Progressive Labour Party supported the amendments, but noted that Mr Richards had spoken out against an identical proposal by the party three years ago.

“It’s interesting that once again, the OBA is now doing something that the PLP did that they once attack,” he said.

Mr Burt said that while he understood the reason to make the decision, the move might not have been necessary if the OBA had not put forward a “reckless budget” last year.

Responding, Mr Richards said: “The thing is in principal, I’m still against this, but I have a responsibility and all of us have a responsibility. We have to set priorities and the priority for this Government is to break the back of the deficit. We have to make tough choices and this is one of them.

“We have done this because we have no choice at this point because we didn’t get the savings that the furlough [days] would have manifested.”