Government must put people before ideology on super

The report released today highlighting the failure of APRA in regulating our banking and financial services sector presents an opportunity for the Morrison Government enact reforms in superannuation which prioritise returns for members over ideology.

Reform in the superannuation sector should always aim to increase retirement savings for all Australians. There can be no question that the industry funds have out-performed the retail funds on this criteria.

The governance model adopted by Industry funds has been shown generate greater returns over the last decade because there is no conflict between the interests of directors and the workers whose retirement savings they are responsible for growing.

As noted by ACTU Assistant Secretary Scott Connolly:

“The Morrison Government has an opportunity to put people first with reforms which reflect the fact that the industry super model generates better returns for members.

“Reforms to super need to focus on creating returns for members, not aligning the sector with the ideology of the Government.

“Industry super has a long record of outperforming retail super, because industry superannuation fund directors have no objective other than creating returns for members.

“For Australians workers to best maximise their retirement savings, they need superannuation funds where workers and their representatives have a say in how their retirements savings are being used and invested.”

/Public Release. View in full here.