Govt rejects super infrastructure plan

Assistant Treasurer Mal Brough has rebuffed suggestions by the Federal Opposition that superannuation savings should be used to finance infrastructure developments.

In a speech this week to the Australian Council for Infrastructure Development, opposition leader Kim Beazley referred to the need to investigate whether more could be done to “attract some of Australia's $650 billion in superannuation funds into infrastructure investments”.

However Brough immediately rejected Beazley’s policy approach arguing that Labor was putting its political aspirations ahead of achieving the best returns for superannuation fund members.

He said Beazley had based his infrastructure proposal on the false premise that a substantial proportion of superannuation investment went overseas when, in fact, more than 80 per cent of superannuation savings were invested at home.

Beazley said, however, that it seemed reasonable to contemplate that some infrastructure projects could offer a low risk, long term rate of return that would make them appropriate to superannuation fund portfolios.

He said nobody expected superannuation funds to take unacceptable risks or accept uncommercial returns and that he did not contemplate government strong-arming superannuation funds or interfering in their investment decisions.

“I do, however, believe that we should remove any obstacles to super funds investing in Australian infrastructure projects,” Mr Beazley said.

“We need to see whether there are any obstacles which can be removed to help make long term investments in infrastructure projects a more attractive proposition.”