Labor falls short on super promise

government-and-regulation/senator-mathias-cormann/

13 May 2011
| By Angela Faherty |
image
image
expand image

The Labor Government has come under fire for once again failing to acknowledge its own pre-election policy to bring greater transparency and competition into the default superannuation fund market.

Shadow Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, Senator Mathias Cormann (pictured), said the recent Budget provided the ideal forum to stimulate change in the default superannuation market by helping to provide Australians with appropriate choice and benefits resulting from increased competition for superannuation in modern awards.

Cormann added that the current process for selecting default superannuation funds under modern awards was anti-competitive, lacked objectivity, was not evidence-based and was not transparent.

“For almost three years we have had a closed shop, anti-competitive arrangement to select default superannuation funds with a significant bias towards union superannuation funds. This may be in the best interest of the union movement but it is not in the public interest,” Cormann said.

Referencing the run up to last year’s election, Cormann pointed to Labor’s acknowledgement of the problem in the default superannuation fund market and commitment to refer the matter to the Productivity Commission to design a new process for selection and an ongoing review of default superannuation funds under modern rewards, a promise it has not upheld.

“Its actions since the election have proved that Labor does not have any commitment to competition, openness and transparency in superannuation. When the matter was debated in the Senate in November 2010, Labor arrogantly voted against its own pre-election policy commitment. Now [Bill] Shorten has again missed the opportunity to use the Budget period to help provide Australians with appropriate choice,” he said.

Homepage

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

So we are now underwriting criminal scams?...

2 months 3 weeks ago

Glad to see the back of you Steve. You made financial more expensive, not more affordable as you claim, and presided ...

2 months 3 weeks ago

Completely agree Peter. The definition of 'significant change is circumstances relevant to the scope of the advice' is s...

4 months 4 weeks ago

ASIC has suspended the Australian Financial Services Licence of a Melbourne-based financial advice firm....

1 week 4 days ago

The corporate regulator has issued infringement notices to three AFSLs whose financial advisers provided personal advice to a retail client while unregistered....

2 weeks 2 days ago

ASIC has released the results of its first adviser exam to be held in 2025, with 241 candidates attempting the test....

3 weeks ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS

ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND