TED O’BRIEN MP
DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR FAIRFAX
MEDIA STATEMENT
Fresh reports that superannuation funds are missing high-growth opportunities is worrying, and protecting members and maximising returns must remain overriding principles for the regulatory regime.
Australians expect their money to be managed in their best financial interests, and they expect a system that is transparent and accountable.
Superannuation belongs to the people who earn it. It is part of their pay, not a government slush fund nor an industry plaything.
Any adjustment to the Coalition’s super performance test needs to be approached with great caution, as the test was designed for one purpose – to make sure members’ money is managed in their best financial interests.
The Your Future, Your Super reforms lifted standards across the board, cleaned out chronic underperformance and delivered better returns for members.
Those protections must not be dismantled, and any risk of lowering standards or weakening outcomes for workers will be opposed by the Coalition.
The fee-disclosure rules and performance test the Coalition introduced lifted the bar, exposed long-term underperformance and helped deliver better returns.
These rules should not impact a fund’s investment in a start-up or growth company. Funds make those decisions based on their assessment of risk and return, and that is how it should be.
Greater transparency and disclosure on the part of fund managers is always welcome, but the Coalition will not accept a weakening of protections that keep the system honest.
This report should spark a hard look at how superannuation funds pursue long-term value, but it should not be used by the government to unwind the accountability measures that protect Australians’ life savings.
The Coalition will always back a super system built on trust, transparency and the best financial interests of Australians. Superannuation earned is your money, and we will always fight to protect it.
ENDS