POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
ACTU attacks FSC over stealth attack
Any move towards allowing private life insurance companies to take a greater role in worker rehabilitation including via income protection and total permanent disability (TPD) would represent a move towards privatisation, according to the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).
The ACTU has used a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services to warn against the move being pushed by the Financial Services Council (FSC) and some superannuation funds arguing it would undermine the expansion of the public health system.
As well, it claimed such a move would undermine the universality of access and coverage and primarily public nature of the workers’ compensation system.
The peak union body also claimed it would shift the cost of workers’ compensation from the employer to the worker.
The submission said the move would “impact superannuation costs as superannuation funds are required to withdraw money from the general fund in order to meet legitimate claim costs that the insurance companies underwriting their policies refuse to pay, as has often been the case”.
The ACTU submission claimed that the proposal being put forward by the FSC had “not been born of the concerns of injured workers but rather appears to have resulted from a push by the private life insurance industry to reduce costs and ultimately expand its market”.
It said that it believed the FSC proposal represented the first stage of achieving a broader objective of expanding the private insurance market “by coercively substituting public health care and employer-funded workers’ compensation with individually-funded private insurance”.
Recommended for you
In its pre-election policy document, the FSC highlighted 15 priority reforms, with superannuation featuring prominently, urging both major parties to avoid changing super taxes without a comprehensive tax review.
The Grattan Institute has labelled the Australian super system as “too complicated” and has proposed a three-pronged reform strategy to simplify superannuation in retirement.
Super funds delivered a strong 2024 result, with the median growth fund returning 11.4 per cent, driven by strong international sharemarket performance, new data has shown.
Australian Ethical has seen FUM growth of 27 per cent in the financial year to date.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
Spire Oaktree Opportunities XI Second Close
36.43 3 y p.a(%)
2
Spire Oaktree Opportunities XI First Close USD
35.08 3 y p.a(%)
3
DomaCom Lot 21 Chellaston Road Munno Para West SA 5115 Australia
31.72 3 y p.a(%)
4
Fidante Credit Suisse Global Private Equity
29.60 3 y p.a(%)
5
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
27.64 3 y p.a(%)
