Labor will issue an amendment in third reading of the Your Future, Your Super Bill mandating no employee should be stapled to an underperforming funds.
In the second reading of the bill in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Shadow Treasurer, Stephen Jones, said if funds were restricted from accepting new members, they should also not be able to prevent its existing members from leaving.
“No employee should be stapled to a fund that the Government is saying that is so lousy that no new member should be allowed to join because it is so poorly performing,” he said.
“It is beggar’s belief that if you are identifying underperforming funds, that in the same legislation, you would have an employee stapled to that same fund.
“We agree that the Government should manage poorly-performing super funds but, for god sake, don’t staple to poor unsuspecting worker to it.”
Around three million workers were in underperforming funds and Jones said he was particularly concerned about those members who were disengaged with their superannuation.
The difference between the best and worst-performing super funds could be as high as $500,000 in lost retirement savings, Jones said.
Introducing a cooling off period in the process of switching super funds or moving money out of the sector could mitigate the potential loss to fraudulent behaviour, the outgoing ASIC Chair said.
Widespread member disengagement is having a detrimental impact on retirement confidence, AMP research has found.
Economists have warned inflation risks remain elevated even as the RBA signals policy is sitting near neutral after its latest hold.
Australia’s superannuation funds are becoming a defining force in shaping the nation’s capital markets, with the corporate watchdog warning that trustees now hold systemic importance on par with banks.