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.
Jim Chalmers has defended changes to the Future Fund’s mandate, referring to himself as a “big supporter” of the sovereign wealth fund, amid fierce opposition from the Coalition, which has pledged to reverse any changes if it wins next year’s election.
In a new review of the country’s largest fund, a research house says it’s well placed to deliver attractive returns despite challenges.
Chant West analysis suggests super could be well placed to deliver a double-digit result by the end of the calendar year.
Specific valuation decisions made by the $88 billion fund at the beginning of the pandemic were “not adequate for the deteriorating market conditions”, according to the prudential regulator.