Industry Super Australia (ISA) is once again pointing the finger at the Federal Government’s superannuation reforms, this time confirming its view that they contain significant flaws and so not ensure consistent outcomes across MySuper and Choice products.
ISA said the proposed reforms also failed to fix disclosure gaps exploited by the retail super sector and made mention of the lack of support for the bills within the Senate.
Money Management reported last month on ISA’s accusation of the Government pursuing an ‘ideological vendetta’ against industry funds and unions and has continued its accusations, saying the Government’s resistance to strengthening its own bill with better outcomes was “inexplicable.”
“The government seems unwilling to require the same Member Outcomes test and the same disclosure outcomes and transparency measures,” said ISA chief executive, David Whiteley.
“The Senate recognised many of the Government’s super proposols were not even handed and advantaged retail and bank-owned super funds.”
Whiteley said the Government has left super fund members in the dark over fees, costs, underperformance and dividends.
“The withdrawal of these Bills presents the Government with an opportunity to put political partisanship aside and work with the entire superannuation sector to develop an even-handed approach to regulation,” he said.
ISA outlined its belief that the Government had failed to:
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.