Newly-elected NSW Liberal Senator and former Financial Services Council (FSC) policy executive, Andrew Bragg has called for the superannuation guarantee (SG) to be made voluntary for people earning less than $50,000.
Bragg used his maiden speech in the Senate to claim that the superannuation system was not working for Australians and that the industry had not made a case for even bigger super.
“I would change direction,” he said. “Superannuation should be made voluntary for Australians earning under $50,000.”
In doing so, Bragg pointed to Grattan Institute analysis which claimed that Australians were spending $23 billion a year on energy costs, but $30 billion a year on superannuation fees.
“Superannuation is a classic case of vested interests triumphing over the national interest,” he said. “Fees are too high and there is not enough competition.”
Senator Bragg will be delivering a keynote address at Super Review’s Future of Superannuation event in Melbourne, next month. https://www.cvent.com/events/superannuation-in-melbourne/registration-6c713d32479f49b09f6ec08f4875ce2c.aspx?fqp=true
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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.
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