The new Shadow Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, Jim Chalmers, will not be supporting governance changes in superannuation and has questioned the Government’s motives in this policy area.
He said the proposed changes were poorly and ideologically motivated, and there were other ways the superannuation system could be improved.
“We believe there is a role for the representative model of superannuation boards which has led to not-for-profit funds being among the most successful and highly-performing funds in the super system,” Chalmers said.
“Some of the boards that [the Turnbull Government] intends to change are some of the best performing funds in the country. I don’t think there is a factual basis that stacks up for the changes the Government is trying to make.”
He added that the changes were a case of a solution looking for a problem.
Another area of disagreement related to the disparity in superannuation savings between men and women.
Responding to Treasurer Morrison’s comments on this issue, Chalmers stated it was not what was said that mattered, it was the actions taken.
In particular, Chalmers referred to the Government’s plans to abolish the low income super contribution, which will see 3.6 million Australians lose up to $500 per year from contributions to their super accounts – with 2.2 million of those adversely affected being women.
“When it comes to a decent retirement for women and low income earners Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison are part of the problem, not part of the solution,” Chalmers said.
However, on a positive note, he said it was good to see that the Government was up for a conversation about enshrining the purpose of our superannuation system in law.
“We’d really like to come to a broad agreement on the purpose of superannuation, not only with the Coalition, but with the nation more widely,” he said.
