Industry Super Australia (ISA) is seeking to use former Liberal politicians, the change in Prime Minister and the consequent Cabinet reshuffle to ramp up pressure on the Government to abandon its legislation aimed at imposing at least one-third independent directors on superannuation fund boards.
Just a day after ISA chief executive, David Whiteley, released research commissioned by his organisation suggesting the major banks were taking one-third of all fees paid to major superannuation funds, ISA chairman and former NSW Liberal leader, Peter Collins, has suggested new Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, should take the time to review the “ideology behind the legislative changes”.
In interviews in national newspapers and on national radio, Collins has suggested that the fund governance changes being pursued in the legislation were the result of the ideology pursued by the former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott.
He claimed that the change in Prime Minister combined with the replacement of Josh Frydenberg by Kelly O’Dwyer as Assistant Treasurer represented an opportunity to review and “reset” the fund governance policy.
Referencing how he believed Prime Minister Turnbull should approach the issue, Collins said he believed the Prime Minister should “really be open- minded in reviewing what this legislation was intended to do, what the promises were in the lead up to the last election”.
Whiteley earlier this week used the latest ISA research to call on Federal parliamentarians to reject the Government’s legislative amendments.
