The Industry Super Network (ISN) has taken issue with a report published by CPA Australia suggesting the superannuation guarantee had given rise to an explosion in household debt over the past 20 years.
ISN chief executive David Whiteley claimed the CPA Australia report’s methodology was flawed by linking increases in household debt to an increase in superannuation savings – something which ignored the fact that household debt had increased in almost every advanced economy irrespective of retirement income systems.
Further, he claimed the report overstated the rise in household debt to household assets (including super) by excluding the value of housing assets worth $4.2 trillion.
“The report flies in the face of clear evidence that home ownership significantly improves retirement outcomes,” Whiteley said. “The report also ignores the broader benefits of the super system.”
He said the super Guarantee would increase disposable income after retirement and reduce pressure on the age pension.
“When mature the superannuation system combined with the age pension will deliver replacement rates of around 80 percent of pre-retirement income for average earners, with super delivering 50 per cent more income than the full age pension alone,” Whiteley said. “In respect to reducing reliance on the age pension, super has been a factor in reducing reliance on age pensions with the proportion of part-rate pensioners increasing from 31.9 per cent in 1999 to 40.2 per cent in 2011. Treasury has estimated as the system matures, part-rate pensioners will exceed full-rate pensioners by around 2035.
