AFA condemns Shorten influence on PC
The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) has added its voice to those suggesting the Productivity Commission was unduly influenced by the Minister for Financial Services, Bill Shorten, when it delivered its final report on default funds under modern awards.
AFA president Brad Fox claimed the Productivity Commission had backed down from the strong pro-competition, pro-choice and pro-transparency position it had adopted in its interim report.
He said this appeared to be the result of pressure from Shorten, who in August had publicly supported a submission to the Commission from two of his own departments.
Fox said the result was that the Productivity Commission had set the industry up with high expectations "only to let everyone, especially Australian workers, down".
"We are very concerned about the influences on superannuation policy and we question, as we have previously, the appropriateness of Fair Work Australia making decisions with respect to the selection of superannuation funds in modern awards," he said.
Fox said Fair Work Australia had been running the system to this point and it had not worked.
He said the loss of the option for employers to choose a fund represented a big disappointment, particularly for small- to -medium sized business owners.
"If employers want to select a fund that suits their workplace and they accept the responsibility to protect the interests of their employees, then they should be allowed to," he said.
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