Cooper Review kicks off, submissions open

The Cooper Review into Australia’s superannuation system has officially kicked off with the release yesterday of its scoping paper setting out the review’s approach and timeline, and the announcement that submissions are now open.

The paper explained that the consultation process will be conducted in three phases, starting with Governance and followed by Operation and Efficiency, and then Structure.

“Given the complexity of Australia’s super system, it was important to divide the issues into manageable bites,” review chair Jeremy Cooper said.

“Each of the three phases — Governance, Operation and Efficiency, and Structure — deals with distinct issues. People can make submissions on all three phases, or just the phase that deals with the issues they are interested in.”

Submissions in response to the first ‘Governance’ issues paper are now open and the closing date is October 16, 2009. Issues considered in this first paper include: trustee knowledge, skills and training; and conflicts in outsourcing; accountability to members; and the composition of boards of trustees.

The next paper on ‘Operation and Efficiency’ will open to submissions from October 16, 2009, and will consider issues such as fees and charges, comparability, defaults, technology, competition, administrators and complexity.

The third ‘Structure’ phase will consider issues around self-managed super funds, super fund sectors, the funds management model, defined benefit funds, embedded insurance, and super in the post-retirement phase.

The Super System Review, commonly known as the Cooper Review, was announced in May. The review panel is comprised of chair Jeremy Cooper, the former deputy chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and part-time panellists Sandy Grant, Brian Wilson, Kevin Casey, Greg Evans, David Gruen, Ian Martin, and Meg Heffron.

The scope of the review will cover four broad factors that will determine retirement income:

• the performance of investment markets and economic cycles;

• taxation arrangements and structural settings, like the preservation age;

• the functioning of the superannuation system itself, particularly its efficiency; and

• individual factors, such as investment choices and engagement.

Lost member accounts and clearing house proposals fall outside of the scope of the Cooper Review, and are subject to existing Government policy proposals announced by former Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, Senator Nick Sherry, in November 2008.