Govt protecting industry funds, says Opposition
The Federal Opposition has accused the Government of choosing to ignore the elements of the Cooper Review that would have disadvantaged industry superannuation funds and the way they operated.
The Opposition spokesman on Financial Services, Senator Mathias Cormann (pictured), raised the Government’s failure to endorse the recommendation that would have prevented superannuation fund directors sitting on multiple boards.
He also referenced the Government’s intention to do nothing about default funds via the implementation of MySuper until 2013.
The Federal Opposition’s spokesman’s reference to multiple directorships aims directly at industry funds where certain figures sit on the Trustee boards of both major funds and bodies over-arching those funds.
He said the Federal Opposition was concerned the Government seemed to have either opposed or ignored many of the recommendations to strengthen superannuation governance arrangements.
“Why would the Government not support a recommendation to require independent directors on superannuation boards?” he asked. “Why would the Government not support recommendations which say that directors should only sit on one board and not multiple boards, which goes to the issue of conflict of interest.
Cormann said the answer to the questions was that the Assistant Treasurer, Bill Shorten, had let his union bias get in the way of public interest.
Cormann made clear that the Federal Opposition would not be simply rubber-stamping the Government’s approach to the Cooper Review recommendations and would be urging reconsideration of the governance arrangements and the need for better competition in the default superannuation market.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
Recommended for you
As ongoing market uncertainty sees advisers look beyond traditional equity exposure, Fidante has found adviser interest in small caps and emerging markets for portfolio returns has almost doubled since April.
AZ NGA has partnered with an Adelaide-based accounting and financial planning practice as it expands its presence in South Australia.
The central bank has released its decision on the official cash rate following its November monetary policy meeting.
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of a Melbourne-based managed investment scheme operator over a failure to pay industry levies and meet its statutory audit and financial reporting lodgement obligations.
