Govt accused of reneging on RC over default super
The Federal Government is pandering to the major banks by trying to change default superannuation arrangements, according to major union, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU).
The union has filed one of the earliest submissions to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee inquiry into the Government legislation underpinning the default superannuation changes – the Treasury Laws Amendment (Your Superannuation, Your Choice) Bill 2019.
In doing so, the ETU accused the Government of acting contrary to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services by backing the banks over industry funds.
“It is astonishing that barely months after the damning findings of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry were published, the Morrison Government has returned to its old habit of protecting banks and attacking industry superannuation funds,” the submission said.
“As continued revelations of finance sector misconduct appear almost daily in the media such as the recent case of Westpac being found to have 23 potential criminal breaches of money laundering laws – found to have facilitated the financing of child exploitation – the government is persisting in giving the banks exactly what they want,” it said.
“Superannuation is an initiative of working people and where they choose to negotiate a default fund with their employer, in their own best interests, what right does the Government have to refuse or undermine that choice,” the submission said.
The ETU submission said that each time an industrial instrument was renegotiated “the workforce has ample opportunity to review the fund and determine any changes they might want”.
“Once again, a Government that pretends to believe in free markets demonstrates its beliefs only apply when workers choose to buy products off the multi-national companies from whom the government receives political donations,” it said.
Recommended for you
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has lowered rates to a level not seen since mid-2023.
Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones has shared further details on the second tranche of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms including modernising best interests duty and reforming Statements of Advice.
The Federal Court has found a company director guilty of operating unregistered managed investment schemes and carrying on a financial services business without holding an AFSL.
The Governance Institute has said ASIC’s governance arrangements are no longer “fit for purpose” in a time when financial markets are quickly innovating and cyber crime becomes a threat.
