The Federal Opposition has pointed to the Financial Services Council’s (FSC) release of new corporate governance standards for superannuation fund trustees as having highlighted a failure on the part of the Federal Government.
The Opposition spokesman on Financial Services, Senator Mathias Cormann, said the FSC’s decision to impose higher standards than those applicable under current laws "exposes Bill Shorten’s failure to act in relation to this important and necessary area for superannuation reform".
As well, Cormann gave an undertaking that in the event the Coalition gained Government, it would work in consultation with all the relevant stakeholders to develop and impose such standards.
He claimed the Government had failed to pick up on a series of sensible recommendations contained in the Cooper Review on improving superannuation corporate governance.
"Since the report was released Bill Shorten and Labor have either outright opposed or ignored many of the sensible Cooper Review recommendations to improve superannuation fund governance without providing an acceptable explanation of why that is the case," Cormann said.
"If he continues to ignore the need for these important reforms, Bill Shorten will confirm once more that he is far more interested in protecting the vested interests of his friends in the union movement than protecting the public interest," he said.
