People will be able to switch off their insurance inside superannuation via telephone and e-mail, under proposals being pushed by the Federal Government, according to the minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer.
Speaking on radio, O’Dwyer spelled out how she envisaged the new regime working and implied that at least a part of the problem lay with the workings of default funds under modern awards regime.
“We announced that instead of allowing the funds to force people to get out their pen and paper in order to switch this stuff [insurance] off, we’re going to make it easier,” the minister said. “We’re going to allow people to switch it off by telephoning – we’re in a modern age now – by getting online and turning it off so that they’ve got more power and control over their superannuation and their retirement income.”
“After all, it’s their deferred wages that are being set aside. It’s their money and we ought to protect it,” she said.
“We have announced some sweeping measures now, which give APRA, the regulator, more power to intervene where funds are not acting in members’ best interests. We’re making it more transparent and more accountable, which, at the end of the day, will benefit every Australian who’s got money in super,” O’Dwyer said.
