The Federal Opposition has called on the Government to move ahead of the Productivity Commission review of default superannuation funds under modern awards and amend its MySuper legislation to allow genuine competition.
The shadow Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Senator Mathias Cormann, also argued that there is no reason why the Productivity Commission's deliberations should take the best part of this year.
"Bill Shorten had to be dragged kicking and screaming into commissioning this review," Cormann said. "It is critically important that the Government now gets on with it, so people in default super can benefit from genuine competition between all super funds as soon as possible."
The Federal Government committed to the Productivity Commission review during the 2010 election and the Federal Opposition and sections of the financial services industry had urged that the review begin nearly 18 months ago.
When the Government on Friday finally announced the terms of reference for the review had been referred to the Productivity Commission it was broadly welcomed by the industry, with the Financial Planning Association (FPA) saying it was likely to create a level playing field, while Financial Services Council chief executive John Brogden said it would ensure people got the best default product, rather than one dictated by an award.
Both BT Financial Group and AMP also welcomed the announcement with BT noting that the current system excluded certain funds from being available as default superannuation funds – something which needed to be changed.
AMP Financial Services managing director Craig Meller said the move represented a significant step towards opening up modern awards to greater competition.
