Outsider was prompted to think about Kelaher only because the question of how superannuation funds should use the member’s reserve was raised during questioning of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in a recent sitting of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services.
And, if Outsider was reading the committee transcript correctly, then the senior executive team at ASIC seem to think that the use of the member reserve is the traditional go-to strategy for superannuation funds which find themselves in challenging situations where members have been left unexpectedly out of pocket.
Then, just a day or two later, news of an international cyber-scam broke involving the alleged siphoning of funds from members accounts and, again, it was being suggested by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia that use of the member reserves would be an appropriate mechanism for providing restitution.
Outsider feels sure that the Federal Court will ultimately decide the issue impacting Kelaher and Venardos on the facts and evidence presented, but perhaps current events might have coloured those facts and evidence if they had occurred earlier.
