Looming election places super bills in limbo

The Financial Services Council (FSC) has pointed to the number of bills impacting superannuation and financial services which have effectively lapsed as a result of the proroguing of the Parliament.

In an analysis to be published in the upcoming edition of Super Review, FSC senior policy manager, Blake Briggs has pointed out that all the financial services bills that were before the previous parliament have lapsed.

"For our industry this affects bills concerning:

• Superannuation governance reforms, requiring all trustees to appoint one-third independent directors;
• Superannuation choice of fund reforms that would prevent enterprise agreements from removing a consumer's right to choose their own fund;
• The life insurance remuneration reforms that implement the Government's policy on the life insurance framework;
• Superannuation transparency measures, including enhanced dashboards for both MySuper and Choice products;
• Amendments to the portfolio holdings disclosure regime to allow its effective implementation for superannuation investments; and
• Managed investment trust reforms that would implement an important component of the policy to grow Australia's financial services exports."

Briggs noted that the regulations relating to many of the bills had been similarly affected, including the design of the choice dashboard and important elements of the portfolio holdings disclosure regime.

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"It is important for the industry to understand, however, that whilst these reforms have lapsed, this does not equate to a change in policy by the Government," he said.

"Under parliamentary rules, the Government has two options to progress debate on any of these bills:

1. Reintroduce the relevant bills into either house of Parliament; or
2. Pass a procedural motion that directs either the House of Representatives or the Senate to resume the debate from where it's previous finishing point.

"It is too early to determine whether the Government will seek to resume debate and finalise passage of any of these bills prior to an election. Whilst it looks unlikely that any measures will be addressed, other than the industrial relations issues that were the cause of the special sitting, it is not uncommon for both houses of parliament to deal with non-contentious legislation should the two major parties agree to do so."

"The Government also has the option of holding off on these bills until after an election and have the bills reintroduced under a new parliament. The industry should therefore be aware that current bills may still pass during the life of this parliament, or alternatively will be debated and passed after an election and once a new government is formed."