O’Dwyer attacks ‘siphoning’ of super

The Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer, has made a thinly-veiled attack on advertising spending by industry superannuation funds.

The Minister has used an address to the Sydney Institute to press the Government’s claims for greater choice in superannuation fund and to criticise the expenditure of some superannuation funds.

Amid questioning by the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry specifically aimed at super fund expenditures, O’Dwyer’s address to the Sydney Institute specifically referenced the need for “our superannuation system to do a better job in preserving members’ money and interests.”

“People have a right to know what is happening with their money, how their money is being used, whether it is being used to fund political campaigns or being siphoned off to associated bodies such as unions or industry organisations,” she said. “They need to know if there are being ripped off with high fees that don’t deliver benefits.”

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O’Dwyer said this was especially the case in a compulsory superannuation system where the government says you can’t have almost 10 per cent of your wages until you retire.

“That is why the Turnbull Government will continue to prosecute the case for greater transparency in superannuation funds, so that superannuation members can have the right to know what is being done with their retirement nest eggs,” the minister said.

“In 2017, the Turnbull government introduced into Parliament a comprehensive package of reforms to Australia’s $2.5 trillion superannuation system squarely focused on protecting members’ money and interests,” she said. “People also need choice about where they put their money.”