Many a senior Cabinet minister will acknowledge that their journey to the front bench was accelerated by their performance on various Parliamentary Committees.
Rollover can think of many politicians who made their name in the committee rooms of the Federal Parliament not least former Labor Senators Robert Ray and John Faulkner and, in a very different way, former House of Representatives speaker, Bronwyn Bishop.
So it was with a wry smile that Rollover noted the efforts of the Federal Opposition spokesperson on Financial Services, Senator Katy Gallagher, during Senate Estimates where she was doing her utmost to pursue endorsement of the notion that industry funds are better than their counterparts.
Questioning senior executives of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), Gallagher asked what the regulator was doing with respect to the under-performance of some superannuation funds.
Gallagher would have been disappointed in the response of APRA deputy chair, Helen Rowell who acknowledged that the regulator was keeping a close eye on under-performance across the superannuation sector and had some “firm conversations” with laggards.
“Actually, in our list of the bottom segment, a large proportion of those are not-for-profit and industry funds in particular,” she said.
Cue Coalition questions on notice.
