Labor will issue an amendment in third reading of the Your Future, Your Super Bill mandating no employee should be stapled to an underperforming funds.
In the second reading of the bill in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Shadow Treasurer, Stephen Jones, said if funds were restricted from accepting new members, they should also not be able to prevent its existing members from leaving.
“No employee should be stapled to a fund that the Government is saying that is so lousy that no new member should be allowed to join because it is so poorly performing,” he said.
“It is beggar’s belief that if you are identifying underperforming funds, that in the same legislation, you would have an employee stapled to that same fund.
“We agree that the Government should manage poorly-performing super funds but, for god sake, don’t staple to poor unsuspecting worker to it.”
Around three million workers were in underperforming funds and Jones said he was particularly concerned about those members who were disengaged with their superannuation.
The difference between the best and worst-performing super funds could be as high as $500,000 in lost retirement savings, Jones said.
AustralianSuper has reported a 9.52 per cent return for its Balanced super option for the 2024–25 financial year, as markets delivered another year of strong performance despite the complex investing environment.
The profit-to-member super fund’s MySuper default option has returned 9.85 per cent for the financial year 2024–25.
Colonial First State (CFS) has announced solid double-digit returns for its MySuper balanced and growth equivalent funds during the financial year.
The super fund’s Future Saver High Growth option delivered an 11.9 per cent return for the financial year 2024–25, on the back of a diversified portfolio and actively managed investment strategy.