Dormant superannuation accounts will be targeted by the Australian Labor Party should it return to Government, a Coalition whip warns.
Supporting Government legislation reversing Labor's decision to cut the time money could be left unclaimed in bank accounts from seven years to three, the member for Bass, Andrew Nikolic, warned the Opposition was likely to seek to hunt for revenue from lost super accounts.
"We are rolling back Labor's raid on bank deposits," he said.
"If Australians ever again have the misfortune of a return to the tax-and-spend days of the Rudd-Gillard years, they know who will come hunting for their bank accounts.
"We already know that the Labor Party have the hard-earned superannuation accounts of everyday Australians in their sights."
Announcing the passage of the Banking Laws Amendment (Unclaimed Moneys) Bill 2015 through parliament yesterday, Assistant Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, described the legislation introduced by Labor in 2012 as a "desperate cash grab" by the then Minister for Financial Services, Bill Shorten, which "resulted in $550 million from thousands of accounts being transferred to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in 2012/13 — an almost eight-fold increase in collections in a single year".
The two funds have announced the signing of a non-binding MOU to explore a potential merger.
The board must shift its focus from managing inflation to stimulating the economy with the trimmed mean inflation figure edging closer to the 2.5 per cent target, economists have said.
ASIC chair Joe Longo says superannuation trustees must do more to protect members from misconduct and high-risk schemes.
Super fund mergers are rising, but poor planning during successor fund transfers has left members and employers exposed to serious risks.