Former Federal Treasury secretary Ken Henry has joined with superannuation executives in calling for an approach by Government which encourages investment in infrastructure.
Addressing an Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) "Investment Interchange" event in Wollongong last week, the now chairman of the SMART Infrastructure Facility Advisory Council, Henry said a national approach to infrastructure investment needed to be adopted.
At the same time, ASFA director of investments Gordon Noble said a pathway needed to be created to facilitate investment in infrastructure.
"One of the key challenges the investment community faces globally is its all-too-often passive culture," he said. "With super funds showing more interest than ever before in investing in infrastructure projects and governments increasingly willing to let the private sector step in, now is the time to start a dialogue about how this can be modeled in a way that delivers the best outcomes for fund members."
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The professional body is calling for the annual performance test to transition to a two-metric test, so it better aligns with the overarching duty of super fund trustees to act in the best financial interests of their members.
AustralianSuper, Rest, and HESTA agree on the need to retain and enhance the test, yet they differ in their perspectives on the specific areas that warrant further refinement.
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