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(June-2002) Super’s shot atcentre stage
Before I joined Super Review, I was warned that super wasn’t exactly the kind of story that made the front pages of newspapers and that people’s eyes tend to glaze over at the very mention of the word ‘superannuation’.
The recent Budget proved how wrong statements like these can be (even though discussing super still isn’t going to make anyone the life and soul of the party). Super ranked among the most important issues in this year’s Budget and is still going to get a lot more headlines in the next few weeks as the Government tries to get its Budget measures passed through the Senate (see p12).
Sadly, super will soon be grabbing other headlines too as annual returns are revealed to members. April was another cruel month for investors. Unless the markets have rallied since we went to print or unless there’s a large surge in the next few weeks, most members will be receiving rather bad news.
Many of the funds that have smoothing policies used their reserves in a big way to top up the previous year’s figures and probably don’t have much of a war chest left to play around with now. No doubt many funds are now working overtime on their member communication and education programs to lessen the impact of the looming headlines.
The Budget’s superannuation measures take only small steps towards helping Australians accumulate adequate retirement savings. That’s the way some parts of the industry are also moving, with the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia recently abandoning its call for a wholesale review of super and deciding to instead focus on achieving “bite-sized goals” in the short and medium-term.
Bite-sized goals lead to bite-sized headlines buried deep in newspapers. But there are others in the industry who believe that it is still possible to take big steps. Graeme McDougall, CEO of the Small Independent Superannuation Funds Association, for one, believes the Senate Select Committee on Superannuation offers a golden opportunity. He says there is nothing in the committee’s terms of reference to stop it from becoming a major review of super.
The challenge for the industry, he says, is to provide the committee with quality submissions and to gain mass support, which will put pressure on the Government to hear its calls for change.
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