In a submission filed as art of the Senate Economics Legislation Committee’s inquiry into the Government’s legislation changing default superannuation arrangements, Equity Trustees said the legislative changes did not go far enough.
“The continued operation of default funds and the lack of compulsion for employees to select their own superannuation fund may perpetuate disengagement and multiple accounts (and the knock-on implications of increased fees and insurance costs to superannuation members),” the submission said.
“Equity Trustees would make the case that the whole superannuation system should be based on a foundation of requiring all employees to exercise choice of superannuation fund.”
The submission said that given that the superannuation guarantee had now moved beyond its origins as an employee benefit to a legislated requirement, the employer’s role in selecting default funds for its employees had become redundant.
“Likewise, having any other agent select default funds exposes the employee to the interests of those bodies without any legislative protection requiring those bodies to act in the member’s best interest,” it said.
“Equity Trustees would therefore propose further legislation is enacted to ensure all employees are provided the opportunity to select a superannuation fund.”
The lower outlook for inflation has set the stage for another two rate cuts over the first half of 2026, according to Westpac.
With private asset valuations emerging as a key concern for both regulators and the broader market, Apollo Global Management has called on the corporate regulator to issue clear principles on valuation practices, including guidance on the disclosures it expects from market participants.
Institutional asset owners are largely rethinking their exposure to the US, with private markets increasingly being viewed as a strategic investment allocation, new research has shown.
Australia’s corporate regulator has been told it must quickly modernise its oversight of private markets, after being caught off guard by the complexity, size, and opacity of the asset class now dominating institutional portfolios.
I absolutely agree. You have to choose your own bank account, so make people responsible for choosing their own super fund too
Dare I say it …. default into the Future Fund allowing the member to opt out ??? Food for thought ???