Former Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, Bill Shorten, has canvassed a future Labor Government altering the tax settings to encourage superannuation funds to invest in infrastructure.
Shorten, who is now vying with Anthony Albanese for leadership of the Parliamentary Australian Labor Party, told the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday night that he believed superannuation funds could play a positive role in infrastructure investment in Australia.
Further, he said a future Government could alter the settings or provide Government guarantees which would make it more attractive for super funds to undertake such investments.
His comments have come at the same time as the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) suggested that more self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) could get involved in infrastructure investment if more liquid products became available.
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.