Sustainability is key to super

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) has announced it will assess the impact of opposition's proposed measures, including the taxation of superannuation, on the fund members and the system and stressed that all the decisions should be considered in the long-term context.

Also, ASFA said that it was vital the members of the system would be provided with the right explanation of the nature of these changes so they could fully understand them.

According to ASFA's interim chief executive, Jim Minto, any package should be also considered in terms of the long-term sustainability of the system while the changes must be administratively viable so not to impose greater costs on fund members.

"It is important that we give everyone the chance to build an adequate nest egg with which to retire," he said.

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"The proposed reduction in concessional contribution caps by the government and the opposition would mean that some people would not be given a reasonable chance of doing that."

On the other hand, he stressed that it was positive that both the government and opposition aimed to provide support for low income earners to make contributions to their superannuation.

ASFA supports the policy which will see an increasing number of retirees reach the ASFA "comfortable standards", with a goal of 50 per cent of retirees reaching or exceeding that level by 2050.

"It's critical that we get these decisions right and think about the long term future for Australia's retirees over the decades to come rather than just focusing on the short term," Minto added.