Were those who took early access fully informed?
More might have been done to ensure young superannuation fund members were appropriately informed and educated about the consequences of accessing hardship early release superannuation, according to Industry Super Australia (ISA).
Appearing before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, ISA deputy chief executive, Matt Linden said he believed there was always going to be a challenge around financial literacy with respect to the early draw-down of superannuation, particularly where young people were concerned.
Both Linden and ISA chief executive, Bernie Dean appeared before a specially convened hearing of the committee called in relation to questions around the methodology used by ISA to demonstrate the long-run cost to superannuation fund members of accessing $10,000 under the Government’s early release arrangements.
Under questioning from Western Australian Labor back-bencher, Anne Aly, Linden agreed that the timing of the announcement of the early release arrangements and the Government’s JobKeeper announcements had not been ideal.
He agreed that there had been a lapse between the early release announcement and the JobKeeper announcement meaning that some superannuation fund members might not have been fully aware of all of their options.
Linden noted that there was a period of two to three weeks before the situation had become fully clarified.
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