Pension taper rates, not super are the problem

The validity of current Age Pension taper rates were more problematic than the state of the superannuation system when it came to looking at retirement incomes in Australia, according to Australian Super chief executive, Ian Silk.

Speaking on a panel during the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) national conference in Melbourne, Silk said that he believed there needed to be more focus on the inter-relationship between the Age Pension and Superannuation.

He said he believed the Government’s retirement income review was a really good idea in circumstances where Australia had not really had a holistic examination of the retirement incomes regime.

However, Silk said it needed to thoroughly examine the inter-relationship between superannuation and the Age Pension.

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“And that is where the assets and income test comes into play and the question of taper rates,” he said.

Silk said that, in his view and despite the critics, it was not the superannuation system that was at fault, it was the taper rate.

Mercer partner and ASFA board member, Jo-Anne Bloch agreed with Silk and said that more attention needed to be turned to the decumulation phase.