Superannuation

By Leith van Onselen At the end of 2018, the Morrison Government failed to strike a deal with the Senate cross-bench to pass a bill that would have seen fees for low-balance superannuation accounts capped at 3% and exempted fund members under the age of 25 from compulsory life insurance.

By Leith van Onselen The Howard Government’s decision to allow self-managed super funds (SMSFs) to leverage into property and other investments was a mistake.

Yesterday afternoon I gave an interview on Radio 2GB’s Drive program talking compulsory superannuation.

By Leith van Onselen The Howard Government’s decision to allow self-managed super funds (SMSFs) to leverage into property and other investments was a mistake.

By Leith van Onselen Last week’s final report on the efficiency and competitiveness of Australia’s $2.8 billion superannuation system was scathing, noting a multitude of failures ranging from a proliferation of poorly performing funds, excessive fees, unnecessary and costly insurance products, and multiple accounts.

by Chris Becker In news just in, the boffins at the Productivity Commission have worked out that putting your superannuation into “underperforming funds….that charge excessive fees” is harming Australians retirement savings.

By Leith van Onselen You can’t make this stuff up.

By Leith van Onselen The Australian’s Judith Sloan has continued her commendable attack against Paul Keating’s compulsory superannuation monster, describing it as “one of the costliest and most ineffective retirement models in the world”: Most people think Paul Keating has four children.

By Leith van Onselen The Morrison Government failed to pass its bill that would have seen fees for low-balance superannuation accounts capped at 3% and exempt funds members under the age of 25 from compulsory life insurance after it failed to convince enough cross-benchers to vote for the bill.

By Leith van Onselen It looks like Labor will persist with raising Australia’s compulsory super rate to 12%, if former energy and climate change minister in the Rudd and Gillard governments, Greg Combet, is any guide.

By Leith van Onselen The outgoing chair of Industry Super Australia (ISA), Peter Collins, has urged for Australia’s superannuation pool to be turned into a slush fund for infrastructure investment and “asset recycling”.

By Leith van Onselen The Australian’s Adam Creighton has revealed analysis from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) suggesting that 710,000 younger and lower-paid Australians would oft-out of compulsory superannuation, and increase their take-home pay, if given the choice.

By Leith van Onselen The ABS yesterday released the below chart showing the disproportionate superannuation benefits received by high income earners: Superannuation benefits received are recorded as a memorandum item of the household income account.

By Leith van Onselen The Productivity Commission’s (PC) landmark 500-plus page draft report on Australia’s $2.6 trillion superannuation industry explicitly recommended abolishing compulsory life insurance for people aged under-25: Current settings are more a function of history than considered policy design.

By Leith van Onselen The superannuation industry has returned fire on the Grattan Institute’s retirement report which calls for plans to increase the compulsory super guarantee to 12% to be shelved.