The super industry's peak body has today welcomed new arrangements for the early release of superannuation on compassionate grounds.
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) said the move to make Medicare responsible for the administration of early release of super on compassionate grounds, would make things easier for people suffering hardship.
"ASFA has been pushing the case for more than five years that the regulator is not the appropriate body to administer early release," said Pauline Vamos, CEO of ASFA.
"We welcome the move to formalise the interim arrangement which has been in operation for almost six months, whereby Medicare has been administering early release on behalf of APRA.
"It is a common sense solution for early release to be administered by a body that already has a customer service operation in place, as well as the appropriate systems to assess and deal with claims on compassionate grounds.
"While ASFA maintains that superannuation must be preserved as best as possible to provide benefits to members upon retirement, for those in extreme circumstances, it is important that access be as simple and streamlined as possible."
More information on criteria for early release is available at: http://www.apra.gov.au/Superannuation/Early-Release-of-Superannuation-Benefits.cfm
For media inquiries, please contact:
Pauline Vamos, CEO
0433 169 342
Rebecca Glenn, GM Marketing and Communications
0416 170 439
Megan McDougall, Communications and Media Co-ordinator
(02) 8079 0849
About ASFA - the voice of super
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia is the peak policy, research and advocacy body for Australia's superannuation and retirement industry. It is a not-for-profit, non-party political and non-sector aligned association representing fund members, corporate, industry, retail and public-sector funds, as well as service providers to the superannuation sector.