Media Release

Closer ties with New Zealand, closer ties with your super

Published 18 September, 2012

Published 18 September, 2012

18 September 2012

Closer ties with New Zealand, closer ties with your super

ASFA has welcomed the release of draft legislation which will enable individuals to move their superannuation account balances between the Australian and New Zealand superannuation systems.

Currently, Australians and New Zealanders working in Australia cannot take their superannuation with them when they permanently leave Australia.

“This will deliver benefits to super fund members through reduced account administration fees and potentially higher retirement benefits,” ASFA chief executive Pauline Vamos said today.

“This new measure will complement other initiatives designed to slash the number of unnecessary or duplicate accounts in the Australian superannuation system.”

New Zealanders who move to Australia will be able to consolidate their New Zealand retirement savings with their Australian superannuation benefits. About 50,000 New Zealanders moved to Australia in the last year.

Similarly, Australians moving to New Zealand, and New Zealanders returning home, will be able to consolidate their Australian benefits with their New Zealand retirement savings. About 14,000 people living in Australia moved to New Zealand in the last year.

Consolidating superannuation accounts will mean that there will be fewer superannuation accounts in both the Australian and New Zealand systems.

Australia and New Zealand have free flows of citizens between the two countries and this measure will both assist individuals and build links between the financial and superannuation systems of the two countries.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Pauline Vamos, CEO, 0433 169 342

Rebecca Glenn, GM Marketing and Communications, 0416 170 439

Megan McDougall, Media and Communications Coordinator, (02) 8079 0849

About ASFA

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) is the peak policy, research and advocacy body for Australia’s superannuation industry. It is a not-for-profit, sector-neutral, and non-party political national organisation whose aim is to advance effective retirement outcomes for members of funds through research, advocacy and the development of policy and industry best practice.

Acknowledgement of Country

We want to respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of these lands, seas, and waters throughout Australia. We pay our respects to Elders both past and present. We acknowledge the history, the resilience and the continual contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of their Country.

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Daniel Mulino MP

Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services

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Born in Brindisi, Italy, Daniel was a young child when he moved with his family to Australia. He grew up in Canberra and completed his first degrees – arts and law – at the ANU. He then completed a Master of Economics (University of Sydney) and a PhD in economics from Yale.

He lectured at Monash University, was an economic adviser in the Gillard government and was a Victorian MP from 2014 to 2018. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer of Victoria, Daniel helped deliver major infrastructure projects and developed innovative financing structures for community projects.

In 2018 he was preselected for the new federal seat of Fraser and became its first MP at the 2019 election, re-elected in 2022 and 2025. From 2022 to 2025, Daniel was chair of the House of Representatives’ Standing Economics Committee in which he chaired inquiries; economic dynamism, competition and business formation and insurers’ responses to 2022 major floods claims.

In 2025, he became the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services.

In August 2022, Daniel published ‘Safety Net: The Future of Welfare in Australia’, which aims to explore the ways in which an insurance approach can improve the effectiveness of government service delivery.