December super news

4 min read
4 min read

ASFA announces new and re-elected board members

Following its Annual General Meeting at the ASFA Conference, ASFA is pleased to announce the appointments of two new board members: Deanne Stewart, incoming Chief Executive Officer, First State Super as a public sector representative and John McMurtrie, Managing Director, Link Group as a service provider representative. They will fill the vacancies left by Michael Dwyer AM and Suzanne Holden.

2019 ASFA BoardFour directors have been re-elected to the ASFA board – corporate fund representatives, Michael Clancy and Chris Davies and industry fund representatives David Elia and Leeanne Turner.

Independent Chair
Dr Michael Easson AM, Chairman, Founding Director of EG Funds Management (A)

Industry funds
David Elia (Fellow of ASFA), Chief Executive Officer, HOSTPLUS (B)
Leeanne Turner, Chief Executive Officer, MTAA Superannuation Fund (C)

Public sector funds
Peter Carrigy-Ryan, Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (D)
Deanne Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, First State Super (E)

Service providers
Andrew Boal (Fellow of ASFA), Head of Australasia, Willis Towers Watson (F)
John McMurtrie, Managing Director, Link Group (G)

Retail funds
Linda Elkins, Executive General Manager, Colonial First State (H)
Melinda Howes (Fellow of ASFA), General Manager of Superannuation, BT Financial Group (I)

Corporate funds
Michael Clancy, Chief Executive Officer, Qantas Superannuation (J)
Chris Davies, Chief Executive Officer, TelstraSuper (K)

The industry mourns loss of Paul Costello

Paul Costello passed away last month aged 61 after a long and brave fight with cancer.

Paul enjoyed a distinguished career in superannuation, beginning at the NAB as a superannuation specialist, then at the Superannuation Trust of Australia (which would become AustralianSuper), then as founding CEO of both NZ Super and then the Future Fund.

Qantas Super issued an announcement regarding the death of its board member who was first appointed to the trustee board in 2014 and was chair of the investment committee and a member of the remuneration and insurance committees.

“Paul was a pivotal figure in the super industry, and an enormous asset to the Qantas Super board. Even in his last weeks, Paul remained focused on serving the members of Qantas Super, attending committee meetings and contributing strongly to matters under discussion,” Qantas Super chair, Anne Ward, said.

Speaking at the recent Adelaide Conference, ASFA chairman Michael Easson described Paul as “someone who put others before himself and through personally challenging times remained positive. He focused on what he could do, not what he could not do.”

ASFA joins Qantas Super, and the rest of the superannuation industry, in extending our condolences to Paul’s wife Denise and their family.

Thai cave diver Richard Harris named 2019 SA Australian of the Year

Congratulations to Adelaide anaesthetist Dr Richard “Harry” Harris who has been named 2019 SA Australian of the Year, in recognition for his contribution to the July international rescue operation of a group of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Chiang Rai, Thailand. The epitome of strong leadership, determination and resilience, he shared his incredible story at the ASFA Conference in Adelaide.

TAL SpotChecker launches nationally for the second year

Despite the fact that two in three Australians are expected to be diagnosed with some form of skin cancer during their lifetime, only 36 per cent of people have had a skin check within the past 12 months with 29 per cent never having had a skin check at all.

To help early detection by encouraging more Australians to get regular skin checks, TAL is launching a series of national pop-up clinics called TAL SpotChecker for the second year in a row. These provide free skin checks to TAL customers and the public from specialist skin cancer doctors. TAL has also partnered with Firstcheck this year—a digital service that enables people to get a skin check through their smartphone—to deliver more skin checks across Australia.

Contact TAL to find out how you might be able to offer TAL SpotChecker to your members.

ASFA has a new address in Melbourne

ASFA’s Melbourne office has recently moved. The new address is: Level 20, Tower 5, Collins Square, 727 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3008.

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Daniel Mulino MP

Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services

Sessions

Keynote 8 – Navigating the energy transition: opportunities, investor strategies and policy needs

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.