Another year, another review

3 min read
3 min read

Welcome to 2020, where the hectic pace of work established over the last few years seems likely to get even faster. The implementation schedule for the Royal Commission recommendations looks very intimidating and the delivery of last year’s policy changes such as Putting Members’ Interests First and Member Outcomes are in full swing. But the first cab off the rank this year has been the completion of the consultation period for the Government’s Retirement Income Review. The latest—and let’s hope the last review for some time—into Australia’s superannuation system, this time looking specifically at establishing a fact base for the system’s adequacy, sustainability, cohesion and equity.

Fundamentally the Review must describe and promote the important role superannuation plays in lifting the living standards of Australians in retirement.

The Review panel has the opportunity to establish a credible and conclusive fact base that will position Australia’s retirement income system for future success. This can only be achieved if the facts about the lived experience of retirement are taken into consideration.

The Review must consider the facts about how rising food and energy prices hit retirees hip pockets, the facts about provisioning for burgeoning health and aged care expenses and the facts about how much it costs to live a financially secure and decent life in retirement.

That’s the real retirement fact base and that’s what Australians need the panel to assess. Anything less risks ongoing policy instability and uncertainty. I encourage the Review panel to look broadly at the system, go beyond analysis of fiscal and budgetary implications, and to tackle the vexed issue of retirement income adequacy.

We know that the fiscal cost of the system compared with our international counterparts is very low and that it is sustainable over the long term – the data is incontrovertibly clear about this.

The focus should be on what the system delivers and how we bridge the gaps particularly for low income earners so that all Australians can live a decent retirement. That is the end game here and it makes sense that it should be a core focus area for the Review. ASFA has long advocated for removing the $450 per month earnings threshold, adding SG to paid parental leave and maintaining the low-income superannuation tax offset.

Going to 12 per cent doesn’t represent an extravagant standard of living for retirees. It’s about getting 50 per cent of Australians to around 70 per cent of average weekly earnings by 2050.

Australians know what their superannuation is for – it is there to deliver a dignified standard of living that respects the contribution retirees have made to the nation across their working lives and affords them the respect they deserve in a country like ours.

This should be embedded at the heart of the system to end the constant changes and tinkering to meet annual Budget imperatives.

If it is to deal with facts, the Review must look at and reject the non-fact base of some of the system’s habitual detractors.

ASFA is committed to a rational, impartial and evidence-based approach to policy analysis and we will continue to engage with the Review and all the other policy initiatives to come in 2020 on that basis.

Picture of By Dr Martin Fahy

By Dr Martin Fahy

chief executive officer

More Reading

Understanding the Division 296 super tax
In-Depth In-Depth

Understanding the Division 296 super tax

Rebuilding trust and embracing disruption: Lessons from banking for superannuation
In-Depth In-Depth

Rebuilding trust and embracing disruption: Lessons from banking for superannuation

The confidence gap: building pathways to support better retirement decisions 
In-Depth In-Depth

The confidence gap: building pathways to support better retirement decisions 

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.