In this edition:
Government and Regulator Interaction
ASFA held a roundtable in Canberra with Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and senior leaders from across the superannuation industry to explore opportunities to invest in the Australian economy in superannuation fund members’ financial interests.
There are a range of potential investment opportunities that will arise from a series of national economic transitions, including in areas such as: energy, digital infrastructure, affordable housing, health, and aged care. The roundtable dialogue was the start of an important conversation as orchestration of the policy settings will be crucial to the generation of suitable opportunities for superannuation funds.
The ASFA Secretariat held meetings with over a dozen Members of Parliament from the Government, Opposition and Crossbench including the Treasurer, Shadow Treasurer, and Chairs of Parliamentary Committees with oversight of superannuation legislation and policy. Topics discussed included ASFA’s pre-Budget submission, the Review of Your Future, Your Super measures, Annual Member Meeting disclosure amendments and the objective of superannuation.
The ASFA Secretariat and members of the Tax Specialist Advisory Committee met with senior representatives from the ATO and APRA to discuss potential impacts arising from the non-arm’s length expenditure (NALE) rules. The Secretariat also engaged with Treasury regarding the need for urgent legislative amendments to ensure the NALE rules operate as intended.
Research and submissions
ASFA and the FSC co-signed a letter to the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer expressing a commitment to the formalisation of an objective for superannuation that reflects the core purpose of the system “to provide an adequate income to ensure all Australians achieve a comfortable standard of living in retirement, supplementing or substituting the Age Pension.”
ASFA lodged its pre-Budget submission with Government calling for:
- superannuation on paid parental leave and a super baby bonus of $5,000
- a requirement on employers to pay the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) at the same time as wages
- unpaid SG entitlements to be included in the definition of unpaid ‘employment entitlements’ for the purposes of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee
- the division 293 threshold to be linked to the top personal tax rate with a $20,000 allowance for compulsory super
- a $5 million cap on the amount an individual can hold in superannuation
- exploration of a reduction in preservation age for First Nations people.
ASFA made a submission to Treasury on the Multinational Tax Integrity and Enhanced Tax Transparency Measures. The submission supports efforts to improve multinational enterprises (MNEs) tax integrity and tax transparency, focusing on the aspects of particular relevance to the superannuation industry, including MNEs interest limit rules and tax transparency.
ASFA made a submission to Treasury on the Quality of Advice Review Proposals Paper that was supportive of the proposals, including enhancements to intra-fund advice that will increase access to affordable financial advice for superannuation fund members.
ASFA made a submission to Treasury in response to its ‘miscellaneous amendments to Treasury portfolio laws 2022’ consultation. ASFA’s submission focused on the proposed amendments to the First Home Super Saver Scheme.
Media
The ASFA Retirement Standard was featured in articles across several publications including the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail, Starts at 60, Adviser Voice, the SMH, Canstar and Money Magazine.
ASFA research citing the difference in gender balance gaps was featured in the Brisbane Times.
ASFA’s views on the opportunity for institutional superannuation to play an important role in the Australian economy via the deployment of capital that supports sustainable economic growth was featured in an article in Investor Strategy.
Events and Learning
ASFA will be delivering the following learning workshops and events in October:
- RG 146 Superannuation Virtual Workshop: 10, 12, 14 October
- Scale of the century – the successor fund transfer (SFT)
game (New): 11 October - RG 271 Member-Focused Complaints Handling program: 12 October
- Managing cloud outsourcing risks (New): 19 October
- Greenwashing – beneath the green sheen: 20 October
- ASFA Budget Briefing Sydney: 26 October
- ASFA Budget Briefing Melbourne: 27 October
- ASFA Budget Briefing Brisbane: 28 October
