Media Release

Super funds investing in Australia’s future economic prosperity: ASFA

12 April 2013

Super funds investing in Australia’s future economic prosperity: ASFA

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) notes the announcement of the NSW Ports Consortium’s winning bid for the long-term lease of Port Botany and Port Kembla.

ASFA CEO Ms Pauline Vamos says that while superannuation funds are sometimes criticised for not investing enough in infrastructure, this is a good example of where they do.

“Superannuation funds play an important role in the financial sector and their primary consideration is ensuring is that they choose investments which are in the best interest of their members. Super funds, by nature, are long-term investors and therefore infrastructure investments are attractive because they are often less volatile than other assets such as shares.”

“Increasingly, Australian governments and other participants in financial markets are looking at the potential of superannuation funds to be core investors in major deals and projects. Given the superannuation pool of funds is $1.5 trillion and growing, it will increasingly play an important part in financing infrastructure and other productive investments in Australia and overseas. This will have benefits for both fund members and the Australian economy now and into the future,” said Ms Vamos.

For further information, please contact:

Lisa Chikarovski, Media Manager, 0451 949 300

About ASFA

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.

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.