Media Release

Superannuation and infrastructure conversation welcome and necessary: ASFA

Published 13 March, 2014

Published 13 March, 2014

13 March 2014

Superannuation and infrastructure conversation welcome and necessary: ASFA

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) welcomes the draft report on public infrastructure, released by the Productivity Commission today.

The conversation regarding the role of superannuation funds in financing Australian infrastructure projects is an important one, and it is encouraging to see that the Commission is interested in addressing the impediments to such investment.

Facilitating investment will require an innovative approach, particularly when it comes to developing debt instruments for infrastructure investment that deliver good outcomes for superannuation fund members.

International examples demonstrate that it is possible to stimulate capital markets through financial innovation, which is why ASFA said it urges the Government to use the upcoming Federal Budget to explain its thinking on the development of a project finance
market. Such a market would help facilitate superannuation fund investment in infrastructure.

We will consider the draft report in detail and respond in due course.

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, which aims 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

Sessions

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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.