Media Release

ASFA slams simplistic voodoo economics from Master Builders

Published 19 August, 2020

Published 19 August, 2020

19 August 2020

ASFA slams simplistic voodoo economics from Master Builders

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) has labelled the proposal from Master Builders Australia for the early release of super to address housing affordability as glib and underwhelming.

ASFA CEO, Dr Martin Fahy said: “the unemployment crisis faced by vulnerable sectors such as construction, hospitality and retail, requires a co-ordinated and comprehensive fiscal response from the Australian Government.

“With interest rates at an all-time low and government borrowings the lowest in the OECD, Australia needs a Marshall Plan-like stimulus to protect Australians from the scourge of long-term structural unemployment.

“The proposal from Master Builders does nothing to address the supply side constraints at the heart of housing affordability and will instead channel the badly needed retirement savings of young Australians into the hands of speculators and property developers.”

ASFA modelling reveals that schemes to fund home buying through superannuation drive up property prices by the full amount of the super drawdown – it is a direct transfer of money.

“MBA’s proposal would inflate the price of a property by $50,000, exacerbating the critical issue of housing affordability and eat into the retirement savings of young Australians.

“The superannuation industry stands ready to work collaboratively with the Government to fund critical nation-building projects needed to bring about a transformative economic recovery for all Australians, including social and affordable housing.”

ASFA is urging the Federal Government to release the Retirement Income Review and to table the report in the next sitting of federal parliament.

“The increase in damaging speculation around the future of the our retirement settings is undermining confidence in Australia’s retirement system and superannuation’s ability to help ensure Australians have a dignified retirement”.

For further information, please contact:
Jacqui Maddock, 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. ASFA’s mission is to continuously improve the superannuation system, so all Australians can enjoy a comfortable and dignified retirement.

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

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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.