Media Release

Joint Media Release: Group Insurance Statement of Intent

Published 7 October, 2016

Published 7 October, 2016

7 October 2016

Joint Media Release: Group Insurance Statement of Intent

Australia’s superannuation bodies comprising the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), the Financial Services Council (FSC), the Industry Funds Forum (IFF) and Industry Super Australia (ISA) share a common belief in the following principles underlying group insurance in superannuation:

Group insurance in superannuation has been a successful policy for Australia which has resulted in better risk protection for Australians from all walks of life.
It provides a safety net to millions of Australians who would have otherwise not chosen or been unable to take out life and disability insurance individually.
Automatic default cover in superannuation, provided to members on an opt-out basis, has helped combat the problem of underinsurance in Australia.
Superannuation trustees and group insurers must work together in order to achieve the most sustainable benefits for members.
The following initiatives have been undertaken over the past 18 months as part of the industry’s commitment to sustainable, high quality group insurance cover:
- FSC’s Life Insurance Code of Practice, to be released on 11 October, which places binding obligations on life insurers
- ASFA’s Protocols for superannuation TPD Claims
- IFF’s group risk insurance management framework, which addresses issues such as automatic acceptance levels, TPD definitions, fee arrangements for lawyers and data
- The IFF-led Insurance Data Standards working group
- AIST Insurance Community of Interest initiative to consolidate benefit design, practice, system and data issues
- FSC/AIST/IFF/ISA jointly-developed guidance note: Best Practice for Group Insurance Data Collection

Group insurance in superannuation is fundamentally the right policy setting for millions of Australians but it can be improved. We intend to build on these current initiatives to consolidate our efforts in future iterations of industry policy development.

For further information contact the following media contacts:

ASFA
Teresa Mullan, Media Manager, 0451 949 300.

AIST
Janet de Silva, Executive Manager, Corporate Communications and Media on 0448 000 499 or via jdesilva@aist.asn.au

FSC
FSC on (02) 9299 3022 or via FSCMediaOffice@fsc.org.au

IFF
Sandy Grant on 0419 587 430 or via sandy.grant1@bigbond.com

ISA
Phil Davey on 0414 867 188 or via phil@mountainmedia.com.au

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.

ABN 29 002 786 290

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.