Government makes moves to speed up raft of super measures
The Coalition government is negotiating with a number of independent parties in the Senate to help accelerate the passage of numerous superannuation bills before the end of November.
Speaking at the FSC BT Political series, Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert said a number of bills remain in the Senate, some of them as far back as September last year.
Mr Stuart said while the Coalition will need to convince around eight independents to agree to each bill, he was reasonably confident they would be passed soon.
“I started negotiating last week with the Katter party, so things are still moving and changing. I’m reasonably confident we’ll be fine, but we’ll wait and see,” said Mr Robert.
“Most people in the Senate understand the sheer importance of this, so my confidence level is probably above 50 per cent.”
Mr Robert said there were five bills that he aims to pass through Parliament by the end of November.
These include the two bills relating to member outcomes, the protecting your super package, a bill for member services and a bill containing the SG non-compliance measures.
The first member outcomes bill, Treasury Laws Amendment (Improving Accountability and Member Outcomes in Superannuation Measures No. 1) Bill 2017, requires trustee of public offer super funds to assess on an annual basis whether the outcomes of their MySuper products are being delivered.
It also gives APRA the power to impose civil and criminal penalties on directors of RSE licensees who fail to execute their responsibilities to act in the best interests of members.
The second member outcomes bill, Treasury Laws Amendment (Improving Accountability and Member Outcomes in Superannuation Measures No. 2) Bill 2017, will give employees the right to choose their superannuation fund and removes a loophole with salary sacrificing used by some employers.
The protecting your super package bill contains a raft of reforms aimed at removing excessive fees and inappropriate insurance arrangements in super as well as boosting the ATO’s consolidation regime.
Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No.4) Bill 2018 will allow the ATO to increase penalties on employers who fail to comply with their superannuation guarantee (SG) obligations.
Miranda Brownlee
Miranda Brownlee is the deputy editor of SMSF Adviser, which is the leading source of news, strategy and educational content for professionals working in the SMSF sector.
Since joining the team in 2014, Miranda has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest superannuation stories in Australia, and has reported extensively on technical strategy and legislative updates.
Miranda also has broad business and financial services reporting experience, having written for titles including Investor Daily, ifa and Accountants Daily.
