Is it time for the Government to get more involved in protecting retirement savings of workers?
However the superannuation industry wants to gloss over it, the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into the sector is a damning indictment.
A $3.8 billion-a-year indictment.
That’s how much Australians are missing out on because of a superannuation industry that appears to be more interested in its own wellbeing, rather than the retirements of the Australian workers it’s meant to be providing for.
Former federal treasurer, now Future Fund chairman, Peter Costello nailed the industry’s self-interest in a speech in Sydney a few years ago when he said: “The superannuation industry is not about me the provider; it’s not about me as a trustee; it not about me as a fund manager.
“It’s about the people for whom this industry exists.” That was before the Productivity Commission inquiry and, as both it and the banking royal commission have shown, self-interest still appears to be the number one game in town.
What are Australians getting for $30 billion in fees? Thanks to government-mandated contributions, currently 9.5 per cent of all our wages, the superannuation pot of gold is now worth $2.7 trillion.
Nearly $30 billion a year is collected in fees from that government-guaranteed revenue, which has made many, many people within the super industry very rich.
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