The Federal Opposition will take another look at concessional contribution cap limits if it wins the September election, the Shadow Minister for Financial Services, Mathias Cormann, told a Super Review breakfast.
However, a policy position could not be reached until the Opposition was able to properly assess the Budget, he said.
"We don't know the starting position of the Budget because we don't trust [Wayne] Swan," he said.
He said the Government's recent decision to increase concessional cap limits to $35,000 was better than what existed previously, but no attention had been paid to non-concessional cap limits and breaches — which was an area the Opposition would assess.
He recommitted to delaying the super guarantee increase to 2021, and said that if a Liberal-led Government won the election it would require industry super funds to have one third independent directors and would ensure default settings allowed any MySuper product to qualify.
"We don't see any reason for another layer of bureaucracy," Cormann said.
Similarly, he said the Council of Super Custodians created unnecessary red tape and a situation where the Government delegated its decisions to a board of vested interests.
"We already have a Council of Super Custodians — it's the Australian public," Cormann said.
He highlighted retirement product innovation as an important future focus area.
While the Financial Advice Association Australia said it supports a performance testing regime “in principle”, it holds reservations about expanding this scope to retirement products.
In a Senate submission, the Financial Services Council said super funds should be able to nudge members on engaging with their super and has cautioned against default placements.
The Joint Associations Working Group, which counts FSC in its ranks, has issued an urgent warning to the government.
Senator Jane Hume will join the speaker lineup at the inaugural Australian Wealth Management Summit.
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