Bragging about value for money

Rollover notes the manner in which former Financial Services Council (FSC) policy operative and now NSW Liberal Senator, Andrew Bragg, made much of his time this month as the acting chair of the Senate Economics Legislation Committee.

Bragg, who has become an almost incessant critic of the existing superannuation regime, chose to ask nearly every witness to the Senate Committee’s review of the Your Future, Your Super legislation whether groups representing the superannuation industry should be rationalised.

Having drawn his salary from the FSC under the benevolent leadership of former NSW Liberal Opposition leader, John Brogden, Bragg would have been pleased to note that his former colleague, the FSC’s current deputy chief executive, Blake Briggs, believed the organisation provided good value for money for its members.

“…unlike the other associations, we don’t just represent superannuation; our members comprise of life insurance companies, fund managers, advice licensees and some in the superannuation sector. Taking that into account, our total headcount, full-time equivalent, is 15 people. But I note that we only have one full-time equivalent for superannuation—my colleague Jane. She’s worth the 40 or 50 you get at some of the other associations. And the FSC’s total budget is I think around $6 million, so I think we’re the lowest funded of the associations,” Briggs told Bragg.