Abrogation of responsibility led to default superannuation fund mess

The industrial relations judiciary had abrogated its responsibility to create a fair and transparent system around default funds under modern awards, according to the Financial Services Council (FSC).

In a submission filed with the Productivity Commission inquiry into default funds under modern awards, the FSC has argued that the industrial judiciary should not be a factor in how employers select default funds.

The FSC said it was of the view that superannuation funds should "not be entangled in the Fair Work system" and accused the industrial judiciary of "abrogation of responsibility", such that "funds under investigation by the APRA (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority) [are] being prescribed as default funds".

In a submission filed with the Productivity Commission this week, the FSC has urged a competitively neutral regime for default funds under which employers would be permitted to select any APRA-regulated super fund as a default fund.

It said that if this were permitted, "a designated Fair Work process would not be required, as an employer would be free to select any APRA-regulated fund".

"This approach has the benefit of removing conflicted industrial parties from selecting default superannuation funds which are approved without consideration by Fair Work Australia," the FSC submission said.

The submission then goes on to recommend that the Fair Work Act be amended to eliminate the need to nominate particular superannuation funds by specifically stating, "a modern award must not include terms requiring employer contributions to be paid to named superannuation funds".

The FSC submission also suggests that all MySuper products should be capable of being utilised as default funds in awards approved by Fair Work Australia.

The FSC submission makes clear it believes that Fair Work Australia erred from the Government's original intentions by becoming involved in the specific selection of superannuation funds.

It pointed to a letter written by the former Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, Senator Nick Sherry, which requested that if Fair Work Australia prescribed default superannuation funds in modern awards, it should establish an appropriate process and criteria for selecting funds rather than doing so on an arbitrary or non-transparent basis.

"The Commission chose not to heed the Minister's request and instead prescribed superannuation funds into awards without adopting a process," the submission said. "The consequence is that neither a process nor review mechanism for the selection of default superannuation funds in modern awards exists."