CSSA says no way to Fair Work Australia

CSSA President Douglas Latto has backed Shadow Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation Mathias Cormann's concerns regarding the impartiality of government in pre-empting a decision by the Productivity Commission into the listing of default funds on modern awards.

Latto questioned Fair Work Australia (FWA)'s expertise in the judgement of default funds and agreed with Cormann who said the legislation inappropriately favoured industry super funds and came too early in light of the Productivity Commission's continued work and final recommendations that were still to come.

"By indicating support for one of the options outlined in the interim report over another, we believe the Government is undermining the impartiality of the work being done by the Productivity Commission," he said.

Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation Bill Shorten has indicated the Government would support the establishment of a FWA expert panel as responsible in the selection of default super funds for inclusion in industrial awards.

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Latto said the FWA had a questionable record in its impartiality and said criticism levelled at the industry body, its lack of resources and delays in reaching decisions made it unsuitable to judge default arrangements.

Employers (who are in the best situation to tailor their superannuation offering to their workplace) should be given the option to select any MySuper fund as a default fund for employees, according to Latto.

He commended the Productivity Commission's work into default fund arrangements and said it had clearly been trying "to investigate ways in which to make the default super selection process more open, contestable and transparent".