Govt makes super fund choice priority

The Government is prioritising giving superannuation fund choice to Aussies under enterprise agreements, according to Assistant Treasurer, Kelly O'Dwyer.

Speaking in Hobart on Monday, O'Dwyer said around 25 per cent of people who are covered by an enterprise agreement have no choice in where their money goes.

"This is significant because at the end of the day, your superannuation is your money. The Government mandates you putting it into a superannuation fund and you should be able to say where that money goes,"she said.

"It means they are paying two lots of fees, they're paying in the case of those who have got two funds for instance, it means they might be paying two insurance premiums as well, rather than being able to bundle that together and put it into one fund."

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O'Dwyer also said the Government had accepted financial system inquiry recommendations to increase governance standards, to have more independence on boards and to have an independent chairman on those super fund boards.

"We understand as well that there were recommendations made before the Government came in under the previous government with Jeremy Cooper recommending that there needed to be one-third independent directors on these boards," O'Dwyer said.

The Assistant Treasurer noted while changes to tax concessions were in the works the Government was not in a position to talk about it.

"It is really shocking to me to think that somebody on an average income, this year, will potentially be in the second highest tax bracket because of bracket creep," she said.

"…And so, we are looking at balancing all of those issues when we consider getting the tax mix right. We also want to make sure our businesses are competitive."