In a statement on Thursday, Mulino said the government welcomed the agreement between the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Netwealth that will see the super trustee compensate members to the tune of $101 million for their First Guardian losses.
“This will ease the significant stress these members have been under since the collapse of the First Guardian Master Fund and will see their superannuation savings restored by the end of January 2026,” the minister said.
“I congratulate ASIC which also got a similar outcome with Macquarie Investment Management Ltd which saw investors receive 100 per cent the amounts they invested of in the Shield Master Fund, less any amounts withdrawn.
“I also welcome the action taken by APRA today, that follows their thematic review of platform providers. This action includes the Court Enforceable Undertaking with Netwealth and additional licence conditions imposed on Equity Trustees Superannuation Limited (ETSL).”
Mulino also noted that Netwealth had withdrawn its application for assistance from the Government under the Part 23 of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act, adding that the work of both ASIC and APRA will help Australians “feel confident in the superannuation system”.
“The work by these two regulators, which is continuing, will also ease pressure on the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort,” he said.
“There are still many Australians who have lost funds through the collapses of the Shield and First Guardian Master Funds who are going through a distressing time.
“It is again a reminder of the need to undertake reform to try to prevent these collapses in the future.”
The government is set to consult on options to rework the CSLR early next year, while Mulino announced the temporary measure of a $47.3 million special levy for FY26 last week.
Opposition maintains attack on government ‘super failures’
Shadow financial services minister Pat Conaghan also welcomed Netwealth’s commitment to fully compensate impacted members, calling it “great news for the over one thousand Australians who had invested their super through Netwealth”.
“Netwealth have admitted they failed their customers by offering the First Guardian scheme and have done the right thing by paying them back,” Conaghan said.
“Macquarie has paid back its investors. Netwealth has now done the same.
“This would have to put pressure on the remaining superannuation platforms. Thousands more Australians are still facing years of court cases to see any compensation.”
While the shadow minister has been a particularly vocal critic of the corporate regulator, including arguing that “if there was any justice a big part of the CSLR burden would be on ASIC”, he said the deal it had struck with Netwealth deserved recognition.
“I’ve been clear where ASIC has fallen short, but I’ll also give credit where it’s due,” he said.
However, Conaghan added that there should never have been victims to compensate in the first place.
“There were warning signs years before First Guardian collapsed. Those warnings were ignored, and ordinary Australians paid the price,” he said.
“Those who allowed this to happen must be held accountable, and that includes the government. This is the biggest superannuation failure in Australia’s history. The Treasurer was warned at least seven times by his own department about problems with the regulation of managed investment schemes – schemes just like First Guardian – yet chose not to act.
“Labor ignored the Sterling Income Trust review. Labor buried their own managed investment scheme review. The government should make that review public and explain why they didn’t act on any of the recommendations from either of these reviews.”
Australians, Conaghan said, need to know that their retirement savings are protected.
“They deserve to know how this happened, what ASIC and the government knew, and why no action was taken sooner,” he said.
“We owe it to every Australian who entrusts their future to the superannuation system.”
