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Home News

Government probes into retirement income

The federal government has revealed it will be commissioning an independent review into the retirement income system following a recommendation by the Productivity Commission.

by Staff Writer
September 30, 2019
in News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
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The review will look at the three pillars of the existing retirement income system, being the age pension, compulsory superannuation and voluntary savings.

This review was recommended by the Productivity Commission in their report Superannuation: Assessing Efficiency and Competitiveness and comes 27 years after the establishment of compulsory superannuation.

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In doing so, the review will cover the current state of the system and how it will perform in the future as Australians live longer and the population ages.

Through its work, the review will establish a fact base of the current retirement income system that will improve understanding of its operation and the outcomes it is delivering for Australians.

The review will be conducted by an independent three person panel.

Michael Callaghan AM PSM, a former executive director of the International Monetary Fund and a former senior Treasury official will chair the review, together with fellow panellists Carolyn Kay, who has more than 30 years’ experience in the finance sector across roles both in Australia and overseas, including as a member of the Future Fund Board of Guardians, and Dr Deborah Ralston, who is a Professorial Fellow in Banking and Finance at Monash University, a member of the RBA’s Payments System Board and most recently chair of the Alliance for a Fairer Retirement.

A consultation paper will be released in November 2019 and the final report provided to government by June 2020.

The review aims to identify how the retirement income system supports Australians in retirement, the role of each pillar in supporting Australians through retirement, distributional impacts across the population and over time and the impact of current policy settings on public finances.

FSC CEO Sally Loane said the FSC will work closely with the review to ensure continuing improvements to Australia’s retirement income system, particularly through the superannuation system.

“Superannuation consumers receive significant benefits from competition and choice, and this will be an important focus of the FSC’s approach to the review,” Ms Loane said.  

“However, this review should not delay important reforms that the government has already committed to that will significantly improve consumer outcomes in superannuation.

“These include the introduction of a ‘default once’ framework to prevent unintended multiple accounts, as recommended by both commissioner Kenneth Hayne and the recent Productivity Commission review of superannuation, and legislating an obligation for trustees to consider the retirement needs of their members.”

The FSC will also suggest to the review that the government should retain its policy of increasing the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent. The FSC also suggests that superannuation laws should be simplified and red tape in the sector should be removed, including barriers to rationalising legacy products.

“The FSC looks forward to advocating strongly for these positions during the Review process over the coming year,” Ms Loane said.

AMP welcomed the review and said a strong retirement system is essential to supporting the wellbeing of Australians now and into the future. 

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve our current retirement system to make sure it adequately serves everyone’s needs. Now is the time to have the debate on this issue,” an AMP spokesperson said.

Tags: Retirement

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Comments 9

  1. GenX Planner says:
    6 years ago

    This inquiry stinks like another stitch up on its way

    Reply
  2. fan of terry m says:
    6 years ago

    wish terry was around. he’d know the answer i bet. he knew everything. how fp’s should become fund managers. how you shouldn’t recommend property off the plan unless it was waterfront or in Kirribilli

    terry. come back. miss ya – ex dova aR (now homeless)

    terry is like will Farrell in this video
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCYArey8ykU

    Reply
  3. Anonymous says:
    6 years ago

    “The FSC also suggests that superannuation laws should be simplified and red tape in the sector should be removed, including barriers to rationalising legacy products.”
    FSC speak for “let us get rid of products that benefit customers too much and don’t make us enough profit”

    Reply
  4. Anonymous says:
    6 years ago

    AMP made extremely credible remarks, if we could all be like AMP the world world be a better place

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says:
    6 years ago

    Early predictor on the results…”we, your caring Government have decided to keep you away from those nasty financial planners and nasty super funds and scary financial world out there, so we’ll now be taking control of your retirement savings and retirement income and outsourcing the management of it to the indstry super funds”.

    Reply
  6. Captain Obvious says:
    6 years ago

    Making Advice tax deductible would be a great first step.

    Reply
  7. anonymous says:
    6 years ago

    need to include main residence into pension asset test simples. need to bust the housing bubble ourselves or it will bust on us and destroy the “miracle” economy founded on debt

    Reply
  8. Insider Out Mel says:
    6 years ago

    Do you think the Government will ever suggest that people heading towards retirement get financial advice to assist them to make the most of their situation?
    #InsiderOut #FinancialRelaxation

    Reply
  9. Just Joshin says:
    6 years ago

    Lets save everyone a lot of money…It was the financial planners fault and the answer is to stop grandfather commissions.

    Reply

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