Australia’s Superannuation industry has come out to slam Tony Abbott’s super policy on the eve of the election in a joint statement issued today.
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) and the Financial Services Council (FSC), today in a joint statement said they were ‘dissapointed’ with Tony Abbott’s Coalition failing to release a substantive superannuation policy.
The Superannuation bodies said that a failure to increase the Superannuation Guarantee to 12 percent, combined with a failure to raise the concessional caps for individuals over 50 and a failure to provide a super tax contribution rebate for low income earners would jeopardise the future of Australian workers.
ASFA CEO Pauline Vamos said that the majority of Australian voters are also superannuation fund members who will be disappointed with Tony Abbott’s promises of reviews and delays.
“The Coalition’s costings document highlights bottom line savings at the expense of Australian workers’ retirement benefits. Early investment in superannuation provides huge benefits for individuals and the Australian economy as whole,” said Ms Vamos.
AIST CEO Fiona Reynolds said that superannuation was critical to hedging against the costs of an aging Australia, also believing superannuation was central to cushioning Australia’s economy from the worst effects of the global financial crisis.
FSC CEO John Brogden said that research commissioned by the FSC shows that prospective retirement incomes for Australia are low by international standards, with a $695 billion gap between current retirement savings and what is needed to deliver the minimum adequate level of incomes in retirement.
Ms Vamos said Australians now look to superannuation to provide them with comfort and financial stability in retirement.
Results of recent polls reveal that almost 90 percent of working Australians believe that the Government made a good decision in increasing the Superannuation Guarantee from 9 to 12 percent. The results were especially stark amongst women on middle to low incomes who and younger people whose support for increasing the Super Guarantee is almost universal.
