2011 Federal Budget: What about super’s 4 forgotten issues?

In September 2010, I published a to-do list of 16 major superannuation issues needing action by the Federal Government, post the Federal election. I published this list in the form of a public memo, as a helping hand for the newly appointed Minister of Superannuation, Bill Shorten.

Sadly, progress has been slow on the 7 'big deal' polices contained in the SuperGuide superannuation to-do list, namely the policies to:

1. Increase Superannuation Guarantee from 9% to 12%.

2. Ban commissions on financial products from 2012.

3. Introduce my MySuper reforms, including MySuper, and SuperStream.

4. Refund contributions tax to accounts of low-income earners.

5. Retain the $50,000 concessional contributions cap, for some

6. Consider fully the Cooper Review recommendations.

7. Introduce tax file numbers as primary identifiers for fund members.

I explain these 7 'big deal' policies in the SuperGuide article. Mr Shorten, here's your superannuation to-do list.

While the items listed above may be the big-ticket super policies, there are 4 items on my superannuation to-do list that no one within Government seems willing to talk about publicly. I believe that the 4 items (detailed below) have fallen into the 'forgotten' or 'try to ignore' basket. I have previously described these forgotten issues as the "fix or else" superannuation policies.

I hope that the Federal Government seriously rethinks the short-term stance taken on these issues, and considers the real people who are trying to save for a decent retirement. They bear little resemblance to the rhetoric and "loosey goosey" statistics used to justify these policies.