Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

A gracious moment, Sir. The point I was making was that the union controlled industry superannuation network actually concurred with the coalition's view that there are problems with the scale test. We have been listening to stakeholders. All the stakeholders that have come forward and made a submission see no great utility and, in fact, some risks with a scale test which seems to belie all the other measures in the bill relating to proper governance, the best interests of members, the returns for the fund and the level of fees. All of a sudden all the things that are performance related in the bill run into this idea that size is a fundamental determinant of whether a fund product should be authorised as a default fund under MySuper.

I again urge the minister to turn his mind to the chorus of concern about this particular issue and the direct input that has been provided through the inquiry process around his draft legislation, all of which points to the simple fact that this scale test is problematic, confusing and redundant. It is an uncharted area where there is inadequate guidance and it seems to displace the very purpose behind some of the amendments that the minister spoke strongly in favour of which go to the performance of the funds: the prudential standards, the best interests of those participating in the funds, and fees and returns. That should be what really matters. That is about performance and outcomes for members' money and the scale contribution adds nothing whatsoever.

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