Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I thank the member for Kennedy for his question. His question was obviously about superannuation and the investment in domestic assets, and particularly infrastructure. I think the member for Kennedy was referring colloquially to what was known as the 30/20 rule. It was a rule when we had superannuation schemes, otherwise known then as retirement schemes, that were run by life insurance companies, and they were required to invest a certain proportion of their assets in government securities. Thirty per cent of their assets was required to be invested in government securities, and 20 per cent of that needed to be in Commonwealth securities. Following the Campbell inquiry, they brought to an end that requirement, because they'd found that it was actually distortionary and it was inefficient and ineffective.

We as a government, as part of broader superannuation reforms, are going to be requiring superannuation funds to disclose what they are investing in—the assets that they are investing in. I share the member for Kennedy's enthusiasm for our superannuation sector, now $3 trillion strong, to invest in Australian infrastructure assets. It's really important. And our reforms will help do that.

Along with those reforms there have been broader reforms to superannuation, designed to support members—whether that is banning exit fees, whether that is capping fees on low-balance accounts, whether that is consolidating inactive accounts or whether that is what we've done, more recently, with respect to transparency and accountability of superannuation and giving members the ability to see the fees and the returns of their superannuation funds and to ensure that there aren't duplicate accounts. So I'd say to the honourable member for Kennedy: we are focused on ensuring that our superannuation funds are delivering the best returns for their members, because at the end of the day the money belongs to the members. It's not the fund managers' money. It's not the unions' money. It belongs to the members, and we want to see more of that money invested in Australia, including in infrastructure.

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