Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer: Will the Treasurer outline how the Morrison government is lowering the cost of superannuation and helping Australians make a more informed choice about who will manage their retirement savings? Is the Treasurer aware of any alternative approaches?

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

I thank the member for Goldstein for his question. At the last election he fought on behalf of Australia's retirees, and now he is fighting on behalf of the 16 million Australians with superannuation. He, like those on this side of the House, understands that superannuation is not the Labor Party's money. He, like those on this side of the House, understands that superannuation is not the fund managers' money. He, like those on this side of the House, understands that superannuation belongs to the members. It belongs to the members.

We, on this side of the House, are very proud of the reforms that we have undertaken when it comes to superannuation. We have banned exit fees. We have been able to consolidate inactive accounts, helping to save $700 million. We have also been able to cap the fees on low-balance accounts. And we've also been able to allow 800,000 people in the enterprise agreements to choose their superannuation fund. We've also allowed insurance to be opt-in for younger people so that they don't have unwanted and unnecessary insurance.

In this budget we also made some other significant reforms to super, including preventing the automatic creation of duplicate accounts. Right now there are some six million duplicate accounts, costing $450 million. This is a reform recommended by the Productivity Commission and also by the Hayne royal commission.

We're also helping by holding underperforming funds to account and giving them nowhere to hide by setting up an annual objective performance test for those funds. We're also making it easier for superannuation members to choose their fund by setting up a website with the ATO, with APRA data, which will rank the MySuper products in terms of both fees and returns. That is our policy.

Our policies that are set out in the budget will save members $17.9 billion over the decade. That is in stark contrast to the superannuation tax that those opposite took to the last election and that remains on their books. When it comes to superannuation, when it comes to superannuation members, when it comes to defending their interests, when it comes to driving down fees, when it comes to ensuring that they get into better performing funds, only this side of the House will deliver those reforms.