Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Small for his question—and a very important question it is too. In fact, it's a very important day today for all superannuation members and Australia's future retirees, because today the outcomes of the first annual performance test for MySuper products have been published on the YourSuper comparison tool on the ATO website. This performance test reveals that $56.2 billion of Australians' retirement funds is invested in underperforming products, and these products are held in almost 1.1 million separate accounts. The test assessed the performance of over 80 MySuper products and found 13 of them underperformed, and, as we predicted, it is a mixture of retail, industry and corporate funds that have underperformed.

The Morrison government is hauling performance out of the darkness and into the light, into the bright sunlight of accountability, and it will be very uncomfortable for some of those funds, but it is so important, and let me explain to you why: the Australian superannuation industry has now reached the dizzying heights of $3.3 trillion. That, to put it in context, is bigger than GDP, it is bigger than the ASX and it has doubled in size since the coalition came to government. Reports of superannuation's death have been greatly exaggerated by those opposite. Back when we came to government, we inherited a system riddled with flaws that meant super wasn't delivering on its promise to the 16 million workers and retirees who rely upon it. Since then, the Morrison government has been chipping away at those inefficiencies. We're eliminating the unintended multiple accounts that you allowed to proliferate. We are reuniting lost and inactive and low-balance accounts with their rightful owners. We've banned exit fees. We've capped fees on low balances. We've removed unnecessary insurance premiums particularly for young people who do not need them, and we've empowered all Australians to choose their fund—something you have denied them for years and years.