Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for the Senate to reaffirm the importance of transparency and accountability in Australia's superannuation sector, and to support measures that ensure superannuation funds provide better information regarding how they manage and spend members' money.'

I have moved this urgency motion today as it is very clear to those on this side of the chamber that the dead hand of the trade union movement is alive and well, not just in the Prime Minister's office, not just in this chamber on the government benches, in building work sites across this nation, but also in the pockets and the wallets of Australian superannuation holders. This is shocking but hardly surprising that the Albanese Labor government has reversed the requirement that we introduced for super funds to disclose—so the government have reversed the requirement for disclosure—how they spend their members' funds on sponsorships and payments with no line items, no transparency, no accountability and absolutely no integrity whatsoever.

Service payments are clearly political and are designed to buy political interference and influence. How could they not be? These payments, some at least $85 million over the past five years alone, from superannuation funds are for things like million-dollar football sponsorships, corporate boxes, union kickbacks and lobbying. This is the money of Australian workers' superannuation funds. It is their money. It is the money that they have earned, that they have put into their superannuation fund. Australians deserve to know how their retirement income is being spent.

The Labor government's amendments, with the encouragement and the persuasion—probably not too hard a persuasion—of the trade union movement, go against recommendations from both the Productivity Commission and APRA. Of course, they oppose what those opposite wanted, because it is against the best interests of all Australian superannuation holders, who unknowingly are having their superannuation funds used for such things.

If those opposite had a modicum of seriousness about transparency, their very first move in government would not have been to support winding back these transparency measures for every Australian worker. The measures that we introduced were designed to let sunlight into the $3 trillion industry. This is an industry that impacts on the retirement of all Australians. What absolute hypocrisy. Labor government parliamentarians and crossbenchers ran their campaigns on integrity and trust, and what is the first thing they do? They come into this chamber and move a motion to get rid of the regulations that we introduced that provided transparency. They now seek to pass regulations that would hide the disclosure of payments that superannuation funds make. It was the first thing the Labor party did in government. They talk about integrity but, on their first test, they failed dismally.

In this chamber and on the government benches, we have to always strive for the best when it comes to Australians' hard earned money. Australians work hard, making their income, putting money aside for their retirement, doing the right thing. The key thing here is that they do it compulsorily. Australians, by law, if they are working, have to put some money aside for the future. Compulsory savings by ordinary Australians has seen the growth of the super industry now to over $3.4 trillion—on the face of it, a fantastic result. After all, the initial intent, and still the intent, of superannuation was to take the financial pressure off government or taxpayers by ensuring that Australians can pay or partially pay their way through retirement with their own money. Remember this: it is their own money.

On this side of the house, when we were in government, we wanted to make sure that members actually had transparency about whether money was going. We will continue to support that. In stark contrast to the union puppets opposite, there are three key principles coalition MPs will continue to adhere to in relation to superannuation: we know it is members' money, we are always committed to fund performance and we are always committed to transparency and integrity for every single superannuation member. These principles are the bedrock of what we know delivers the best superannuation system.

The coalition government's Your Future, Your Super reforms, which were so ably championed by my colleague Senator Jane Hume here in the chamber, were the most significant reforms to superannuation since the introduction of compulsory super in 1992. The name says it all. It says what we're all about on the side: Your Future, Your Super. These reforms ensure that superannuation works in the best financial interest of all Australians and not in the interests of superannuation board members and trade unionists who had corporate tickets at the cost of superannuation members—they never even knew about it. We also supported superannuation members by removing unnecessary waste, by increasing accountability and transparency and by providing more flexibility for families and individuals, particularly lower-paid Australian woman.

Critically, when in government, we were all about doing three things in relation to super. Firstly, strengthening obligations to ensure trustees only act in the best financial interests of members. If these services fees are paying for corporate boxes or paying money to the trade union movement and the Labor party, is that in the best interest of Australian superannuation holders? Of course not. That's what we wanted to do to make sure Australians understood where there superannuation money was going. Secondly, we also ensured that superannuation funds provided better information regarding how they manage and spend members' money in advance of annual members' meetings. Thirdly, we looked after their interests through enhanced portfolio holdings disclosure. Again, this was all aimed at supporting the transparency and management of an individual's funds.

Now we learn, as I said, that the first thing this Labor government is doing is putting these reforms under attack, with the dead hand of the trade union movement coming in persistently behind them. Of course, it was not in the Labor Party policy before the last election that they were going to go ahead and dismantle this transparency. Of course it was not. For the Prime Minister and for crossbench members who campaigned on accountability and integrity, this was the first act of those opposite in government: to extinguish transparency on how unions and the ALP access millions and millions and millions of dollars every year of trade union funds. The first action was to do this. It was not to take measures straight away to deal with cost-of-living pressures on Australian workers, and it was not to take action to actually address workforce challenges or anything else; it was to do the trade unions' bidding to hide where superannuation members' funds are going.

Staggeringly, there are elements of the superannuation industry who support this watering down of transparency. How can it possibly be in the best interests of superannuants to hide this expenditure—this self-interested expenditure for Labor and the unions. Most of all, when we on this side of the chamber have a look at this issue we wonder how this can possibly not be a matter of integrity. Of course it is a matter of integrity. The fact is that they are hiding millions of dollars of expenditure which flows through to trade unions and to the Labor Party, and now they want to do it without disclosure so that people cannot see the benefits that Labor and the trade unions are getting from superannuation funds. You've got to ask why. It is very, very clear. Earlier this month, Michael Roddan in the Financial Review, let the cat out of the bag when he noted that Senator Nick McKim is working alongside the Treasurer to help him hide the disclosure of payments. Senator McKim tweeted on 16 September:

The Greens want meaningful transparency that tracks the flow of members' money, including for political purposes and for profit.

What bunkum. It is utter hypocrisy. If you read that article further, you will see exactly why that is the case.

The Hayne royal commission's exhibit 5.368—the KPMG audit into payments made to Cbus sponsoring organisations—is illuminating. Any superannuant who wants to know where their money is going should look further into this, because shortly Labor will be hiding all of these payments from you.