Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very concerned that there are a number of superannuation funds that are not acting in the best interests of their members, the workers of Australia. I'm very concerned that there have been 1,400 complaints to the Financial Complaints Authority in the last year about group life insurance, where people are making insurance claims that they are entitled to make and the super funds are not releasing their money. This is happening at the most vulnerable moment in people's lives, when they've lost a loved one, and their superannuation fund is sticking to their script of always putting the interests of the super fund and its constituent banks and unions ahead of the interests of the individual worker.

There are some very touching stories that have been profiled in recent times. Mr John Bothman in Tasmania is a member of Aware Super. After many months of paperwork and after having been asked to get a second death certificate—a second death certificate—for his late wife, he said:

I just want to get this finalised and just get on with my life … it's been devastating.

Another Australian, Mrs Carolyn Hocking, lost her husband, Alan, to a heart attack, and the super fund, Cbus, made her wait months and months, including months without a response. She said:

My house is just about falling apart and I'm just waiting for this money.

Fifteen months after her husband's death, she finally received the insurance money.

This is not good enough, and it's not good enough for the government just to say, 'It's a problem for the regulator.' People have paid these insurance premiums, and they deserve to have this money at their most vulnerable and neediest time. I'm calling on the government to do a better job here and look after all Australians.