Pollies do battle over your super again
Should super funds be allowed to spend members’ money on publishing a daily newspaper?
A group of industry super funds says yes: in recent months they’ve launched The New Daily, a news website edited by former News Corp Australia and Fairfax Media executive Bruce Guthrie (who famously sued his former employer for six figures when sacked as editor of the Herald Sun newspaper).
But the minister with oversight of superannuation, Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos, says the coalition government and the regulator APRA (The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority) are looking at whether the new publication is allowed under the rules of super.
The so-called “sole purpose test” for super funds means they can only exist to provide the maximum possible retirement benefit for members.
The news website has been accused of being union propaganda, because it is paid for by industry super funds. But the super funds behind it - Australian Super, Cbus and Industry Super Holdings - say it’s no different to other funds spending money on advertising to engage their members and attract new ones.
Industry super funds have had some good news in recent times. We learned last week that the best of them outperformed retail funds over the past decade, although that ranking system is also proving controversial.
(You can see how your fund rates by clicking here: http://www.apra.gov.au/Super/Publications/Pages/superannuation-fund-level-publications.aspx)
Fairfax Media’s Sally Patten wrote: “Overall, industry, corporate and public sector funds dominated the top of the APRA league table, which is controversial because it takes into account the whole of a super fund’s performance, rather than comparing individual investment options. As a result, super funds with a high proportion of older members, whose savings are invested in cash and other defensive asset classes, are likely to show relatively poor returns. The APRA figures show a wide disparity in the performance of the biggest funds.”
Tell us what you think. Are your retirement savings in an industry or retail fund? Do you think they should spend your money on advertising and publishing? Start a discussion or join in at the FiftyUp Club Forum.
