In policy terms, these are important debates. Politically, though, anything to do with superannuation is fraught, especially for a government already grappling with difficult economic issues
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has used words with specific meanings in the objective he intends to legislate, among them “preserve”, “dignified”, “equitable” and “sustainable”.
Your super is likely exposed to major nature-based risks. How big a risk? We don’t know - because to date, banks and super funds haven’t looked into it. But that’s likely to change
Critics of Jim Chalmers’ plan to use superannuation to pay for social housing say super holdings belong to members. But social housing is a reliable investment and benefits everyone.
Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
The requirement that super funds act in the best financial interests of their members is up for review, as is the nature of the performance test that weeds out poorly-performing funds.
Our research shows the co-contribution scheme does little to help low and middle-income earners. The new Albanese government should consider discontinuing it – saving hundreds of millions of dollars.
Opinion and evidence differ on minimum wage policies, but one thing seems clear – they need to be better integrated within a wider economic support strategy.
Depending on circumstances, it may be time to re-think the bias to paying down housing debt over wealth accumulation in super. At least to do the sums, so you can make an informed choice.
For young people, super is the biggest single asset they have – so it’s worth knowing what the law says on how it could be split if a relationship ends.
Australian retirees can keep stashing away more superannuation, unused, for another year, even though the crisis prompting the concession has passed. The big winners? Rich retirees and their kids.
For some people, accessing their super early for fertility treatments is their only chance to start or extend their family. And they need better protection.