Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer Senator Helen Coonan today welcomed the active stance taken by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in protecting superannuation funds.
Senator Coonan said Australians could be reassured that superannuation funds, regulated by APRA, were a safe vehicle for their savings.
"As APRA has said, superannuation funds overall are safe," Senator Coonan said.
"Superannuation is a very important investment for all Australians and the safety of superannuation is a key Government priority.
"The message from APRA is that they are vigorously regulating superannuation funds and that they won't be ignoring any part of the market."
Senator Coonan said trustees were responsible for the prudent management of superannuation and where that was not happening, APRA was getting involved and ensuring funds were protected.
"Trustees, large and small, have a responsibility to protect people's superannuation and where they are not acting in the best interests of members, APRA is getting tough," Senator Coonan said.
"Trustees who do the wrong thing need to get their house in order."
Senator Coonan said only a tiny proportion, less than 0.0001 per cent of super funds under management, had been lost other than through normal investment losses.
"APRA itself has said this week that overall the superannuation industry is safe with a magnitude of confidence of over 99 per cent, and that they are making every effort to keep increasing that level of safety," Senator Coonan said.