PETER STEFANOVIC:
Joining us is Jane Hume, the Minister for Superannuation and Minister for Women’s Economic Security. Jane, before we get on to superannuation, I just want to ask you, as a Victorian, your concerns about this latest outbreak. We’ve gone to nine now, and it may well be a lot more considering an infected person may well have been at the MCG. Do you feel like this also speeds up the need for the quarantine facility at Mickleham?
JANE HUME:
Well, most importantly I think it speeds up the need for people to get themselves vaccinated. We know that more vaccinations have occurred in Victoria than anywhere else. There’s a good reason for that. I think there’s an awful lot of Victorians who don’t want to see a repeat of 2020. That was, you know, quite a scarring experience for many Victorians. So, I think that there will be an awful lot of people who are booking their vaccinations today.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
There has been another outbreak though. It was at a hotel in South Australia. Again, back on the quarantine facility, do you feel like there’s more of a sense of urgency around a quarantine facility in Victoria?
JANE HUME:
Well, I think that the Prime Minister said it best. At the beginning of March last year, if you had have said we could set up a hotel quarantine facility or a quarantine service that was 99.9 per cent effective, everyone would have thought that he was overpromising, but, in fact, that’s exactly what hotel quarantine, combined with the Federal Government’s quarantine facilities—that’s exactly what’s been delivered. We always knew there was going to be some breaches. That’s why contact tracking and tracing is so important, to get that right, but quarantine—hotel quarantine has worked exceptionally well and brought hundreds of thousands of Australians back home.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Now, just on to superannuation, Jane, some huge numbers have been released. So, total super assets now stand at $3.1 trillion. It’s quite a hefty sum.
JANE HUME:
Well, it’s certainly not a cottage industry anymore; $3.1 trillion under management, around $30 billion a year is paid in fees. That’s more than Australians pay in electricity bills and other power bills combined. So, that’s why it’s so important that we pass the Your Future, Your Super legislation as soon as possible, to make sure that this is an efficient system that’s serving members, rather than funds, but the Your Future, Your Super —
PETER STEFANOVIC:
That’s going to struggle to get through, though, isn’t it?
JANE HUME:
Well, the Your Future, Your Super legislation – no, we think that it will definitely pass because I think people realise that the most important thing that we can do is make sure that your super fund follows you throughout your super life, that it’s much easier to choose between funds, that funds are made accountable for their underperformance and there’s a greater level of transparency and accountability by superannuation fund trustees. These funds now are multibillion‑dollar companies, essentially, or trusts. They’re bigger than a lot of companies on the ASX and they should be held to the same level of accountability and transparency.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Craig Kelly and Bob Katter don’t like parts of it, though. Have you had more conversations with them to try and change their minds or are you going to press on without them?
JANE HUME:
Well, we’ve certainly spoken – we’ve had conversations with all of the crossbench, as we do with all superannuation legislation. Superannuation is a highly contested area, always has been. I do not think that we’ve passed a single superannuation bill in the last couple of years that hasn’t been contested, but, that said, it’s also quite complicated and it’s important that we can speak to each of the crossbenchers and clarify their concerns. We’ve done that already with some of them and we’ll continue to do that if they have continued concerns, but I have no doubt that we’ll pass these reforms because it is so important to do so. We want to make sure that your superannuation is working harder for members, harder for you. These are trusts. They can’t raise money on the ASX; they can’t raise debt. The only money they’ve got to spend is your money. We want to make sure that they do so with the best financial interest of their members in mind.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
The broad point of contention, though, Minister, is that directions power, which, correct me if I’m wrong, but it basically gives the government the power to veto any investment that’s made by a super fund. Would you amend that, because it seems like it’s a dangerous precedent to set?
JANE HUME:
Well, actually there are similar sorts of powers in all sorts of areas of legislation, but I think it’s important to put it into context. The best interest duty we’re expanding to make the best financial interest – that trustees have to consider the best financial interest of their members whenever they make an investment or expenditure decision. And APRA have specifically said that there will be some grey areas. Even if you put the word “financial” in, there will be some grey areas. So, for instance, a board of trustees decides that an overseas junket is an appropriate use of members’ funds or sponsoring a little league is an appropriate use of members’ funds. Knowing that they can only spend members money, that every dollar that they spend is someone’s retirement savings, is that an appropriate area? We want to have that very last‑resort power to say, “No, that category of expenditure is inappropriate or that category of investment is inappropriate”, just to give APRA the enforcement power that it needs to make sure that every dollar is spent with members’ interests in mind.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Jane Hume, we’re going to have to wrap it up, but I appreciate your time this morning. Talk to you soon.