Opening up early access to super for housing would have a negative effect on the balances of even those members that don’t dig into their savings, with funds forced to adopt more conservative investment strategies and hold more liquid assets.
The circa $88 billion industry fund for workers in health and community services reckons that alleviating the affordable housing crisis will boost its other investments by easing the cost of living and inflation.
Ann Byrne transitions to retirement
Ann Byrne, the former chief executive of two big super funds who has headed up the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors for the past five years, has decided to transition herself into retirement.
Byrne, who ran STA, which merged with ARF to form what is now Australia’s biggest fund, AustralianSuper, followed by UniSuper, said last week that she would be leaving full-time work in October “to lower my golf handicap and see what life brings”.
She said: “I came to ACSI with a great deal of enthusiasm with what the organization does and I leave with the same enthusiasm for its future. We have made real progress on governance and the management of ESG investment risk. ACSI is recognized by companies, regulators and government as the voice of superannuation investors. At times they have not agreed with what we say but at no time have they said we do not have a point that warrants consideration.”
She will continue as a director of the refugee charity Oxfam Australia and “a few other ongoing appointments”, she said.
ACSI has 39 institutional investors as members – mainly Australian super funds – which speak for about A$340 billion of funds. The overseas members include CalPERS in the US and the UK railways pension fund RAILPEN.
Byrne became ACSI’s CEO in 2008, after she left UniSuper, and has built the organization up to a staff level of 10 people. The organization provides research, advocacy and voting services to its members.
