Jane Hume

The last nine years of government have been characterised by a deep-seated suspicion of the country’s largest investors. But with Labor back in power, the super wars are almost certainly over.

While Liberals and Labor have sparred for decades, it seems that many Australians believe the ideological conflict waged over superannuation is mostly moot. The super wars have raged unchecked since the introduction of the superannuation guarantee (SG) in the heady days of 1993. But the ideological battles in Parliament and the press have been waged…

Plenty of big super funds have announced their intention to dump their Russian assets, and the government wants them to. But saying do svidanya is harder than they thought. From a certain angle, there’s a lot of Russia in the super system. Once ruled by unapologetic socialists, they’ve both become capitalistic in the aftermath of…

A mere 13 funds were dispatched by the first round of the Your Future Your Super (YFYS) performance test. Chant West believes the damage could be worse in the choice sector. Later this year, APRA’s performance test will be brought to bear against the choice sector after a dry run on the smaller universe of…

In the aftermath of Your Future Your Super (YFYS), members of dud funds still aren’t moving their super. And it’s not clear what the government and regulators can do about it. It sometimes seems that so much time was spent on implementing the contentious YFYS reforms that the question of what would happen to members…

Labor wants to “super-charge” the Australian economy by putting our largest pool of capital to work both at home and away. But on Your Future, Your Super, they won’t be throwing the baby out with the bath water. The Your Future Your Super (YFYS) reforms represent one of the most daring political plays by the…

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has sidestepped the Senate to push through controversial reforms to proxy advice, casting the future of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) into doubt. The reforms were pushed through using regulations powers in late December, at a time of year when much of the financial press is winding down and after…

The Morrison Government wants to present a small target on superannuation at next year’s election. But Labor has big ideas for the sector that could be impossible to match. Superannuation might well be the Liberal Party’s Moby Dick. It’s a popular policy inextricably tied to Labor and the union movement, and while they can barely…