11.2.2026 - Treasury Laws Amendment (Supporting Choice in Superannuation and Other Measures) Bill

Описание: Ms SPENDER (Wentworth) (18:38): I rise to speak to the Treasury Laws Amendment (Supporting Choice in Superannuation and Other Measures) Bill 2025. While I will not oppose this bill, I want to raise concerns I have with schedule 2 of this bill, which could result in less, not more, choice in superannuation products. Reduced competition in superannuation has a hidden cost for all Australians, and we need to be alive to these risks when making what we may think on the surface seems like a no-regrets change—and there are other issues we have had in, for instance, making things like the performance test. Some of those changes we have made in those areas have ended up reducing choice or reducing dynamism in the super industry.

We need to be much more alive to unintended consequences, which is why I have a second reading amendment to this bill. I move the amendment circulated in my name:

That all words after "whilst" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) affirms the objective of superannuation is to preserve savings to deliver income for a dignified retirement, alongside government support, in an equitable and sustainable way;

(2) notes that:

   (a) while advertising of superannuation products has led to poor outcomes in some circumstances, advertising does and should continue to play an important role in fostering competition and driving innovation among superfunds;

   (b) while Australians are often disengaged with their superannuation fund, efforts to legislate additional consumer protections in response to this disengagement can unintentionally weaken competition between funds; and

   (c) any weakening in the competitive pressures on superfunds to maximise net returns for customers also has a hidden cost to the retirement balances of account holders; and

(3) calls on the Government to acknowledge this policy tension and commit to reviewing this and other legislative measures for the individual and cumulative impact on fund incentives and performance".

This bill has seven schedules. While I will not go through each schedule in detail, I note that, on balance, there are positive measures held within the bill, but I also note it is quite inappropriate to include some of these schedules as one bill, because they are not the same thing. It means it makes it difficult to support some bits and not other parts.

I'm pleased to see schedule 5 lists six new deductible gift recipients, including in particular some organisations that I've worked with—in some cases, I even supported their DGR status—including Equality Australia, the Great Synagogue Foundation and the Parenthood Project. This represents important recognition for these organisations and for the philanthropic work that they do. Similarly, I note that schedule 6 increases the rebate claimable by wine producers from wine equalisation tax in an effort to provide additional support to Australia's wine industry, and I support these measures. But schedules 1 and 2 are the most consequential changes and the ones for which this bill gets its name.

Schedule 1 amends the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act to allow an employer to request information about an employee's stapled superannuation fund from the ATO if the employee has not selected a product during onboarding. This is an important change that will make it a little bit easier for employers to act in the best interest of their employees by identifying their stapled superannuation product rather than creating duplicated funds when a default is not provided as part of the ongoing onboarding process. Duplication of superannuation products costs Australian workers millions each year—with more than four million Australians holding more than one superannuation account. The more that we can do to minimise unnecessary and unintended duplication is a positive step forward.

Schedule 2 puts a ban on advertising superannuation products during the employee onboarding process subject to certain exemptions. This change has come about after a series of cases in which...