The Superannuation Legislation Amendment (MySuper Core Provisions) Bill 2011 was on Wed 22.8.2012, which seeks to establish the MySuper legislative framework, passed by the House of Reps with 11 amendments and now moves to the Senate.
The Government amendments made by the House:
- defer the date from which an employer must make contributions to a fund with a ‘MySuper’ product – from 1 October 2013 to 1 January 2014. A corresponding change will also defer, from 1 October 2013 to 1 January 2014, an RSE licensee’s obligation to pay member contributions to a MySuper product unless a member has elected, in writing, for contributions made on their behalf to be paid to a specified choice product or products;
- allow RSE licensees to charge different investment fees in a MySuper product if: it has a lifecycle investment strategy, it charges no more than 4 investment fees and the investment fees for the age cohorts reflect a fair and reasonable attribution of the investment costs of the fund between the age cohorts.
The Greens amendments seek to prevent super funds “from gouging additional fees by unilaterally moving an employee’s funds from one MySuper product to another after the employee leaves the workplace”. Green Deputy Leader Adam Bandt said the amendments would mean that if a worker leaves their job and hasn’t made arrangements for their super, the fund could not move it from one MySuper account to another with higher fees unless the worker agrees.
[LTN 162, 22/8]