Industry Super Australia (ISA) has called for the public release of the review, as the government was supposed to receive the much-awaited review documents on Friday, 24 July.
The organisation raised concerns around the nature of the review, stating that it was “unusual” that no draft was circulated for stakeholder comment.
It also took issue with the fact that the review is reliant on modelling created from data that is not available to the public or external experts.
ISA chief executive Bernie Dean commented: “The community knows that government faces a tough task, but we can’t have this review remaining hidden or used as part of a secret plan for super to create an Australia where there are those that can have a dignified retirement and those that can’t.”
According to Mr Dean, there are very real concerns that the withholding of the review could be used “as a stalking horse to erode the policies that underpin the system – compulsion, preservation, universality and a strong default system”.
In the interests of transparency, it is critical this report is immediately released to the public so that its findings can be tested and verified, a statement from ISA explained.
Through a more optimistic lens, the report has an opportunity to build on the successful super system with sensible evidence-based reform that helps provide members with a dignified retirement, addresses entrenched inequalities and tackles underperformance while strengthening the default system, ISA outlined.
It’s the first comprehensive review of the retirement system after almost 30 years of operation.
The industry group is calling for the review to be used “to strengthen and not undermine the policy foundations of Australia’s successful super system”.
Mr Dean said that while superannuation already acts as a great economic leveller for most Australians, “we need to do more to avoid us ending up as a divided nation, with millions of women and low-income earners scraping by just on the aged pension”.
According to the ISA, the only way to deliver a dignified retirement is to stick to the legislated increase to the super rate to 12 per cent.
Such an increase is more important than ever with the coronavirus downturn as well as the advent of the government’s early access to superannuation scheme, it said.
