Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Yesterday, the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services said she wanted to lift superannuation funds to the same standards as the banks. So is the former New South Wales Liberal leader and chairman of Industry Super Australia, Peter Collins, accurately describing government policy when he says:

If super funds had been responsible for systemic failures in financial advice, failure to pass on interest rate cuts, excessive executive remuneration and other forms of profit gouging by banks, there would have been a royal commission into super funds in a flash.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member knows very well that the government has sought to ensure that there are independent directors on industry super funds. That is hardly a radical proposal. This has been resisted by a number of the vested interests associated with the industry super funds, where, in many cases, as the honourable member knows, the directors are drawn solely from the employers and the unions. All we are seeking to do is to install what is regarded as corporate governance 101 in the rest of the corporate world. The honourable member should take care to represent the interests of the members as opposed to, once again, representing the interests of union bosses, who are very happy to sit in those well-paid directorships.