Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

This amendment concerns the default superannuation fund, where the Industrial Relations Commission makes a decision on who is going to have the default super fund for a particular award. The concern I have—and this debate came up last time—is about there being a fair and open process for how the Industrial Relations Commission chooses such a default fund. This is a very important issue, because when people join a new company maybe they should pay a lot more attention to their superannuation decision, but they do not, and most of the time they are left in the default fund. If we are going to be left with a default fund that is set up through awards, we certainly have to ask the question: how is that decision being made? How does the Industrial Relations Commission make a decision about which is going to be the default fund for that award? By what process is the decision made? Is there public scrutiny of it? Guess what: there is not.

In the last debate we had, I raised the issue about having a process where the Industrial Relations Commission has an open tender to allow everybody to have a fair go at competing. That is certainly good for making sure that we have market forces at work—which the Rudd government likes to use from time to time—rather than the Industrial Relations Commission using a process that is hidden, secret and not open and that certainly means that people are just a little more concerned about what is actually going on. It was quite a simple thing that I put forward last time. It was not supported in the chamber, and that is the chamber’s decision, but I am not going to give up on this issue. The Industrial Relations Commission should hold an open, public tender for the default super fund for each award. It is a big issue.

What I have got back is some review of the process again. I am looking for an absolute commitment from the Rudd government. I do not want some wishy-washy review; I want a guarantee that the Rudd government will ensure that the Industrial Relations Commission holds public tenders on a frequent basis—say, every three years—for the default fund for each award. It is a simple issue; it is not a complex one. It is a simple proposition. It has merit. I have spoken to a lot of people in the industry—some may not like it, but it has a lot of merit—about opening it up to industry funds, corporate funds and hybrids. It is competitive forces tendering, open tendering with open criteria that allow us to make sure that each award has the best possible default fund. It is an open tendering process that is held every three years so that, if things change over those three years, it can happen; you can allow the competitive forces to reopen it again.

It is a simple issue, and I want that commitment from the government. I have been after that commitment since the last time we spoke. I got some correspondence about another review. Great. That may get by for the public, but it does not get by me. I want a commitment that the Australian Industrial Relations Commission will hold a public tendering process for the default super fund for each award rather than just nominating on the basis of who knows what criteria. If this commitment is not given, I am inclined to support the opposition in leaving it open to the employers to make that decision.