Peak accounting bodies hit out at super objective law
Some of the nation’s leading accounting and financial planning groups are urging the government to ditch plans to legislate an objective for superannuation.
Three of the nation's top accounting and financial planning groups have jointly criticised plans to enshrine an objective for superannuation into law.
In a submission to Treasury provided to Capital Brief, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, the Institute of Financial Professionals Australia and the Institute of Public Accountants have hit out at the need to legislate an objective for super, and also say the tax treatment of retirement savings is at odds with the treatment of home ownership when both are typically required for an adequate retirement.
There have been ongoing calls to legislate a superannuation objective, including from major super funds, following fierce debate between Labor and the Coalition over the use of Australians' $3.5 trillion worth of retirement savings.
Doing so would require politicians to justify how any new policies affecting superannuation meet the objective. The debate became especially heated during the pandemic when workers were given early access to super to help them through job losses. The government's current proposed objective for superannuation is to "preserve savings to deliver income for a dignified retirement, alongside government support, in an equitable and sustainable way".
