Chalmers to announce super reforms for the retirement phase
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Treasurer Jim Chalmers will announce a four-pronged plan to reform the "retirement phase" of superannuation at the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) Conference in Sydney on Wednesday.
The context: The first of these is improving independent guidance, such as by expanding resources on the corporate regulator’s Moneysmart website and running a consumer education campaign next year.
The second is improving retirement products by reforming regulations affecting innovative income stream products. This could include features such as money back guarantees and instalment payments. Regulations will be updated to start from mid-2026.
The third is new best practice principles for the superannuation industry. And the fourth is increased transparency with a new reporting framework from 2027 to keep tabs on outcomes delivered to members. This data will be collected and published by the prudential regulator annually.
Chalmers has regularly referred to the demographic shift underway and its impact on the economy.
In a speech, he will tell the ASFA Conference that over 2.5 million Australians are expected to retire in the next decade, and in the next four decades, drawdowns are estimated to rise to 5.6% of GDP, from 2.4% today.
What they said: "As our economy changes, population ages and the super system evolves, more and more Australians will draw down on bigger pools of savings, that they will rely on for longer," Chalmers will say according to a draft of his speech.
"We are working to ensure there is as much of a policy and product focus on the retirement phase as there is on the accumulation phase.
"Surely even our political opponents, who have been trying to undermine and diminish compulsory super whenever they can for partisan reasons, will see these changes as practical, pragmatic, and sensible and support them. We’ll see."
The source: Treasury
