While the government's recent reforms to superannuation policy will strengthen the economy and benefit workers, much more still needs to be done for the industry, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said.
The superannuation system that has been in place over the last two decades has come a long way in providing adequate spending in future retirement for people, but there is still much much more to be done, Rudd told an Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) breakfast in Sydney yesterday.
"In the last 12 years the only changes made to superannuation benefited high-income earners. More needs to be done to boost the retirement savings of women, low-income earners and part-time workers," he said.
"Put simply, superannuation as a project is still under construction, and while the construction continued over the last decade, the foreman walked off the job.
"Well, my government is now back on the job in building a fair and adequate superannuation system that will give Australians greater certainty in their retirement."
Rudd said the focus of the government's superannuation reforms were in the areas of adequacy, fairness and efficiency.
He said the government's announcement that it would lift the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent, its concessions to people earning less than $37,000 and the ban on commissions will contribute to an adequate, fair and efficient superannuation system.
He urged the opposition leader Tony Abbott to support the reforms.
"I appeal to Abbott to remove any roadblocks to this economic reform, as many families will be depending on the reforms to improve their retirement savings," he said.
IFSA chief executive John Brogden said these reforms to superannuation will benefit every Australian and "must be supported".
Brogden said the financial services industry plays an important role in the Australian economy.
"The financial services sector is an important industry in the Australian economy. It is larger than the mining sector. We should all embrace these reforms," he said.
