The Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) will hold a public examination next month into the federal government’s low-cost superannuation product, MySuper.
The public examination will be held on 2 March in Canberra.
Members of the PJC discussed the details and timetable of the public hearing at a private meeting yesterday, PJC chair and federal MP Bernie Ripoll told InvestorDaily.
Ripoll said the details of who will appear before the PJC are yet to be finalised.
The PJC is expected to report its MySuper recommendations to the government on 13 March.
“We’re just working through that process,” he said.
Since late last year, the reform workload of the PJC has been significant, with some participants within the financial services sector questioning the committee’s ability to deliver a final report to government.
Ripoll acknowledged the timeframe of 13 March is ‘going to be tight’. However, he said he is confident the committee can deliver.
“It is a large workload and probably larger than is customary … [but] we’ve got a fantastic secretary and some smart people who are committed to doing this work,” he said.
“I have no concern in terms of us being able to deliver.”
Opposition assistant treasury spokesman and PJC member Mathias Cormann said it is always good practice for any major government legislation to be properly scrutinised through the appropriate parliamentary committee.
“My experience is that if more time is genuinely required to work through legislation, the committee will seek an extension of time,” he said.
Cormann said there are some particular issues the Coalition is keen to explore in relation to the MySuper Bill.
“Specifically, we are keen to scrutinise the government’s industry super fund-driven proposal to legislate for the provision of intra-fund advice,” he said.
“The government’s intra-fund proposal goes completely counter to the objectives the government says it is pursuing with its FOFA [Future of Financial Advice] legislation.
“Intra-fund advice will be personal advice. Yet the government is proposing that the cost of that intra-fund advice can be hidden in the overall fund administration fee – that is, it will not be properly disclosed to fund members – and that it will be charged across the collective membership, that is irrespective of whether individual fund members access that advice or not.”
Cormann said the Coalition will also be seeking an explanation from the government as to why they would not use their MySuper legislation to ensure fund members in default superannuation funds can benefit from genuine choice and competition.
“Why would the government not legislate to ensure that any product which qualifies for registration as a MySuper product can compete freely in the default superannuation market,” he added.
In November last year, the House of Representatives referred the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (MySuper Core Provisions) Bill 2011 for inquiry and report.
