Stephen Jones, shadow assistant treasurer and shadow minister for financial services and super, has echoed concerns from Industry Super Australia that a change listed in the Your Future, Your Super legislation could allow Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to prohibit an investment or payment, regardless of whether the fund considers it in the best financial interests of members.
The shadow minister has gone on to ask voters to contact their local senators or MPs to protest against the reform, referring to criticisms from the superannuation industry that the change could endanger workers’ savings.
“He’s [Mr Frydenberg] put a bill into Parliament that will allow him to direct how your superannuation is invested,” Mr Jones stated, in a video posted on his Twitter.
“So if he doesn’t want your super fund to invest in solar or wind power or even coal mines, if he wants them to invest in some other particular company, he will have the extraordinary power to pick up the phone and make it happen.”
The shadow minister has also voiced his opposition to a bill that has proposed softened continuous disclosure rules.
As declared in February, Treasury will change the Corporations Act to state companies and officers will only be liable for civil penalty proceedings where they acted with “knowledge, recklessness or negligence”. Mr Frydenberg indicated the aim of the amendment is to discourage class action lawsuits.
The proposed reform has copped backlash from investors and bodies including the Australian Shareholders Association, for potentially removing transparency and accountability.
Mr Jones added “Labor has major concerns”.
“We oppose these changes because they represent a permanent weakening of the rights of smaller shareholders to access critical market information,” he said.
The reform was grouped with other proposed policies, including the extension of the COVID emergency measure allowing companies to conduct virtual annual meetings.
The opposition has asked for the bill to be split between the continuous disclosure and the digital meetings matters.
“While Labor has concerns about the use of virtual AGMs beyond the end point of the COVID crisis, we recognise the need for this measure during the period in which tradition-in-person meetings represent a health risk,” Mr Jones said.
