Speaking at the SMSF Association conference in Melbourne yesterday, Mr Murray suggested that the mandatory nature of Australia’s super system means it will always be an attractive policy area for lawmakers.
“If you have a mandatory regulated superannuation system, then it’s more likely that it remains politicised,” he said.
As a result, policy in this area should be geared towards an overall objective, he said, arguing that “the only priority of the superannuation system should be to provide income in retirement”.
If objectives for the superannuation system aren’t firmed up and adhered to, questions over the effectiveness and usefulness of the superannuation system will be inevitable, he continued.
“If we don’t make some improvements, we will increasingly have to ask the question: would we have been better off without this system?
“Would people have saved just as much anyway?
“Would they have invested that wisely themselves, in whatever way they do, and would we have been better off?” Mr Murray asked.
