Consultation into the Objective of Superannuation

This submission is being made by the National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW).

NFAW is dedicated to promoting and protecting the interests of Australian women, including intellectual, cultural, political, social, economic, legal, industrial and domestic spheres, and ensuring that the aims and ideals of the women’s movement and its collective wisdom are handed on to new generations of women. NFAW is a feminist organisation, independent of party politics and working in partnership with other women’s organisations.

Recommendations

1. The National Foundation for Australian Women supports legislating the Objective of Superannuation.
2. The Objective should include the criteria of:-Preservation of savings-Generating income in retirement-Government support through the Age Pension and services including health and aged care-Ensuring a dignified retirement-Equity and sustainability
3. The concepts of a dignified retirement, equity and sustainability should be made less subjective by incorporating benchmarks that can be used to assess the effectiveness of the retirement income system.
4. The accountability mechanisms should include-Committee scrutiny of Bills and Regulations to ensure that they comply with the Objective-Proposals should be examined through a gendered lens to ensure that they met the needs of women and that they comply with the (proposed) National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality-Superannuation measures must be subject to periodic review against the benchmarked objectives through the annual Parliamentary Budget Statements of the Treasury and the periodic Intergenerational Reports. -External review by the Productivity Commission or the Australian National Audit Office should also be included in superannuation legislation.

 

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