Greg Combet is a capable and upright former ACTU secretary who has chaired a big industry superannuation fund body and who has served as an industry and climate minister in a previous Labor government.

And it is no bad thing for union officials and Labor politicians to take responsibility for maximising returns to the retirement capital of ordinary Australians. But surely, it is stretching the point for Jim Chalmers to portray Mr Combet as the “perfect candidate” to “renew and refresh” the federal government’s $212 billion Future Fund.