Jim Chalmers says the nation’s $3.5 trillion retirement savings pool will play a bigger role in defence and national security as the federal government pushes for more institutional investment as expenditure grows.

Having last year flagged housing and renewable energy as the two nation-building priorities that the superannuation sector should prioritise, the treasurer on Wednesday said that there was “an opportunity for the defence industry to be a bigger part of our thinking when it comes to the role of superannuation and other institutional investors in our economy”.