Confusion over who is leading government’s carriage of super bill

Uncertainty over which minister has carriage of the super legislation has put the bill at risk of not being put to a vote.

Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert. Picture: Kym Smith

The Morrison government’s stalled superannuation legislation clamping down on fee-gouging and consolidating zombie accounts is at risk of not being put to a vote this week amid uncertainty over which minister has carriage of the bills.

The government has spent the summer arguing that Labor is blocking the Protecting Your Super reforms from passing the Senate, but the opposition and crossbenchers claim they are yet to be shown any redrafted legislation despite the bills being ­listed for debate this week.

Australia’s youngest superannuation members stand to lose $400 million over the next six months if the government fails to pass the laws, which limit fees on low-balance super ­accounts and end automatic life insurance cover for young ­savers.

Labor and the Greens have circulated their own amendments to the bill after Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert failed to give the opposition draft legislation reflecting amendments that had been agreed to.

“Stuart Robert is completely missing in action on super — no wonder this bill was taken off him,” opposition financial ser­vices spokeswoman Clare O’Neil said. “The government spent all summer talking about these bills but couldn’t even manage to get their amendments ready before the start of the sitting week. What a joke.”

Mr Robert said: “Both the Treasurer and I have responsibility for superannuation.”

There has been confusion among the crossbench and the opposition as to who is the relevant minister handling the reforms, as Josh Frydenberg and Labor’s Chris Bowen negotiate parts of the superannuation reforms after the royal commission. Crossbench sources have suggested that because of the debate over the asylum-seeker medical evacuation bill, the superannuation legislation is unlikely to be put to a vote.

The Treasurer said the legislation “is listed for debate in the Senate”. He is trying to push ahead with the government’s adoption of recommendations from Kenneth Hayne’s final report, amending separate legislation currently before the Senate to extend criminal and civil penalties to superannuation trustees who fail to act in members’ best interests while attaching penalties to deals between super funds and employers to win lucrative contracts.

Labor has floated amendments to ensure complex “choice” superannuation products are subjected to the same performance tests as standard MySuper products, increase penalties to trustee directors who neglect their ­duties and retro­spectively apply the law to October 2015, and give the regulator more powers to act against retail funds that outsource management to underperforming ­related parties.