Super funds in scare campaign blitz

Industry super funds will launch a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign warning people that they will have to sell the family home if the Morrison government makes ‘adverse changes’ to the system.

Industry Super Australia chief executive Bernie Dean.

Industry superannuation funds will launch a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign — covering television, radio and the internet — warning people that they will have to sell the family home if the Morrison government uses the May budget to make ­“adverse changes” to the system.

Industry Super Australia chief executive Bernie Dean said the sector was on a “war-footing” to fight off potential changes to the system, including proposals to pause the superannuation guarantee increase and let first-home buyers withdraw from their funds early to contribute to a deposit.

The advertising campaign, which is due to begin during ­Friday night’s free-to-air broadcast of the AFL, will use “real people with real stories to highlight what would happen if you cut super and then put pressure on retirees to sell their house to get by in their old age”.

“This will be a significant ­national conversation. We are going to be in people’s living rooms, on their phones, on their tablets — all day, all night between now and budget,” Mr Dean told The Australian on Thursday.

“It is pretty sad when every time the government opens their mouth on super that all people will hear is that they will be worse off.

“The assault on super is way out of step with what people want from the government now.”

Mr Dean said the national campaign would take up a “reasonable slice” of the body’s $12m advertising budget.

The mass-media blitz will build on a social media campaign kickstarted last month by the peak ­industry superannuation body.

In a speech last month, Josh Frydenberg argued that the superannuation system was too heavily weighted in favour of maximising retirement income at the expense of greater cashflow during people’s working lives.

With the May budget to determine whether the government puts a pause on the legislated July 1 superannuation guarantee ­increase to 10 per cent, the Treasurer reiterated comments about the need to consider the implications of a rise amid the COVID-19 economic shock and recovery.

He said lifting the guarantee would increase the retirement ­income of a median earner by $33,000 but “lower their working-life income by around $32,000”.

The superannuation guarantee is also legislated to increase to 12 per cent by 2025.

With an election due by next year, Mr Dean said that industry funds would consider an all-out political assault against the Morrison government if there were changes made in the May budget.

“We are on a continuum,” Mr Dean said. “If we have to go the extra step, we will think about that. Our funds … wouldn’t be meeting the duties of their members if they sat back and did nothing.”

The Australian reported on Wednesday that industry superannuation fund payments to trade unions have almost doubled in five years, with the retirement savings sector handing over nearly $10m in the past financial year.

Some 23 of the nation’s leading industry funds spent $9.8m of members’ money in 2019-20 on directors’ fees, sponsorships and major advertising deals with the unions, according to data from the Australian Electoral Commission.

On Thursday, Superannuation Minister Jane Hume defended a controversial initiative that would allow domestic violence victims fleeing abusers to access up to $10,000 of their superannuation.

This is despite Mr Morrison saying the proposal was “under ­review”, and citing “various concerns” from stakeholder groups.