APRA asked to detail time/money spent on super payments to unions
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) says it has been investigating payments from industry superannuation funds to trade unions over the past two years and has been asked to detail what it has done and how much it has spent.
What is more, the questions have been posed by the Australian Greens rather than the Federal Opposition which has previously pursued the issue with APRA during Senate Estimates.
The questions appear aimed at having APRA prove the lengths to which it has gone to investigate payments by superannuation funds.
South Australian Greens Senator, Barbara Pocock, has referenced questions posed by NSW Liberal Senator, Andrew Bragg, and responses given by APRA during Senate committee hearings which “indicated that APRA have an ongoing investigation in relation of payments of a superannuation fund to another party”.
As well, Senator Pocock referenced suggestions by APRA deputy chair, Margaret Cole, “that the investigation started approximately two years ago”.
On that basis, Pocock has asked APRA for key details of any investigation it might be conducting.
The Senator’s question asks APRA:
“For each financial year 2022-23 and the current financial year (2023/24)
1. How much has APRA spent on external legal advice on this matter?
2. How many hours has the internal investigation team recorded for this investigation?”
The questions which evolved out of an estimates hearing on 17 June have yet to be answered by APRA.
The questions around APRA’s investigation into the superannuation fund payments comes at the same time as allegations swirl around the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Union and amid claims by the Federal Opposition that construction industry fund Cbus is “tainted”.
Totally and utterly REGULATORY CAPTURE CORRUPTED both APRA & ASIC with their best buddies Industry Super.
The fact these bureaucrats can’t, won’t and just laugh at being questioned for their bias & corruption must be changed.
The Canberra swamp is fowl with stench
This stuff has been going on for years.
In addition, why are the “compare the pair” adverts allowed. The claims made are ridiculous.
What would happen to me if I advised a client, in writing, that it is probable that they will end up with a higher retirement balance as a direct result of my services (even though this is no doubt true) ?
Oh and remember, past performance is no guarantee of future performance.
The adverts should be banned.
They will never ban the ads or change their bias towards union funds. ASIC, ACCC, APRA and treasury are full of financially illiterate lawyer types who lean so far to the left, their left ear is almost touching the ground. Together with the unions, Choice and ALP, they are all part of the industry fund cult which is perverting our country.
These are all aspects that should have been investigated and cleared up the moment the Libs formed gov under Turnbull & then Morrison – but of course those two were a joke and their appointed ministers were a tragic debacle!!! (BTW historical fact that Turnbull was on his university’s union board of directors, aspired in his youth to head the AWU, had an investment bank business with Labor’s Neville Wran and the son of Gough Whitlam, was close friends with Bob Carr, had been appointed by Keating to chair a republican advisory committee plus had looked to run for the ALP but they rejected him because his business success made him appear too “Liberal’ – no wonder the fckwit was anti-financial planner and terrible Lib PM. Morrison was far less nefarious; he was quite simply a clueless idiot).
ASIC, APRA and the union funds all believe that if a client wants to pay for financial advice from their own super funds that it is a problem which needs consent forms and limits on how much can be paid. However they have absolutely no problem with monies being forwarded to unions for no reason, and for no benefit to clients, and without any checks and balances. Nothing wrong here at all.
Mike, your articles are the best in the business for finance. I really enjoy the news you break of the pure filth in the Aus financial planning industry. Thank you for the comment section too, it’s great to see many likeminded planners sick of all the bull!!!
The filth is not in the financial planning industry Phil, it is the cleanest part. Once you look past the professionals in planning the pollutants of the banks, insurance companies and especially the union funds that’s where the filth comes from and SURROUND the planning profession. Maybe choose your words more carefully and avoid the tarnishing and guilt by association rather than deed that have constantly been hitting the planning profession.