APRA asked to detail time/money spent on super payments to unions

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

18 July 2024

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”.