Bragg maintains Swan should resign as Cbus chair

Former Federal Labor Treasurer, Wayne Swan, should resign as chair of big building industry fund Cbus because it conflicts with his role as national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), according to NSW Liberal Senator, Andrew Bragg.

Bragg has told Financial Newswire that he believes Swan should resign his Cbus position in the interests of good governance in circumstances where Cbus and its relationship with the Construction Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) has become a matter of political conflict.

As well, Bragg repeated his belief that the Government should be pushing the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) to be doing more to investigate the allegations which had been raised about the activities of the CFMEU and the union’s relationship with Cbus.

He said that he was particularly concerned to ensure that APRA acted to ensure adherence by Cbus to the Best Financial Interest rules.

Bragg has previously suggested that Cbus has been ‘tainted’ by its association with the CFMEU and, on that basis, should be excluded from participating in the Government’s Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).

To this point, while senior officials within the CFMEU construction division have been reported as claiming to wield influence with Cbus, there has been no proof of wrong-doing on the part of the superannuation fund itself.