AMP rails against Australian government tinkering with superannuation

Thursday 10th May 2012

Australia-based insurance giant AMP is railing against the Australian Federal government tinkering with superannuation.

Commenting on the Australian government's budget changes to that country's compulsory superannuation system, AMP chairman Peter Mason said the government should take a long-term view.

“We need to be alert to the consequences of tinkering with it and potentially muting its effectiveness,” Mason said.

While AMP supports lifting superannuation contributions to 12 percent of income from 9 percent, “when there is continuous amendment to the framework for Australia's long-term savings, people feel they can't rely on it to make long-term plans,” he told AMP's annual shareholders' meeting.

“Constant changes to Australia's superannuation system, as we saw again in Tuesday's budget, unsettles people and makes them anxious about the future,” he said.

The greatest contribution government could make right now is to provide certainty and security, so people can save with confidence in the future, Mason said.

Superannuation is a long-term response to a long-term demographic and economic challenge and shouldn't be continually modified to meet short-term budgetary objectives, he said Mason's words could equally be applied to New Zealand's KiwiSaver scheme, which has gone through a raft of changes since its inception in July 2007. New Zealand's budget is due on May 24.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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