CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Ms ALDRED (Monash—Opposition Whip) (16:23): Superannuation is money that belongs to Australians for their retirement. The same goes for death benefits, which are held by super funds and distributed to a person's nominees or dependants on their passing. For too long, superannuation service standards have taken a back seat to big super companies who are too well looked after under this government.

I've assisted constituents who have had to wait years to access their own money. In one case, a constituent approached me after her husband passed away from a terminal illness. He had wanted to say, while he was still alive and eligible to access early withdrawal of his super, 'Kids, I know this is not going to change everything, but here is something,' and AustralianSuper deprived him of that conversation while he was still alive.

They then messed around his grieving widow for months upon months before I assisted in helping her to access her own money. It turns out there are 4,000 Australians waiting up to four years to access their own money. One of the first things I did when assisting constituents was say to the corporate regulator ASIC, 'Surely, there must be a mandatory minimum payout timeframe.' It turns out there isn't.

ASIC says it should be paid out as soon as practicable. While I welcome the appearance of the minister responsible for superannuation, Daniel Mulino, at the National Press Club tomorrow, presumably to announce reforms that we've been waiting 18 months for, it's been 18 months of 'soon', but it is 18 months too late. In January 2025, the federal government announced plans to introduce mandatory service standards, and Australians, including many of my constituents, have been waiting month after month.

I want to pay tribute to Irene Thomas as well as other constituents I've assisted on these issues. ASIC last year announced a landmark legal action against AustralianSuper, who kept 7,000 of its customers waiting years to access their own money. I also want to pay tribute to Super Consumers Australia, who have released a landmark report which makes for very sobering reading.

It was released only a few weeks ago. It found, among a few things, that AustralianSuper didn't bother to answer its phone in 90 per cent of cases and that 15½ million Australians do not have a binding death benefit nomination fund. I don't think big super companies are doing a good enough job of informing their customers of their rights on these issues.

A study of 20 major super fund call centres found widespread service failures. So I say to this government: stop sticking up for big super day after day. It's time you got behind workers, families and battlers.