When someone retires after the age of 60, their superannuation savings become ‘unrestricted non-preserved’ and can be converted into pension phase, or even fully withdrawn from the superannuation environment as a cash lump sum.

From my many years of financial planning, I can attest that it is this ability to freely access their own capital that gives Australians the peace of mind to make personal superannuation contributions, and actively seek to grow their superannuation balance.

However, Labor, via their bureaucracies, are undermining this. They are bloating an already bloated bureaucracy by additional non-productive work, impeding small business by further red tape, inconveniencing consumers, increasing the running costs of superannuation funds, and actively impeding productivity.

Unfortunately, there are very few politicians who realise that the impediment to productivity, which they often harp on about, is usually the government. And this is a perfect illustration of that.

Labor want to control access to pension accounts when a pension account holder, who annually signs a payment form to pay their financial adviser, must have that request checked by the trustee (product provider) of the pension fund. Then, the trustee is to randomly check the advice from the financial adviser to see if they deem it appropriate and acceptable.

Perhaps next, the trustees will be compelled to check what else their clients are spending money on and start providing more oversight. More than one holiday per annum, or too many casino visits, watch out. Is this the ultimate plan of Minister Stephen Jones?

If an Australian adult directs an amount to be paid to their adviser, or anyone else, via a signed form, then that should be the end of the matter. There is no role for the government or their bureaucracies.

Now whilst ASIC are flip-flopping all over the place on this, ‘ASIC won’t expect super fund trustees to audit all advice’ (May 3, 2024) and, ‘The advice was fine, but ASIC wants super funds to do more checks’ (May 9 2024), they acknowledge there isn’t a problem, but want superannuation funds to spend money and time providing oversight. And here lies the crux of the problem, ‘The review recommended trustees avoid over-reliance on member consent forms…’ ASIC appears to believe Australian adults are not capable, and should not be trusted with their money.

If a member wants a payment to be made, and writes on a form, ‘I have received financial advice and direct a payment of $x to be made,’ then what role does the government have in getting involved and further bloating a bureaucracy, whilst simultaneously increasing costs for superannuation funds through needless red-tape?

In their submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Economics, the ‘Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) and CPA Australia’ write that the proposed legislation, ‘…creates too many risks for the trustees of APRA regulated superannuation funds. We are aware that some superannuation fund trustees will want to actively review every advice document issued by a financial adviser which would be excessive and costly. In addition to this, such work would duplicate work already undertaken by financial advisers.’

The Financial Advice Association writes in their submission, ‘We strongly oppose the trustee reviewing client level data, such as SOAs for every client. This would be costly and inefficient for both trustees and advisers, with the cost ultimately being paid by consumers.’

And the Stockbrokers and Investment Advisers Association (SIAA) hit the nail on the head with this, ‘What is of the most concern is that the Bill provides that a superannuation trustee is not required to agree to the member’s request to charge the relevant costs even when the requirements are satisfied. Superannuation is the member’s money and no trustee should have the right to override a member’s decision in the context of all legal requirements having been met.’

But Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, the Labor government, and their bureaucracies do not seem to trust Australian adults to be capable; they consider us plebs to be beneath them and in need of the government to help tie our shoes. It is a sad state of affairs and perfectly illustrates the Nanny State and red tape that is killing productivity and the small business community who are forced to comply with pointless rules.

Unfortunately, the government can’t offer any logic for why their proposed rules will apply to pension accounts. They can claim an accumulation account (before retirement) should have some controls as the funds are ‘preserved’ and not accessible to the member, but as pension accounts are fully accessible to the owners, there is no logic.

To provide balance to this story, I will acknowledge one of the few supporters of Labor’s proposed legislation – CHOICE.

Not content with the damage they are doing through their new superannuation taxes (which are aimed at the youth), they now want to limit withdrawals. And this is the first step.