2020 Federal budget highlights

This year’s Federal Budget was delayed until 6 October due to COVID-19, and its measures are unsurprisingly focused on driving economic recovery.

Specifically, in relation to super, the government announced the following, all expected to take effect from 1 July 2021:

• ‘Stapling’. That is, keeping workers with their existing fund when they change jobs. This is designed to reduce the number of people holding multiple accounts.
• An annual performance test for products. This will be conducted on MySuper products by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), and any products that underperform in two consecutive tests will not be allowed to receive new members until a further annual test shows that their performance has improved.
• YourSuper, a new super comparison tool (developed by the Australian Taxation Office) to help people make an informed decision about which MySuper product to choose.

There was no extension to the early release scheme, which ends in December 2020, and no change to the legislated timetable for the Super Guarantee increase to 12%.

You can read more about super and the Budget here.