This Month
- Investigation
- Building Bad
‘I love a cunning plan’: A crime boss, the CFMEU and tax-dodging deals
Secret police recordings of more than 1000 calls made from prison helped unravel George Alex’s sprawling and corrupt labour hire empire.
- Updated
- Nick McKenzie, David Marin-Guzman and Kate McClymont
With tax reform, there’s too much diagnosis and too few solutions
Readers’ letters on a better tax system; mortgage brokers; climate change; tradies’ pay; unpaid super; David Rowe’s cartoons; and the best auction tip.
August
CFMEU directors depart in Cbus board cleanout
The lawbreaking construction union’s three directors have left the board of Cbus, but it is unclear who the CFMEU administrator will replace them with.
- Hannah Wootton
- Opinion
- Super wars
Shouldn’t retirees be on super boards too?
Super funds have changed since the Cooper inquiry recommended more independent directors. Now, it might be a case of why stop there?
- Jeremy Cooper and Ruth Stringer
- Exclusive
- Superannuation
Keating warns on Labor’s $3m super tax
Jim Chalmers’ refusal to index the $3 million threshold for the tax hit has been described as “unconscionable” by Paul Keating in private talks with the industry.
- John Kehoe, Phillip Coorey and Hannah Wootton
- Opinion
- SMSFs
Beware this easily overlooked pension rule with serious consequences
The ATO does not take kindly to SMSFs underpaying minimum pensions.
- Peter Burgess
Building super funds challenge APRA’s CFMEU concerns in court
But Cbus, which was also ordered to review the fitness of its union-appointed directors last week, is standing by its pledge to work with the watchdog.
- Hannah Wootton
This simple change could solve Labor’s super tax problem
Financial advisers and accountants have launched a united front in trying to get Labor to drop the controversial policy increasing the tax paid by the richest super fund members.
- Hannah Wootton
- Opinion
- Superannuation
Why super’s governance model delivers for members
The existing arrangements are used by high-performing workplace pension schemes globally for one simple reason: they work.
- Misha Schubert
Former ACCC tsar Samuel pushes Cbus for more independent directors
Graeme Samuel recommended Cbus get more independent directors after a 2015 review, but he says the fund has scarcely acted.
- Hannah Wootton
The global rich are moving in search of lower taxes
A record 128,000 millionaires are expected to relocate this year, the consequence of a global realignment of how the wealthy are taxed.
- Emma Agyemang
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Super wars are over, but the governance fight is yet to be won
The Australian Financial Review is on the side of members, and we believe their interests could be served by a more transparent and independent superannuation system.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
APRA sets up pressure test for industry super boards
The independent review into the Cbus board could be a seismic moment for the industry funds sector. APRA won’t mind that.
- James Thomson
Wayne Swan’s Cbus plays a sticky wicket
Superannuation funds are barred from marketing expenditure they can’t prove is in the best financial interests of their members. Cbus will have to prove it.
- Myriam Robin
Independents team up to oppose tax rise on superannuation
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is struggling to win political support for the biggest revenue-raising measure in his budget.
- John Kehoe
- Updated
- Building Bad
Calls grow to curb unions’ power over industry super
APRA’s Cbus intervention should trigger an overhaul of the union movement’s outdated influence over the $3.9 trillion superannuation sector.
- Hannah Wootton
- Opinion
- Superannuation
This $300b super fund is making a monster move to stocks
Australian Retirement Trust has decided that a big chunk of its members will do a lot better with their pension nest egg invested in riskier assets.
- Jonathan Shapiro
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
PwC hasn’t paid full price for eight years of risk failure
Exactly who deserves the most blame for the PwC scandal remains a subject of fierce debate. But it’s the systemic failures of risk management that really matter.
- James Thomson
July
- Opinion
- Superannuation
Why the $3m super tax has turned into a mess
It may seem hard to argue against making people with high superannuation balances pay more tax, but implementing it is a dog’s breakfast.
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Big super leans into private capital
It makes sense for regulators to peek under the hood on non-bank lending while seeking to remove obstacles to the free and efficient allocation of risk capital.
- The AFR View
