27th Oct 2022, 11:50 AM – Representatives Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 3) Bill 2022 - Consideration in Detail - Annual member meeting notices

The majority voted in favour of a motion to disagree with amendments (2) and (4) introduced by Fadden MP Stuart Robert (Liberal), which means they failed.

What were these amendments?

Mr Robert explained that:

Amendments (2) and (4) seek to put what was the annual member meeting notices by regulation into primary legislation. Imagine an incoming government's first act of Treasury. You would think the first act would be fairly significant. They've been out of government for nine years, and the very first act of Treasury was to water down transparency in super.

Whitlam MP Stephen Jones (Labor) countered that:

There is an important piece of work to be done on transparency and reporting in superannuation funds all across the country. Unfortunately, the politically motivated regulations that were introduced by the former government were all about the politics and had nothing to do with transparency. I ask the House to consider this: if there is something material that ought to be disclosed to members, would you stick it in the annual member meeting notice, or would you stick it in an annual report? Would you stick it in an annual member meeting notice that gets mailed out, or would you stick it in the annual report that is required to be disclosed to all of your members, to regulators and all the rest of it?

Read more about these amendments in the debate.