** Update: According to a statement from Mr Cormann, last night the independents helped Labor block the appointment of independent directors.
“Tonight, the Independents helped Labor entrench union dominance of industry super funds, ironically by blocking the appointment of independent directors on those boards,” he stated. InvestorDaily understands the amendment was narrowly defeated a in second vote.**
In a statement, Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation Mathias Cormann welcomed the 72 to 68 vote in favour of amendments requiring at least one third of super fund trustees to be independent.
This is a significant step away from the current equal representation model within which industry super funds appoint half the board from union representatives and the other half from employer representatives.
“The Coalition welcomes the vote in the House of Representatives today in support of our efforts to improve corporate governance in superannuation,” Mr Cormann said.
The change was recommended by the Cooper Review, which concluded the equal representation model was no longer appropriate, he said.
This model has led to criticism and claims that unions have enjoyed an inappropriate level of control over the governance of industry super funds.
“We are disappointed that Bill Shorten and the Labor Party continued to resist our efforts to achieve this important reform to improve superannuation in the parliament today,” Mr Cormann said.
“We welcome the fact that four Labor MPs, including two ministers and a government whip, appear to have boycotted Labor’s instruction to vote against our sensible amendments.” ABC news reported the absent MPs as Gary Gray, Mike Kelly, Ed Husic and government whip Graham Perrett.
“For the past three years, Bill Shorten has resisted important reform in this area because his friends in the union movement don’t want him to impose a requirement for independent directors.”
Mr Cormann said continuing improvements to super governance are needed to improve confidence in the system.
“This was always a sensible recommendation that has been ignored by Labor for too long. The vote in the House of Representatives to change that today should be allowed to stand.”
