Cbus Chair Mr Wayne Swan Faces Senate Scrutiny

After playing ducks and drakes with the Senate, Mr Swan finally fronted the Senate Economics Committee today.

Mr Swan gave conflicting evidence in relation to Cbus’ failure to pay over 10,000 death and disability payments. On the one hand, Mr Swan asserted he takes “complete accountability for the outcome,” whilst he deflected blame to a third party provider, Link Financial.

Mr Swan laughably claimed his “appointment to the [Cbus] board as an independent director is in line with that thinking. I am uniquely qualified.” How can Mr Swan claim to be an independent director in his dual roles as Cbus Chair and Federal Labor Party President? Asserting independence without a robust test is not a serious proposition.

He claimed that members would not be liable for Cbus’ regulatory fines. Mr Swan then proceeded to contradict himself stating “we have reserves in our fund.”

It is a matter of public record that Cbus changed its trust deed in the NSW Supreme Court to levy members for future fines. Mr Swan surely knows this fact.

By his own admission, the Chair of Cbus’ Risk Committee only prior experience in risk before taking on the role, was being on the Cbus board. But when quizzed about the Risk Committee Chair’s lack of prior risk experience, Mr Swan deflected and claimed the Risk Committee Chair was a “great Australian”.

Being a great Australian does not guarantee a person has risk management experience.

Swan brushed aside concerns about Cbus appointing CFMEU officials to its board. This was accompanied with deflections on the $2.3 million in payments to unions last year. This included over $1 million to the CFMEU in 2023-24.

Mr Swan’s word games do not change the fact that the members pay for these transfers to unions.

Cbus’ mismanagement of members’ funds didn’t end with dodgy union payments. Mr Swan conceded that members’ money was used for a private Cbus birthday party hiring a theatre, and was “certain it would have met the best financial interests test”. We look forward to seeing the details of this expenditure when it is provided on notice to the Senate.

Super must be more than a gravy train for unions, employer groups and the banks.

The committee will have to consider capital requirements and governance standards in its deliberation and report due next year.

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