Labor's Howling Conflict of Interest

The howling conflicts between Labor and the super funds are at an all-time high under the Albanese Government.

The most galling conflict in superannuation is that Wayne Swan is simultaneously head of the Labor Party and Cbus Super Fund.

New FOI documents reveal that Cbus Super Fund has been secretly lobbying for changes to Labor’s failed Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF).

This is despite Cbus being the only super fund which has committed money to the HAFF, as personally announced by Mr Swan late last year.

Why would the head of the fund publicly promise $500m of members' money to Labor’s HAFF bill, when the fund itself had major doubts about the bill?

Mr Swan and his board have a duty to put the members' interests first, not the political interests of the Labor Party, the CFMEU or the union movement. I have written to the prudential regulator, APRA, to advise whether the conflict between Mr Swan’s roles is appropriate.

I believe this howling conflict of interest is now clearly unmanageable. People need to know that their trustees are acting as fiduciaries, not as politicians.

The money belongs to the people, not to the unions or the Labor Party. The Government should support APRA in giving this confidence to all superannuation members.

Labor should start acting in the national interest rather than running their government for a few vested interests. ‍

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