Charter of Superannuation Adequacy and Sustainability and Council of Superannuation Custodians

Submission Date: 21 June 2013

This submission has been prepared by the Law Council of Australia's Superannuation Committee (the Committee), which is a committee of the Legal Practice Section. 

The Committee’s objectives are to ensure that the law relating to superannuation in Australia is sound, equitable and demonstrably clear, consistent with the Law Council’s Policy Statement on Rule of Law Principles and Corporate Plan 2012– 14. The Committee makes submissions and provides comments on the legal aspects of virtually all proposed legislation, circulars, policy papers and other regulatory instruments which affect superannuation funds.

From a legal perspective, the Law Council does not see any particular legal problems arising from the proposal to establish the Charter and the Council, at least not at this early stage.

Neither the Charter nor the Council will be able to bind the Government or fetter the Government’s ability to make laws. The extent to which the Charter is complied with, in practice, will therefore be a function of the willingness of the Government of the day to comply with it. A Government could simply abide by its own articulated principles without the need to refer to a Charter. That said, the establishment of the Charter and the Council does represent an opportunity to clarify and articulate important principles and to make a demonstrable commitment to those principles.

These initiatives would need to be funded and it would seem to follow that the Charter and the Council should be expected to add real value to the overall superannuation system.

Last Updated on 07/05/2025

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