The Super Members Council (SMC) has welcomed a $17.8 million allocation over four years in the 2026 federal budget to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Office of the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board to protect investors and strengthen the superannuation system.
“Overall, this is a steady as she goes budget for super, with a handful of modest but important new investments to boost oversight of investment schemes like those in the Shield and First Guardian collapses,” SMC chief executive Misha Schubert noted.
The budget measures paper stated the government will provide $17.8 million over four years from the 2026/27 income year, and $1.4 million per year ongoing, to “strengthen governance requirements, supervision and enforcement in relation to managed investment schemes”.
The $17.8 million allocation includes $10.3 million in the next financial year for ASIC to enhance its ability to utilise data in its supervision of managed investment schemes. Another $7.6 million over the next four years will be allocated to ASIC, the Office of the Australian Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and Treasury to strengthen governance requirements for managed investment schemes.
“Further urgent reforms are needed to make super safer by strengthening consumer protections and transparency, including applying the super performance test on super platform products where millions of consumers are still flying blind on whether their super is performing for them or not,” Schubert pointed out.
“It’s also crucial that the Government fast-track long-promised reforms to help Australians to get more safe guidance and advice from their own super fund. Those tools are crucial to keep consumers safe from predatory social media clickbait ads like those that targeted the Shield and First Guardian victims,” she added.
The government also indicated it would consult publicly on new data collection powers in relation to managed investment schemes.
The SMSF implications of the 2026 federal budget will be addressed at the SMSF Professional Day 2026. Click here to register for the event.
