The Coalition Government is continuing to ensure Australians are well-supported during their retirement by today commissioning an independent review of the retirement income system.

This review was recommended by the Productivity Commission in their report Superannuation: Assessing Efficiency and Competitiveness and comes 27 years after the establishment of compulsory superannuation.

The review will look at the three pillars of the existing retirement income system, being the Age Pension, compulsory superannuation and voluntary savings.

In doing so, the review will cover the current state of the system and how it will perform in the future as Australians live longer and the population ages.

Through its work, the review will establish a fact base of the current retirement income system that will improve understanding of its operation and the outcomes it is delivering for Australians.

The review will be conducted by an independent three person panel.

Mr Michael Callaghan AM PSM, a former Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund and a former senior Treasury official will chair the review, together with fellow panellists Ms Carolyn Kay, who has more than 30 years’ experience in the finance sector across roles both in Australia and overseas, including as a member of the Future Fund Board of Guardians, and Dr Deborah Ralston, who is a Professorial Fellow in Banking and Finance at Monash University, a member of the RBA’s Payments System Board and most recently chair of the Alliance for a Fairer Retirement.

A consultation paper will be released in November 2019 and the final report provided to Government by June 2020.

The review’s terms of reference are attached.

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TERMS OF REFERENCE

As recommended by the Productivity Commission in its report Superannuation: Assessing Efficiency and Competitiveness the Government is commissioning an independent Retirement Income Review.

Australia’s retirement income system is based on three pillars:

It is important that the system allows Australians to achieve adequate retirement incomes, is fiscally

sustainable and provides appropriate incentives for self-provision in retirement.

The Review will establish a fact base of the current retirement income system that will improve understanding of its operation and the outcomes it is delivering for Australians.

The Retirement Income Review will identify:

• how the retirement income system supports Australians in retirement;
• the role of each pillar in supporting Australians through retirement;
• distributional impacts across the population and over time; and
• the impact of current policy settings on public finances.