Why trust is key to Australia's retirement future

When Paul Keating introduced compulsory superannuation in the early 1990s, it established more than a savings system - it enshrined a foundation for our future retirement policy. That foundation gave Australians the confidence to contribute from their earnings and personal savings over the decades. They trusted that the framework - built with budgetary pressures and equity in mind - would support them throughout their working lives into retirement.

- Felipe Araujo, Generation Life

Frequent changes to thresholds, concessions, eligibility rules, disclosures and products have created uncertainty about how the system will operate in future. What began as a stable, enduring concept has arguably evolved into a system defined by continual change.

This created a perception of unpredictability. While its core purpose as a retirement savings vehicle remains robust, the settings that shape it often appear less certain. Stability risks becoming the most fragile aspect of the super system, and with it the trust that has long underpinned Australians' path to a comfortable retirement.

No single measure explains the erosion of confidence; it is the cumulative pattern of change that matters. Since the early 1990s, more than 70 significant changes have reshaped super.

The sheer volume of reforms has left the rules feeling open to constant revision. These include the Division 293 tax in 2012; the transfer balance cap, total super balance measures and the removal of anti-detriment concessions in 2017; and, more recently, the proposed Division 296 tax on earnings from large account balances.