Anthony Albanese has been accused of using Australians’ retirement savings as a bargaining chip following a high-stakes meeting with US President Donald Trump.
The backlash followed a White House fact sheet claiming Trump had secured ‘Billion-Dollar Deals with Australia’ across critical minerals, defence, and superannuation.
The statement credited Trump with creating ‘tens of thousands of high-paying American jobs,’ casting his dealings with Australia as a political victory.
The Prime Minister appeared to support the framing, later calling Australia’s $4.2trillion superannuation pool a ‘significant resource’ that ‘we want to use’.
Critics said his phrasing reinforced concerns that Labor was using the hard-earned savings of everyday Australians as a political instrument in talks with the US.
‘Albanese got played,’ former Liberal MP Craig Kelly said.
‘Under this deal, Australia has to invest $1000billion in the US, and the US only invests $5billion in Australia in return. Has there ever been a more one-sided deal?’
Anthony Albanese has been accused of using Australians’ retirement savings as a bargaining chip following a high-stakes meeting with US President Donald Trump
The backlash followed a White House fact sheet claiming Trump had secured ‘Billion-Dollar Deals with Australia’ across critical minerals, defence, and superannuation
Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien also accused Albanese of overstepping by indulging the investment projections.
‘How is it you have a Prime Minister doing a deal with another country using Australian retirement savings?’ he told Sky News.
‘Superannuation isn’t a plaything of government. Investment decisions belong to the funds, not politicians.’
At this stage, however, there is no formal deal between the two leaders. The White House figure was based on an industry projection rather than an agreement.
The investment projection was made by super funds at an industry event hosted in Washington in February, the Australian Financial Review reported.
If Trump’s projections are to come true, then Australian super funds will have to more than double their investments in the US within a decade.
Reaching that target would require a continued appetite for US assets by local fund managers in Australia.
Australia’s superannuation pool, currently about $4.2trillion, is expected to grow to $7.2trillion by 2035.
This would take Australia’s retirement savings pool from the world’s fourth largest to second, spurred on by mandatory contributions inching up from 11.5 per cent to 12 per cent in July.
Experts say Trump’s rhetoric is more flourish than dealmaking coup, given the projected growth will come from natural forces rather than political intervention.
Mary Delahunty, chief executive of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, said there are indicators the investments will deepen naturally.
‘The US is the world’s largest and deepest capital market,’ she said in a statement.
‘It’s natural that investment there will grow as Australia’s retirement savings pool expands. Industry projections are indicative.
‘Investment decisions are entirely at the discretion of funds and are made solely in the interests of returns to members.’
Daily Mail has contacted Albanese’s office for comment.
