Super giants spent $400m of retirement funds on marketing as CFMEU pockets big payments

Australia’s superannuation funds are spending more than $400 million of members’ savings on marketing each year as they line the pockets of related unions and industry bodies.

Previously secret data revealed industry super paid more than $10m to their union masters in 2022-23. The biggest beneficiary was the CFMEU, with almost $3.9m of payments ahead of miners breaking away from the crisis-riddled union last year.

Figures released by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority reveal the industry fund Cbus’ $34.7m of marketing spend included almost $800,000 of so-called sponsorship payments to the CFMEU and $1m to other unions.

This featured $233,035 of payments to the CFMEU’s Victorian arm at the centre of allegations that led to administrators being put in charge of the union’s construction and general division in August.

The forest industry fund First Super was revealed as the biggest benefactor of the CFMEU, paying more than $2.3m in administration expenses.

Shadow employment minister Michaelia Cash called for the CFMEU to engage with APRA over the payments to the militant union.

“The CFMEU administrator needs to ensure that none of these funds paid to the CFMEU from employee superannuation funds were used inappropriately or ended up in criminal hands, given that union’s documented links with organised crime,” Senator Cash said.

APRA is stepping up its release of information about spending by Australia’s $3 trillion super fund management industry in a bid to increase transparency and accountability.

The figures revealed that giant industry fund AustralianSuper was by far the biggest marketing spender in the 2022-23 financial year, forking out a total of $60.2m on promotional work.

This included $43m of what AustralianSuper said was advertising or marketing, with $7.4m going to search engine giant Google, and $16.9m spent on member campaigns — including $6.3m spent through lobby group Industry Super Australia.

Cbus’ $34.7m marketing spend included more than $2.3m of sponsorship of related unions and industry groups, including $233,055 pumped into the CFMEU’s controversial Victorian division and a total of almost $800,000 sent to the union across Australia

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has released the detailed breakdown of super fund spending as part of attempts to improve the transparency of groups managing around $3 trillion of retirement savings.

The Queensland-based industry fund giant Australian Retirement Trust was the second biggest marketing spender, with expenditure of $41.8m.

APRA disclosures revealed industry funds Hesta and Aware Super spent more than $30m on marketing.

HostPlus handed over $1.8m of member savings to pay for its sponsorship deal with the AFL and $1.3 million for its sponsorship of the battling Gold Coast Suns.

Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia chief executive Mary Delahunty said marketing spends could help members’ financial positions by helping them make more informed decisions.

“Advertising and sponsorship is just one of many tools that funds use to engage members in a way that promotes informed, confident retirement decisions,” she said.

She said the spending helped “funds compete, communicate, and deliver value in a free market environment”.

But UniSuper investment chief John Pearce said one of the “core tenants of (large funds’) value proposition” was that they were low-cost.

He said if there was any correlation between high spending and higher returns then he would be “spending like crazy”.

UniSuper did not disclose any external recipients of its promotional, marketing and sponsorship expenses totalling $27.7m, only disclosing the beneficiary as Unisuper Management.

It disclosed $92,459 of payments to the National Tertiary Education Union.

APRA published details of $10.2m of payments from super funds to unions and $3.8m of payments to related industry groups, including almost $297,595 of sponsorship payments by Cbus to various Master Builders Association branches and $164,000 flicked to other industry groups.

Cbus disclosures also revealed it made $367,856 of sponsorship payments to the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union.

The Electrical Trades Union received more than of sponsorship payments and the journalists’ union MEAA was slung $116,518 for sponsorship, having backed Cbus’s takeover of Media Super in 2022.