Super's sterling year; Albo whacks Hanson; Britain has a new PM

Super's sterling year; Albo whacks Hanson; Britain has a new PM

News in brief

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Pauline Hanson should be using her time abroad to “talk Australia up” rather than denigrating it.

 

ASIC has secured a record $830 million in civil penalties over the last financial year, with the corporate watchdog also claiming to give $644 million back to consumers and investors through remediation, refunds and related payments.

 

Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has taken a $190 million stake in a little-known Australian tungsten miner EQ Resources, which is one of the world’s biggest producers of the critical mineral outside of China.

 

Italian automotive group Fiat has stopped importing cars into Australia as it struggles to compete with new brands from China.

 

The United Kingdom has its fifth prime minster in four years, with Andy Burnham being sworn in, following the ousting of Sir Keir Starmer. Before him there’s been Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson.

Fear-o-meter

Australia has had compulsory superannuation since 1992, and over that time every worker has been forced to put money aside for retirement.

It’s a scheme that broadly is well liked, including recently by US President Donlad Trump who wants to model a US scheme on the Aussie program.

 

But not everyone is a fan, arguing that 12 per cent is too high, or that individuals should be allowed to do what they want with their money.

 

There are always going to be outperforming and underperforming funds, but over the 34 years, according to Chant West, the median super fund has returned about eight per cent annually. Inflation is 2.7 per cent so the real return is 5.3 per cent.

 

Even in the last 20 years, with three significant downturns – GFC, COVID and rising rate in 2022 – the median return has been above target.

The Australian superannuation system works, and with baby boomers retiring, provides Australia with an enormous safety net which many other countries do not have.

Fear & Greed Q+A today

On oil prices, global uncertainty and using energy as a hedge against geopolitical risk:

 

"I think... owning energy equities for example within a diversified portfolio, does offer investors a hedge against geopolitical risk, which, as we've seen - not only over the past year, but over the past handful of years - has been increasing.

 

If we look at the energy sector within a global equity portfolio, the weight had really been crowded out by AI and big tech, for example. So even in a global equity portfolio, the weight of energy within an index had come down as low as sort of four per cent. That's incredibly low for a commodity that is so widely required to keep the global economy running.

 

So it's sensible to have a meaningful portion of one's portfolio - clearly different for every investor - but whether that's five per cent, ten per cent or fifteen per cent even in the energy sector, not only as a hedge against these disruptions that can come and, in all likelihood, will continue to come through time, but also because many of these equities deliver strong cash flow even in the absence of these shocks. Many high-quality energy equities deliver great cash flows, even with oil in the sixty to seventy dollar range. So you're being paid to invest there anyway.”

 

General information only. Seek professional advice tailored to your circumstances before making investment decisions.

Superannuation funds have posted a fourth year of outsized returns, despite inflationary concerns and higher interest rates, market volatility and the war in the Middle East.

 

With countries like the US wanting to model retirement savings schemes on Australia’s compulsory super system, the median growth fund gained 9.5 per cent in the 2026 financial year.

 

This follows returns of 10.4 per cent, 9.1 per cent and 9.2 per cent in the previous three financial years. It takes the cumulative return for the median super fund to 44 per cent over the past four years.

 

The biggest benefit to Aussie super funds last financial year came from the surge in international shares. The only asset class to end in negative territory was Australian listed property, while traditional defensive assets – Aussie bonds, international bonds and cash – returned between 1.5 and four per cent.

Greed-o-meter

	Fund	1 year return %
1	UniSuper Growth	12.3
2	NGS Super Diversified (MySuper)	11.5
3	CFS FirstChoice Growth	11.5
4	Hostplus Balanced	10.8
5	UniSuper Balanced	10.4
6	Team Super Growth	10.2
7	legalsuper MySuper Balanced	10.2
8	PSSap MySuper Balanced	10.0
9	GESB Super My GESB Super	9.9
10	MLC MySuper Growth	9.9

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The results are in! The best performing growth fund in FY26 was UniSuper Growth, which delivered a 12.3 per cent return. Here are the top ten growth funds, according to Chant West:

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Source: Chant West