ABSTRACT
Many of the industry funds had been established before the new superannuation legislation was enacted. But most of the industry funds set up in the light of the National Wage Case of 1986 were established in a new world of superannuation legislation. In the 1989 Budget, Keating had also flagged the need for award superannuation to increase to 6 per cent. Describing the government’s plans as ‘bringing home the bacon’, the Treasurer’s announcement set the basis for a legislative approach to universalising superannuation. Yet with the passing of the SIS Act in 1993, the main features of the present-day superannuation regime had been established. The industrial basis for universal super was now supported legislatively. Making superannuation union business ten years earlier had led to a comprehensive widening of pre-existing coverage, but substantial regulatory change had also been required to bed down the achievement.
