Superannuation reform

Economics Senior secondary 100

Access denied

Please login or register to take this course.

Introduction

Students investigate the role played by stakeholders in influencing government policy and propose a policy that will improve the living standards of all Australians in retirement. They present their recommendations to the class and vote on the policies that would be most effective.

Topics:

  • influences on government policy
  • addressing equity in the distribution of income through superannuation policy.

See also:

Student learning resources

In order to see the resources you must Register or Login if you already have an account.

 
Investigation

Superannuation reform

Suggested activity sequence

This sequence is intended as a framework to be modified and adapted by teachers to suit the needs of a class group.

You will need post-it notes for this activity. 

  1. Explain to students that they will be participating in the following role play:
    The Australian Government has announced that it plans to reform the Australian superannuation system to improve the living standards of Australians in retirement. The government has invited key stakeholders to submit their views on how this might be achieved.
  2. Organise the class into 6 groups of students. Note: groups can be made up of any number of students, depending on your class size. If necessary, use a grouping strategy to decide on the composition of groups.
  3. Give each group one of the following organisations to investigate:
    • Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS)
    • Small Business Association, Australia
    • Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)
    • The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA)
    • Business Council of Australia (BCA)
    • Combined Pensioners and Superannuates Association (CPSA)
  4. Groups collaboratively conduct their investigations, prepare their presentations and present their findings to the class.
  5. At the end of the presentation, each student identifies their top 3 policy changes (encourage them to select reforms proposed by other groups) and write a rationale as to why they chose these policies.
  6. Students write their preferred policy changes on post-it notes and place them on the wall.
  7. Sort the same recommendations into groups.
  8. Select the top 3 policy changes agreed to by the most students and initiate a class discussion on why these were the most popular.
Superannuation reform - Teacher instructions (PDF, 144.19 KB)