The Evolving Role of Trust in Superannuation was cited in Frigger v Trenfield (No 3) [2023] FCAFC 49
Edited by M Scott Donald and Lisa Butler Beatty, on behalf of the Superannuation Committee of the Law Council of Australia
The Law Council of Australia has held an annual conference on the law of superannuation each year since 1990. Over the years papers have been delivered by some of Australia, Canada and the UK’s leading judges, legal practitioners and academics. The papers have in many cases laid the foundation for, and explained the consequences of, the successive rounds of regulatory reform seen in the Australian superannuation system. This book represents the first time that these seminal papers have been collected in the one place. As such it offers a unique perspective on the evolving conversation that has informed the regulatory scheme and shaped Australia’s superannuation system.
Foreword by Andrew Fairley AM on behalf of the Superannuation Committee of the LCA
Preface by Hon Mr Justice David Hayton
Acknowledgments
About the Contributors
Table of Cases
Table of Statutes
Introduction
Dr M Scott Donald and Dr Lisa Butler Beatty
PART I: The Policy and Regulatory Backdrop
1. The Objectives of the Superannuation Supervisory Legislation (1994)
Donald Duval
2. Reflections on the Design and Manufacture of Australia’s Financial Services (2006)
Associate Professor Pamela Hanrahan
3. Beneficiary, Investor, Citizen: Characterising Australia’s Super Fund Participants (2008)
Dr M Scott Donald
PART II: The Infrastructural Role of Trust Law in the Superannuation System
4. Equity and its Relevance to Superannuation Schemes Today (1992)
Lord Browne-Wilkinson
5. Equity and its Role for Superannuation Pension Schemes in the 1990s (1994)
The Right Honourable Lord Justice Hoffmann
6. The Future of Trust Law in a Regulated Superannuation Industry (1997)
Dr Donovan Waters QC
7. The Survival of the Trustee Model of Governance in the Era of Financial Engineering (2009)
Associate Professor Ronald B Davis
8. Structuring Super: Courting the Contract or Trusting the Trust? (2010)
Dr Lisa Butler Beatty
PART III: The Substantive Role of Trust Law in the Superannuation System
9. Trustees and their Broader Community: Where Duty, Morality and Ethics Converge (1995)
Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead
10. Superannuation Fund Trustees and Conflicts of Interest (1999)
David Maclean
11. The Superannuation Trustee: Are Fiduciary Obligations and Standards Appropriate? (2007)
The Hon Margaret Stone
12. Challenging the Exercise of Powers by Trustees (2007)
Professor Geraint Thomas
13. Exercise by Superannuation Trustees of Discretionary Powers (2008)
The Hon Joseph Campbell
14. Interpreting and Exercising Powers of Amendment in Superannuation Trusts: An Exercise in Gloss? (2008)
Professor Gino Dal Pont
15. Prudence under Pressure (2009)
Dr M Scott Donald
16. Institutional Shareholders and Corporate Governance (2010)
The Hon James Spigelman AC QC
17. Duties of Superannuation Trustees: From Equity to Statute (2012)
The Hon Ronald Sackville AO QC
Index
For anyone practising in that sector, whether as in-house counsel or external adviser, or anyone else (eg, trustees and their directors) who requires an in-depth knowledge of the various equity and trust law issues that arise with superannuation funds, this book is a blessing. Essentially it comprises a compilation of scholarly papers from the Law Council’s Superannuation Law Conference over the past 30 years, prepared on behalf of the Council’s Superannuation Committee. …
The title hints at the main theme of the essays within. … The editors are to be congratulated on assembling a highly valuable anthology of some of the best writing, from some of the best commentators, in the area. It is instantly a leading work in a field that badly needs publications of this kind.
Nuncio D’Angelo, Australian Law Journal, August 2018, 92
The Law Council of Australia has held an annual conference on the law of superannuation since 1990. Throughout the years the conference had many outstanding speakers including the Honourable James Spigelman AC QC, Lord Hoffmann and the Honourable Ronald Sackville AO QC. This text collates papers delivered to the conference by these esteemed speakers and other leading judges, legal practitioners and academics.
The book is divided into three parts; Part I: the policy and regulatory backdrop, Part II: the infrastructural role of trust law in the superannuation system and Part III: the substantive role of trust law in the superannuation system. Each paper is thoroughly researched and provides a thought provoking insight into the development of regulated superannuation funds in Australia. As such, this text offers a unique perspective on the evolving landscape that has informed the regulatory scheme and shaped Australia’s superannuation system.
It will be interesting reading for anyone seeking to gain an understanding of how we arrived at our current superannuation system and the appropriate direction for future improvements.
Queensland Law Reporter – 2 March 2018 – [2018] 8 QLR
