The ink isn’t even dry on the Government’s new superannuation laws and the Minister for Superannuation is already confused.

This morning Senator Hume told the ABCs Radio National:

“There is no reason why anyone should feel that if they have life insurance within their superannuation and they switch jobs that they wouldn’t be covered.

“They should be covered. There are no occupational exclusions.”

Two minutes’ worth of research would have shown that this is not true.

The following is an (incomplete) list of big super funds with occupational exclusions in their life insurance.

AMP – Excludes bricklayers, concreters, dogmen, labourers, plumbers who work on rooves, electrician linesmen, riggers and scaffolders.

MLC – Excludes farm labourers and railway workers.

CFS – Excludes bricklayers, concreters, dogmen, labourers, plumbers, painters, riggers and scaffolders and welders if they work at heights above 15m and/or are not properly qualified.

REST – Excludes all dangerous occupations at the insurer’s discretion.

HostPlus – Excludes carpenters, concreters, labourers, painters, plumbers and electricians working above 15m.

The Minister’s assurances that workers have “no reason” to worry about their insurance cover shows a breathtaking ignorance of the industry she oversees.

Funds set up for workers in low-risk jobs (for example, café workers) legitimately exclude high risk jobs from insurance cover to keep premiums down.

Part of the reason high risk jobs have their own super funds is so they can offer high-risk life insurance.

Is the Minister suggesting all funds now need to include cover for high-risk jobs?

If so, she needs to tell workers how much they will be slugged by skyrocketing premiums.

She had eight months to fix the serious flaws in her legislation before ramming it through Parliament.

Her sloppy and inaccurate comments show there’s still a clean-up job to be done on this dog’s breakfast.