The Australian Information Commissioner said last week it had made preliminary inquiries into the way data was used between the publication and shareholder AustralianSuper,but that hasn’t stopped the super fund and publicationThe New Daily from dismissing the scrutiny it received at last week’s hearing where the concerns were raised.
The New Daily is owned by Industry Super Holdings,which is controlled by super funds such as AustralianSuper,Cbus,Hostplus and HESTA.
A spokesperson for AustralianSuper said the fund does not hold direct ownership in the publisher and it does not form part of its investment portfolio.
“The New Daily provides many thousands of fund members with information about personal finance and superannuation,” the spokesman said. “The fund’s involvement with The New Daily was given a clean bill of health by the Royal Commissioner Kenneth Hayne.”
“Member data is protected and managed in line with the privacy policy. Members are able to opt out of receivingThe New Daily at any time.”
A spokesperson forThe New Daily said:“The Hayne royal commission has looked atThe New Daily,as has APRA.”
“It is hard to reconcile this rigorous scrutiny and the resultant clean bill of health with[Liberal Senator] Andrew Bragg’s point of view.” Sources close to The New Daily are concerned some Coalition MPs dislike the publication as it can be critical of the federal government.