1-minute Interview Questions

If you're attending a superannuation event where Neil and Sarah are recording short interviews for That Super Show, here's a list of potential topics and questions to help get the conversation going.

Strategy and Reform

1. What reform has created the biggest shift in your fund’s strategy this year?
2. If you could wave a wand and simplify one piece of superannuation regulation, what would it be?
3. What’s the one reform that’s overdue but nobody wants to talk about?
4. Which part of the Your Future, Your Super regime has had the most unintended consequences? (stapling, performance tests, YourSuper comparison tool, best financial interests duty, or something else)
5. How do you think performance tests have changed trustee behaviour — for better or worse?

Member Engagement

1. What’s one thing funds could do tomorrow to dramatically improve member outcomes?
2. How are younger members shaping the way you design your services?
3. What’s the biggest misconception members have about their super?
4. If every member understood one number in their statement, which one should it be?
5. How are you building trust with members in a post-Royal Commission world?

Technology & Innovation

1. What’s the most exciting use of AI or automation you’ve seen in superannuation this year?
2. Where do you draw the line between innovation and risk in member services?
3. Which legacy process do you wish you could rebuild from scratch?
4. How do you think data quality is shaping — or limiting — innovation in the industry?
5. If your fund were a tech startup, what would it be building right now?

Investments & Markets

1. How has the shift in interest rates changed your investment strategy?
2. What’s one global trend that Australian super funds aren’t paying enough attention to?
3. What does “responsible investment” really mean for members in 2025?
4. Has member-demand for investment in unlisted assets increased or decreased over the last five years and where will it go from here?
5. What’s one lesson you’ve learned from markets this year that will stick with you?

Culture & Leadership

1. How do you build a culture that balances compliance and innovation?
2. What’s been your toughest leadership call this year?
3. What talent or skillset is hardest to find in superannuation today?
4. How do you keep your team motivated in an industry that changes at the pace of superannuation?
5. What advice would you give to someone starting their first role in a super fund?

Future of Super

1. What will the typical super fund look like in ten years?
2. How do you see the line between fund and regulator evolving?
3. Will Australians still retire the same way in 2040?
4. What’s one signal that makes you optimistic about the future of superannuation?
5. What would surprise people most about where the next wave of competition will come from?

Administration & Operations

1. What’s the most time-consuming process in super administration that still hasn’t been automated — and why not?
2. How do you balance efficiency with member experience when designing back-office workflows?
3. What’s been the biggest operational pain point introduced by regulatory reform in the last year?
4. How are you using data or analytics to detect errors or improve straight-through processing rates?
5. What’s one process you’d redesign from scratch if legacy systems weren’t holding you back?
6. How is your fund preparing for the next wave of member-driven digital self-service?
7. What’s been the biggest lesson in migrating admin systems or outsourcing administration?
8. How do you measure success in administration — cost per member, error rate, member satisfaction, or something else?
9. What do you think will define the “admin platform of the future” — integration, automation, or transparency?
10. If you could give APRA one insight into what it’s really like to run super operations, what would it be?