A QSuper team has made its first visit to remote communities in the Torres Strait Islands since the COVID-19 shut-down of travel in 2020-21.
In previous years QSuper had a history of remote region visits, helping it learn more about the issues that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experienced when attempting to access and engage with their superannuation.
In May, representatives travelled to communities on Thursday (Waiben) and Horn (Ngurupai/Narupai) Islands, about 40 kilometres north of Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, and Darnley (Erub) Island, about 200 kilometres north-east of Cape York.
During the team’s week-long visit, it met with hundreds of QSuper account-holders and other community residents.
The team listened to their stories and worked together to find practical ways to overcome obstacles that prevent QSuper’s members from accessing and engaging with their superannuation.
These challenges included access to education and information about superannuation, access to technology, medical practitioners, officials available to certify documentation, and even the ability to download and print documents.
As an example, Member Education Officer, Steven Fehring spoke with a man who had been preparing to make a long and complicated trip to Brisbane to open a transition-to- retirement income account.
“With the technology we’d set up for our visit we were able to help him to open the new account on the spot,” Mr Fehring said.
