Meet the experts: Keely O’Brien, CALI

CALI's General Manager of Corporate Affairs and Strategy, Keely O'Brien, has spent her career looking at how support systems can serve Australians better. We spoke to Keely about CALI's cross-sector research into Australia's income support ecosystem, what it reveals about the growing burden of mental ill health, and why the findings carry real implications for super funds and their members.

Tell us about your career background and what led you to CALI. 

I started out as a journalist but moved into politics because I could see that's where I could have more influence over improving the lives of everyday Australians. I worked in the NSW state government and then federally, on reforms that still make a difference today including paid parental leave, the NDIS and social security settings. That background turned out to be incredibly relevant to what I do now because I understand government payment systems and what happens when Australians are sick and can't work. 

From politics I moved into banking and then consulting, before the opportunity came to help build CALI as a new association for the life insurance industry. Life insurance serves a noble purpose by supporting people on their worst days and giving them peace of mind. Helping the industry find its voice to do that better felt like exactly where I wanted to be.

CALI recently updated a major cross-sector report on Australia's income support system. What were you aiming to explore?

The original work was commissioned by the Australian government in 2017, through Monash University's Healthy Working Lives Group. It was the first time anyone had mapped the full financial safety net – all the places you can turn when you're sick or injured and can't work. There are 11 different parts to that safety net, and if you look at it on a page, you see how much support exists and also where the gaps are. 

When our CEO Christine Cupitt and I came to CALI, one of the first things we asked was: where does this industry fit in? So we partnered with SuperFriend and Monash University to update the report, this time using the industry's own data alongside current government data. 

What's changed most significantly since 2017 is the impact of mental ill-health across the entire system. Workers compensation, the Disability Support Pension, employer sick leave, life insurance through super – every part of the safety net is feeling the strain. This report maps that comprehensively for the first time, which gives us a shared evidence base for the conversation about what needs to change.

What does the research tell us about where things are heading?

I like to zoom out and think about what settings we need to make sure we're catching the most people. Employer sick leave is where the majority are helped, with progressively fewer needing to go further through the system. Life insurance through super is an important part of the safety net, with TPD cover available to support you and your family when you can’t work again. 

By the time someone lodges a TPD claim, they've typically been out of work for around three years. It's very hard to support recovery at that point, particularly for mental health conditions. 

For super funds, the impacts can be significant. Members who leave the workforce early aren't making contributions to their retirement, and we're also seeing increases in early superannuation withdrawals. What's happening in Victoria and New South Wales with workers compensation tightening, particularly for mental health conditions, will flow through to our claim volumes. 

What do people with mental ill health need from their cover? 

We've just completed research with thousands of Australians on this, and we’ve found they want cover that feels personal. Mental health is deeply individual, and two people with the same diagnosis can have completely different outcomes. What they're looking for is flexibility and support that reflects their situation and provides hope of recovery, rather than a single lump sum and a determination that they can’t work again. 

Nearly one in three claims in the super space are now for mental health conditions, but a significant proportion of members still don't realise mental health conditions are covered. In practice, someone has often been unwell for a long time before a friend, a family member, or a lawyer says: did you know you could make a claim? That's part of why people can be so unwell by the time they claim. 

What's the opportunity for super funds?

A member might start their relationship with their fund at age 20, when retirement is far in the back of their mind. But for 18 to 34-year-olds, staying healthy and managing mental health are genuinely front of mind. Those are things members care about today, and funds are already giving them insurance protection that covers it. 

Helping members understand how they’re protected can keep them healthier and working for longer, which means they're making contributions and building toward retirement. Funds have a real opportunity to have conversations with members that are directly relevant to their everyday lives. 

What is CALI focused on over the next 12 months?

Our biggest priority is establishing the National Safety Net Partnership – a government-led, cross-sector initiative to bring all parts of the system together. What our report makes clear is that when one part of the net tightens, it shifts pressure somewhere else. 

There's genuine appetite for having that conversation across sectors. The goal isn't just agreeing on what the problem is; it's to identify the practical things we can do to start addressing it like standardising definitions, reducing duplications and delays, and creating smoother transitions between schemes when people move through the system. 

Alongside that, we're rolling out new industry guidance on sustainable disability insurance and claims assessment for mental health conditions, which includes working more closely with clinicians to strengthen the evidence base when someone claims. 

We're also working with ASFA on whether current legislative settings remain fit for purpose. Our other focus is on advocating for the next stage of advice reform, including a new class of adviser, which would allow insurers and super funds to have more meaningful conversations with members about the protection they have.