Australia's superannuation system is still plagued by noticeable loopholes and requires some serious tinkering, that according to Superannuation Minister Chris Bowen as he reacted on ABC's Thursday news that the country's retirement fund only managed to collect an increase of three percent in returns since 1997.

ABC based its report on official data furnished by the Australian Prudential Regulation (APR), which scrutinised the system's assets and contributions and found that within a period of 13 years, superannuation merely delivered a yearly compound return of 3.04 percent.

Mr Bowen said that the government is doing its best to fine-tune and make the system as profitable and robust as possible as he admitted that the system is still a work in progress and more adjustments and modifications can be implemented as more analysis reveals the super's strengths and weaknesses.

He told ABC that the main focus on any improvements in the system is to reduce the fees and ensure that returns would increase as he cited that the recent Cooper review on the $1.2 trillion superannuation industry called for major reforms following a holistic analysis of the system.

Mr Bowen said that one suggestion floated by the review that attracted government's attention is to ascertain that fees being paid to members were performance-based, which the study had underscored "must be standard across the board to ensure that performance fees are paid when performance is good."

He said that the Cooper review of the super system obviously placed much emphasis on the significance of performance fees which he admitted was worth considering and that "it is certainly something we are pursuing."