Legislation to scrap the monthly income threshold for the superannuation guarantee must pass both houses of Parliament this week in order to be introduced by 1 July, according to super fund Rest and industry body Women in Super.
The two join a range of other funds and bodies, including HESTA and the ACTU, in calling for Parliament to prioritise the legislation so that employees earning less than the $450 per month threshold are able to benefit from mandatory super contributions.
Three hundred thousand lower-income workers, nearly a third of whom are women, are currently not entitled to super guarantee contributions along with workers who earn more than the monthly threshold across multiple jobs but below the threshold for each job individually.
“Time is running out for women on low incomes and people working multiple small jobs,” said Women in Super chair Kara Keys.
“It would be astonishing if the Treasurer and the Minister for Superannuation could not get this reform through the Parliament this week, having announced in last year’s budget it would be implemented by 1 July this year.”
Rest chief executive Vicki Doyle said lower-income workers would not be able to afford the legislation to be delayed any further.
“There is bipartisan support for this change, so we are urging Parliament to pass the legislation this sitting week to remove this inequitable limit and provide certainty to members and employers,” she said.
Ms Doyle noted that the super guarantee threshold was one of many factors that leads to women retiring with significantly less than men.
Other factors include the government’s refusal to pay super during parental leave, which is estimated to leave a mother of two $14,000 worse off at retirement.
Data from the ATO cited by not-for-profit Growing Potential indicated that the median super balance of men at or approaching retirement was 30 per cent higher than for women.
“We hope that Parliament will pass this legislation this week, and that further measures to improve women’s retirement outcomes, such as including superannuation contributions as part of the Parental Leave Pay and Dad and Partner Pay schemes, will be announced in the upcoming 2022-23 federal budget,” said Ms Doyle.
