15 February 2018
Despite the savings pool of superannuation expanding rapidly over the last 25 years, the retirement savings of women remain systemically lower than men, and non-payment of super is rampant.
The new report from the John Curtin Research Centre ‘Super Ideas: Securing Australia’s Retirement Income System’ lays out a series of recommendations to make sure that in the future, super will be available for everyone.
The systemic issue of insecure work, in which women are over-represented, coupled with the unpaid caring work which an overwhelming majority of women do means that most women have intermittent super contributions across their working lives. This has to change.
Even when workers are in secure work and should be paid super, it is often stolen. Workers have been denied $17 billion in stolen super since 2009, an average of more than $2.8 billion per year between 2009 and 2015.
The report recommends:
Quotes attributable to ACTU Assistant Secretary Scott Connolly
Despite the savings pool of superannuation expanding rapidly over the last 25 years, the retirement savings of women remain systemically lower than men, and non-payment of super is rampant.
The new report from the John Curtin Research Centre ‘Super Ideas: Securing Australia’s Retirement Income System’ lays out a series of recommendations to make sure that in the future, super will be available for everyone.
The systemic issue of insecure work, in which women are over-represented, coupled with the unpaid caring work which an overwhelming majority of women do means that most women have intermittent super contributions across their working lives. This has to change.
Even when workers are in secure work and should be paid super, it is often stolen. Workers have been denied $17 billion in stolen super since 2009, an average of more than $2.8 billion per year between 2009 and 2015.
The report recommends:
- Increasing contributions from 9.5 to 15% by the end of the next decade
- Removing the $450 monthly threshold for super payments
- Finding a legislative solution to the super gender gap
- A zero-tolerance approach to employer non-compliance
- An end to government attacks on industry super funds
- Reducing super account fees
- Incorporating financial literacy training into school curriculums
Quotes attributable to ACTU Assistant Secretary Scott Connolly
- “This report provides a credible pathway to safeguarding the security in retirement which super should provide for all Australians.
- “The ACTU calls on the Turnbull Government to adopt the recommendations of this report, and end the attacks on industry super funds.
- “The superannuation system should be the envy of the world, but it’s failing too many people and is plagued by poor enforcement and open rorting.
- “We need to ensure that men and women are retiring with equal savings, and that all employers are paying their workers correctly.
- “The flat-out refusal of some employers to comply with Australian law and pay their employees should be a national scandal. This is theft of wages from workers and cannot be allowed to continue.”
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