Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion put forward by the member for Indi on superannuation guarantee noncompliance. I'm sure the member knows that this is an issue that's been around for a long time. It's a real issue and, in listening to the member for Shortland and his obvious passion, I'd say this has been going on since I've been in the workforce. I first started work in the mid-seventies, and I saw issues related to superannuation then.I think I've still got a small superannuation fund existing with Gas and Fuel, who no longer exist in Victoria, from when I was working for them for 18 months. I'm sure that money has been chewed up by the super industry already, taken away in fees and things like that. This is an issue that has been around for a while. There have been some classic cases over the years of major companies not paying their superannuation obligations, which they should do. I heard it from the member for Shortland, but I fear that, if we lock up the employers, their staff will lose their jobs. So it has to be a two-way street. But the ATO does have an obligation to make sure that employers pay their superannuation.

To the member for Indi: it is a bit disappointing that you've actually cherrypicked some of the facts and stats that greatly inflate the size of the problem. I know that in your motion you refer to the 2014 analysis conducted by Industry Super Australia, indicating that employers failed to pay an aggregate amount of $5.6 billion in superannuation guarantee contributions in 2013-14. But, as you heard from the member for Forde, last week, on 29 August, the ATO published its estimate of the SG gap at $2.85 billion, which is around the half of the figure ISA cited.

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