Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pride to speak on this bill on superannuation, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Supporting Choice in Superannuation and Other Measures) Bill 2025. I've always had a keen interest in superannuation while I've been in this place. We just heard the member for Forde outline the reasons for superannuation and the benefits to workers that superannuation gives in later life. It was interesting listening to the member for Forde talk about the increase to 12 per cent that Labor introduced when we were last in government in 2013. The last coalition government stopped this or delayed it. I recall very clearly, because I was following the debate, the then Treasurer, Mr Hockey, saying when he made that decision not to increase superannuation to 12 per cent that workers would rather have it in their pockets and that most bosses would give it out as a pay increase. Well, guess what? I don't think there was a single increase in wages over the next few years in lieu of the 12 per cent super—not a single increase anywhere. I remember following it very closely, monitoring it and speaking to people in my electorate, asking if they got that increase that the then Treasurer, Mr Hockey, alluded to. In other words, it was just to cover up that they didn't want to give that 12 per cent. Superannuation is not a gift. It doesn't just appear. Superannuation is for services given by the employee. It is no different to your wage and your hourly rate. It is no different to getting your pay at the end of the week. We know that this bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Supporting Choice in Superannuation and Other Measures) Bill 2025, aims to strengthen the transparency in superannuation and inform decision-making for employees when they start a new job. It introduces measures that make it easier for workers to see and select an existing superannuation fund if they wish to continue using it.

One of the other measures that we've brought in is about getting super when you get paid—in other words, to receive your entitlements for superannuation in your superannuation account as your wages are getting paid—and there was a reason for that. We've seen many constituents—I'm sure both sides of the House have seen this—that have come into the office chasing unpaid super. Previously, it would take up to three months to put the super into the account. Now it's with every pay, which makes it easier both for the employee and for the employer, and it's very important that transparency is there so that people can see what's going into their accounts. They know what's going in, when it's gone in and how it's accumulated. This bill also provides employers with more timely and accurate superannuation information, which helps them prepare for upcoming changes under these new payday super reforms.

A key feature of the bill is a ban on advertising superannuation products to employees during the onboarding process when an employee starts his new position or job. A recent review of the Your Future, Your Super framework found that some onboarding software providers had been paid to promote particular super funds—often those linked to the software platform itself. These practices risked influencing employees at a moment when they should be receiving important and impartial information about the future of their savings when they retire. The reforms are designed to strengthen consumer protections, reduce the likelihood of workers being steered into unsuitable products that perhaps have enormous fees and help prevent the accidental creation of duplicate accounts.

Overall, the measures aim to ensure that every Australian can make more confident and informed decisions about their superannuation. This bill is a reflection of this good Labor government, which is a party of superannuation and supporting the Australian worker. Of course, superannuation was a Labor policy back in the late eighties under the Hawke-Keating administration. We identified that too many workers were retiring with not enough savings and were relying on the social security pension scheme at the time. So it was identified back then that we needed a scheme like many other countries had around the world, such as pension schemes and superannuation schemes, to ensure that when workers retired they were able to either supplement their super with a small pension that was available or retire with super funds that would give them the dignity required once they stopped working.

It's a very important policy that affects every single Australian. Back then, not many people had superannuation or retirement plans. There was superannuation in place, but it was for the very, very few in elite positions—in managerial roles and CEOs et cetera—so it was great reform. It was reform that allowed ordinary workers to ensure that a bit was put aside every week, every fortnight or every month for their retirement to be able to do the things that we all aspire to do when we retire, which is to ensure that we can pay our bills and continue to live the way that we did when we were working. So it's a very important Labor policy.

We've always supported superannuation reforms because we know that, when we introduce this legislation, it makes it better for the average worker. Therefore, superannuation has always been about something far greater than numbers on a statement. It's always been more than a policy; it is a promise that, after a lifetime of work, every Australian deserves the dignity, security, stability and peace in retirement, and it's about ensuring that every Australian, no matter where they work or what stage of life they are in, has the chance to look towards the future with confidence rather than with fear.

The measures in this bill reflect a simple but powerful principle: people deserve to be in control of their own retirement savings. It's a principle that strongly resonates with this Albanese Labor government. Yet for many Australians, especially young workers in their teens or early 20s, the very beginning of that journey can be confusing and overwhelming. As we heard other speakers earlier speak about, many young workers were not receiving superannuation entitlements at all, even though they were entitled to them. We've seen many constituents come through the office, usually with their parents, to basically say that they had unpaid super in their last employment or wherever they were working last. It's often too difficult and very complicated to get that superannuation back paid.

All Australians but especially young Australians need to be able to identify, read and know exactly what's happening with their super, and too often they're signed up to superannuation products without understanding them, without guidance and without realising they even have a choice. Sometimes a single moment of onboarding—a rushed form, a digital checkbox, an unexamined default—can shape the structure of that person's retirement for decades to come. Many end up with duplicate accounts, each quietly draining their savings through fees and insurance that they never needed. This legislation recognises the weight of that moment. By ensuring workers can easily see and choose their existing fund when they start a new job, we give them something invaluable. We give them choice, clarity and control. It gives people clearer control over their own superannuation by ensuring that they can easily identify and choose their existing stapled fund when starting a new job. That reduces the risk of duplicate funds, duplicate accounts and duplicate fees that quietly, as I said earlier, drain away thousands of dollars over a lifetime of work.

With earlier access to their stapled fund details, employees can make decisions with confidence—when you have all the information, you can also make informed decisions—and employers are better equipped with accurate information as Australia moves towards payday based contributions. These changes are not just about administrative efficiency; they're about respecting people's futures. They're about making sure that the wealth workers build over a lifetime remains protected, not chipped away by unnecessary duplication or choices that are made under pressure, duress, confusion or lack of information.

This bill also sits alongside broader reforms that are designed to protect the integrity of that superannuation system. Together, these efforts help ensure that superannuation continues to fulfil its core purpose. What is its core purpose? To provide an income for a secure, dignified retirement. That's its purpose, a purpose that matters deeply to every single Australian, from the teenager starting their first job or apprenticeship, doing part-time work when they're at university or starting their first full-time job to the parent returning to work and older Australians planning their next chapter in their lives.

We should take pride in our superannuation system. It has grown into one of the most respected and successful retirement saving frameworks in the world through the vision that the Labor Party and that Labor government had in the Hawke-Keating years in the eighties. Systems must evolve as people's needs evolve, and that's what this bill is for. It's about changing the system, evolving to the needs of Australians. It must stay strong, it must stay fair and it must stay focused on those that it's designed to serve—and that is people in retirement. Every improvement we make strengthens the retirement outcome for millions of Australians.

At the end of the day, superannuation is not about politics; it's about people and their retirement saving funds. It's about their savings, their future, their families and their right to grow old with security and with dignity. That's something really worth protecting, that is something worth improving and it's something that every single Australian deserves.

This bill strengthens superannuation. It makes it fairer, it makes it more understandable and it ensures that people, whether they're starting work or whether they are about to retire, know the exact position that their superannuation is in.

Superannuation is one of the most important cornerstones of our industrial relations system. It gives people dignity in retirement, the ability to live with that dignity once they stop working, once they're at home, and to plan their retirements in a way that perhaps they couldn't before the eighties. I commend this bill to the House.

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