Jo Briskey (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This legislation is about a promise. It's about a promise that, after a lifetime of work and after years of showing up, contributing, caring for your family, volunteering in your community and paying your taxes, you retire with dignity—not just scraping by and not just surviving, but secure, independent and able to enjoy the years you've earned. That promise has a name. It's called superannuation, and it exists because Labor made it law.

Before compulsory superannuation, retirement security in this country was not universal. It was selective. If you were in the right job with the right employer or born into the right circumstances, you might retire comfortably. If you weren't, you retired almost entirely on the age pension. Labor believed working Australians deserved better than that, so, in partnership with the union movement, Labor built a system that changed the country. We made retirement savings a right, not a privilege. We embedded the principle that every worker, no matter their industry or income, should accumulate savings in their own name. It was one of the great nation-building reforms of modern Australia.

Like all great reforms, it must be maintained, protected, and, when necessary, refined. That is what this bill does. It strengthens the integrity of the system and better targets concessions so they flow where they are actually needed. It lifts support for low-income workers and ensures the long-term sustainability of a system that is now one of the largest pools of retirement savings in the world. This is not radical; it is the next chapter in a proud story.

Since coming into office, this government has treated superannuation as the national asset it is. We lifted the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent, which delivered on what working Australians were promised. We enshrined the objective of super in law to ensure it remains focused on providing income in retirement—not being distorted for other purposes. We legislated superannuation on paid parental leave, because women should not be penalised in retirement for having children, and we are delivering payday super so workers receive their contributions at the same time as their wages. This ends the quiet scandal of unpaid super that has cost Australians billions. This bill continues that work, but let us be honest about why it's necessary.

Superannuation tax concessions now cost the budget more than $60 billion every year. Treasury projections show that without reform that figure will overtake spending on the age pension within two decades, and those concessions are not evenly distributed. About 38 per cent of super earnings tax concessions flow to the top 10 per cent of income earners, and 54 per cent flow to the top 20 per cent. That means more than half the benefit goes to the highest earners. Meanwhile, millions of Australians with modest balances—the very people this system was designed to serve—receive only a small share. That's not balance, that's not fairness, and that is not sustainable. A system built to deliver dignity in retirement should not become a vehicle for a very large tax preferred wealth accumulation at the top end. This bill restores that balance.

From 2026-27, earnings on superannuation balances between $3 million and $10 million will be taxed at up to 30 per cent. Earnings on balances above $10 million will be taxed at up to 40 per cent. Even at those rates, super remains concessionally taxed—below the top marginal income tax rate. These are still concessions. They are simply better targeted. It is critical to say clearly that nothing changes for the overwhelming majority of Australians. Balances below $3 million will continue to have earnings taxed at up to 15 per cent, which is exactly as it is now, but thresholds will be indexed over time. The people affected by this change represent less than half of one per cent of Australians with superannuation accounts at the $3 million threshold and less than one-tenth of one per cent at the higher threshold. So, for 99.5 per cent of Australians, there's no change at all.

In my electorate of Maribyrnong, the numbers tell a very clear story. The median super balance is about $69,000. For residents approaching retirement, those in their 50s, the median is approximately $192,600. These are hardworking people: retail workers, carers, teachers, tradespeople, office staff and small-business employees. They have contributed consistently over decades. They are not sitting on multimillion dollar balances. They are building what they can—often while juggling mortgages, rent, school fees, caring responsibilities and rising living costs. They deserve a system that protects their savings, not one that directs disproportionate concessions to accounts holding more than most Australians will ever accumulate in total wealth.

This bill ensures that the public support is directed where it makes the greatest difference. That includes strengthening support at the other end of the income scale, because this is about making sure our system is not only sustainable but fairer from top to bottom. The low-income superannuation tax offset, LISTO, exists to ensure that low-income workers do not pay more tax on their super contributions than they do on their wages. Under this reform, the maximum LISTO payment will increase from $500 to $810. The income threshold will rise to $45,000 from July 2027. That means there's more support for people who need it most. These are not abstract policy adjustments; they are tangible improvements in the retirement savings of real people.

In Maribyrnong, more than 7,600 low-income earners are expected to benefit from these changes, and nearly 70 per cent of those payments will go to women. That matters, because the gender super gap remains one of the most persistent economic inequalities in Australia. It reflects a lifetime of structural disadvantage, lower average wages, higher rates of part-time work, career interruptions for caring responsibilities and historical inequities in pay. Women retire with significantly less super on average than men. That is not a reflection of effort; it is a reflection of inequality. The government is addressing this directly through LISTO, through paying super on paid parental leave, through closing the gender pay gap and through strengthening secure work. Each measure matters on its own, but together they begin to shift the trajectory.

There is another critical reform embedded in our broader superannuation agenda: payday super. Too many workers have been short-changed. Unpaid super is not a technical glitch; it is wage theft by another name. In Maribyrnong alone, more than 23,000 workers were underpaid super in a single year, losing around $35 million from their retirement savings. That is $35 million that should have been compounding for their future. By aligning super payments with wages, payday super closes the loopholes that have allowed contributions to be delayed, avoided or quietly lost. It strengthens enforcement, it restores trust and it ensures that what workers earn is what they actually receive.

There has been opposition to these reforms. This is not new. The history of superannuation in this country is a history of Labor building it and those opposite opposing it. When compulsory super was introduced, it was opposed. When the superannuation guarantee was increased, it was opposed. In 1996, the Howard government froze the scheduled increases. In 2014, the Abbott government froze them again, arguing that money would flow into wages instead. Shock, horror, it didn't. Wages did not rise to compensate, but retirement balances were permanently lower. Independent analysis at the time estimated that freeze cost the average worker thousands of dollars in retirement savings. Then, during the pandemic, the early access scheme allowed Australians to withdraw up to $20,000 from their super. Around three million Australians accessed the scheme; approximately $38 billion was withdrawn. For many people facing immediate hardship, it was a difficult but understandable decision, but the long-term cost is real. More than half a million Australians reportedly withdrew their balances to zero. For young workers especially, that means decades of compound growth lost. That means lower retirement savings and higher reliance on the age pension in the future.

Superannuation is not a rainy-day account; it is long-term savings designed to compound over a lifetime. When we treat it casually, the consequences echo for decades. Even now, there are calls to weaken the system. There have been suggestions of cutting the superannuation guarantee and proposals to allow large withdrawals for housing deposits—arguments to dilute the objective of super. Each proposal chips away at the same principle—that superannuation exists to provide income in retirement. Labor rejects that erosion. We believe that superannuation is a pillar of both personal dignity and national strength. It reduces pressure on the age pension, it funds long-term infrastructure investment, it gives millions of Australians a direct stake in our economy and it gives individuals independence in retirement. These bills strengthen that pillar. They say clearly that superannuation concessions are designed to support retirement income, not unlimited tax preferred wealth accumulation. They ensure sustainability, they improve fairness and they protect the integrity of the system for future generations.

When I speak to people in Maribyrnong, they're not asking for special treatment; they're asking for fairness. They're asking for a system that protects their contributions, a system that does not tilt towards those already at the very top and a system that keeps faith with the promise made many decades ago: if you work hard and contribute, you will retire with dignity. This legislation honours that promise. It reflects Labor's values, spreading opportunity, strengthening security and backing working people. It ensures that the benefits of superannuation are better targeted, better balanced, better for everyone—better and fairer from top to bottom. That's why I commend these bills to the House.

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