Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the Government's work to make the super system fairer from top to bottom, helping workers earn more, keep more of what they earn, and retire with more;

(2) notes the passage of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Bill 2026, securing more super for around 1.3 million Australians, including around 750,000 women and 550,000 young people under the age of 30, through boosting the low income superannuation tax offset and better targeting tax concessions for large balances; and

(3) further notes that the superannuation system was built by a former Labor Government and this Government has fought to protect and strengthen it, including by:

(a) lifting the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent;

(b) paying super on paid parental leave; and

(c) legislating payday super.

Labor built the superannuation system, and I believe it's one of our crowning achievements. Created in 1992, it's one of the greatest economic success stories of our country. Our superannuation system is designed to help workers earn more, keep more of what they earn and, importantly, have a dignified retirement. Our core belief here is that superannuation should always be fair and accessible to every Australian, and that it needs to be sustainable. For that to happen for a system created way back in the nineties, it needs care and it needs a bit of reform, and that's what we've done since coming to government.

That dignified retirement for all Australians means that we finally increased the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent after decades of delays from the Liberals; we've made changes so that new parents are paid super on government funded paid parental leave; and, this term, we've legislated payday super, which will require employers to pay their employees' super at the same time as their salary and wages. But we're not stopping there.

With the recent passage of the building a stronger and fairer super system bill, we are providing more help to low-income workers and delivering on making superannuation stronger, fairer and more sustainable. From 1 July next year we are boosting the low-income superannuation tax offset, which I love to call LISTO. We are increasing it from $310 to $810 and, importantly, raising the eligibility threshold from $37,000 to $45,000. These changes will benefit over 1.3 million Australians through either being eligible for LISTO or receiving a higher LISTO payment. What this means is that low-income workers will receive a fairer tax concession on their super contributions. This, combined with our third round of tax cuts, will deliver for every worker. It will make a huge difference to what low-income workers get in their pay packet and what they get at retirement.

I'd like to focus on some of the gender impacts of our stewardship of superannuation. Because of our changes to LISTO, 450,000 women with income between $37,000 and $45,000 are now eligible, boosting their superannuation tax concession to $810 per year. Three hundred thousand women with income below $37,000 will of course also receive this higher LISTO payment. Women make up to 60 per cent of low-earning Australians and are likely to retire with 25 per cent less super than men. The median super balance of women aged between 60 and 64 is $51,000 lower than that for men of the same age, and around 10 per cent are more likely to have even less. Modelling shows that our changes to LISTO could leave up to $15,000 more in someone's superannuation account upon retirement. You've then got changes to super on paid parental leave as well; 180,000 mothers each year will benefit from this important measure, with a median earner's superannuation balance for a female about $4,250 higher at retirement.

This is all about improving gender pay equality and closing that huge difference between what men and women have in their superannuation balance at their retirement. Not only do we want everyone to earn more and keep more of what they earn but we want to close this gender pay gap—because we need to. We've invested in increased wages in highly feminised industries, particularly aged care and early childhood education. We've consistently supported increases to the minimum wage. We're delivering tax breaks for every taxpayer, including sole traders. Through our reforms to super, making it fairer and more sustainable, we're addressing the gender and superannuation pay gap.

Contrast this record on super to that of the Liberals. They opposed and delayed compulsory increases. Super should have been at 12 per cent years ago, but it only happened under Labor. They had or still have—no-one really knows—that disastrous super-for-housing policy and they consistently target industry super funds although they overperform. The Liberals just don't get super.

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