Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor created our superannuation system following hard fought campaigns by union members right across the country. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025 delivers on once-in-a-generation reforms to the superannuation system led by this government. It ensures that superannuation is paid at the same time as wages. From 1 July 2026, employers must ensure contributions reach a worker's fund within seven business days of payday. It closes a gap in unpaid super and helps workers get what they are owed. It also modernises the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Bill 2025, simplifying employer obligations and compensating employees for lost earnings.

Stolen super costs 3.3 million Australians $5.7 billion—money that should be in workers' retirement accounts. Unpaid super is wage theft, plain and simple, and the problem with a quarterly system is that it hides nonpayment for months or even years. If a business were to collapse, the money is often gone. This new system will make non-payment visible almost immediately. Ultimately, it's about fairness. Workers should be paid the money they earn when they earn it.

This is a particularly important reform for women, for young people and for migrant workers. One in four working women in Australia are underpaid super every year, missing on average $1,300 annually. Across the population, that adds up to $1.9 billion a year and more than $15 billion over the past decade in unpaid super owed to women. And we know women already retire with significantly less super than men, so missed payments make that gap even harder to close. A 30-year-old on average wages who misses a single year of super ends up with $25,000 less in retirement savings. These workers are often in child care, aged care, nursing, community services—some of the most important workers in our country, dominated by women and often on lower pay. This reform goes to ensuring that those workers as well as every single worker across our country can retire with dignity and security.

Stolen super also disproportionately impacts young people, with almost one in three workers in their 20s or 30s having had their super stolen at some point in their careers. Unions have campaigned for this change for years because they know superannuation is workers' money; it is not cash flow for employers. The ACTU's assistant secretary, Joseph Mitchell, put it very well recently:

Paying super on pay day means some workers will retire with tens of thousands of dollars more in superannuation, not just by reducing super theft but by getting their money earning compound interest faster.

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If we're serious about tackling intergenerational inequality, we must stop super theft and pay day super is critical to stopping super theft.

This bill goes some way to stopping that theft. It guarantees that super moves with wages, making it easier for workers to track their payments. It's about building super balances and increasing trust in our superannuation system. This is, of course, part of Labor's broader commitment to superannuation. The super guarantee is rising to 12 per cent. We'll be paying super on government funded paid parental leave and increasing penalties to prosecute deliberate superannuation theft. In contrast, the coalition has previously sought to cut the super rate to nine per cent—a move that would cost the average worker $165,000 in retirement savings. And so this bill cements Labor's position as the only party, the only government, that will protect workers' super and their right to retire in dignity.

Today I want to make a really important call to workers right across the country and especially to young workers, who might think they don't need to worry too much about their super, because retirement is a long way off. But super is a part of your pay. It's not a bonus or a gift, and every dollar that isn't paid is a dollar stolen from your future. It is theft and, in fact, many dollars stolen or lost from your super. Young people stand to lose the most when they don't check their super. There's over $17.8 billion in unclaimed super sitting across millions of accounts. This could be your money. A lot of it belongs to young workers who have changed jobs, worked casually or never linked their accounts. Time is your biggest advantage. Compound interest is the most powerful force in super. Money paid into your fund in your 20s has decades to grow, and missing even a year can cost you tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, by retirement.

And so, to young Australians out there: check your super balance. Download the app on your phone. I recently downloaded the MySuper app on my phone. It's a great way to check your balance and to make sure that your super is being paid on time. When this bill comes into effect if this bill passes this parliament—I really, really hope it will—your super will need to be paid along with your wages, and so it's a great opportunity to check and make sure that you are being paid what you are owed. Your future self will thank you.

We know that many young people are starting behind. The average super balance for a 25-year-old is about $24,000. A single year of unpaid super can cut your eventual retirement balance by $25,000 in today's dollars. Disengagement is common and costly. Over a third of gen Z and millennials have no retirement plan and rarely check their fund. It's like walking around with a hole in your wallet.

Australians believe in the superannuation system. It's become a fundamental part of our workers protection framework, but too many are missing out. A national survey found that three-quarters of people trust their super fund to act in their best interests, but engagement drops sharply amongst people from non-English-speaking backgrounds and gig economy workers, who often don't know what they're entitled to or how to check if they're being paid their super. That's why payday super matters. Paying super at the same time as wages makes it visible, trackable and fair. It means that these particularly vulnerable workers from young and culturally diverse backgrounds can see the money land as they get paid, not months and months later. Your super is your future income. Alongside your home, if you're lucky enough to own one, it will likely be your largest asset in retirement. Keeping an eye on it now is the difference between scraping by and living more comfortably in retirement. This reform puts the power back where it belongs—with workers. You'll know if your super is being paid, and you'll be able to see it grow as you go through your working life.

The start date for this bill of 1 July 2026 gives businesses, payroll providers and funds time to upgrade their systems. The ATO will apply a phased compliance approach for the first year, focusing on support for low-risk employers. The ATO will have real-time visibility of contributions through Single Touch Payroll reporting, helping it detect nonpayment sooner. The reform will also retire the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House and align payment systems right across the country. For employers already doing the right thing, this simply aligns the law with existing practice, and, for those who will take some time to transition, this bill allows them to do that. This bill means that workers' super will grow faster through more frequent compounding. A 25-year-old worker will retire with around $6,000 more in their account, thanks to earlier investment returns. For a 35-year-old recovering unpaid super, the benefit exceeds $30,000. Ultimately, this reform will lift retirement incomes and continue the trust in our superannuation system.

Payday super is a simple but powerful idea: when you get your pay, you get your super. It will go a long way to strengthening our superannuation system—the system that Labor built—closing the gender gap and protecting our most vulnerable workers from super theft. It's good for workers, it's good for employers and it is good for the economy. Every Australian deserves to retire in dignity, and that is what this bill delivers.