Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

That currently forms part of the superannuation system—the arrangements around people under the age of 18. I'll just see if there's something more. The point I would like to make here—and the one which the advice to government is based on—is the one I've made earlier, which is that we don't make changes to the superannuation system based on an amendment from the Greens. The superannuation system is complicated. There are a lot of stakeholders involved, and the government, as we pursue changes that continue to strengthen super, do it in a careful and thoughtful and methodical way. That is, we want to understand, if a proposed change was made, how that might impact in a practical sense and in any responsibilities we have. It's been a feature of the system, I think, since the commencement of the superannuation system.

This payday super bill, which I should have included in the list of things that we are doing to strengthen superannuation, is making sure that workers do get their entitlements as they are due and in a timely way, as is not the case right now. We know a lot of workers miss out on super because it's not paid at the point of their pay cycle. That is another practical strengthening of the superannuation system. If you add that to PPL, if you add that to the increase in the SG, if you add LISTO to that and if you add the wage increases that we have funded and supported, I think that tells a story of a government that wants to make sure that working people in Australia get appropriate superannuation and are able to accumulate savings for a dignified retirement.

This bill does not propose to change the current arrangements, and, if there were any future changes—not necessarily of the point you raise, Senator Pocock, but indeed any other changes—we would do so in the way that we have approached all the other ones, which is to work over a period of time with the industry to understand the impact of changes before the government considers and agrees to any.