Lisa Darmanin (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me real pleasure to rise in support of these bills, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Bill 2026 and the Superannuation (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Imposition Bill 2026. I would like to talk about a lot of things, but I'll keep it as short as I can. I would really like to pay tribute to those who have pushed for these improvements to the LISTO, in particular, over an extended period of time. We have had some tireless advocates, predominantly from my old union, the ASU, Women in Super, the ACTU and some funds, such as Hesta, who have lots of women amongst their membership, who have been pushing to bring the LISTO in line with delivering what we all want to see—and that is improved retirement outcomes for low-income workers and women in particular.

As we know, at the time of the introduction of the LISTO many years ago, it was seen as a fairness fix. This legislation seeks to keep in line with that objective, continuing for it to be fair. The LISTO was frozen for 13 years and had fallen behind because of changes to the tax brackets. What these changes will do is make up for those gaps. When the tax bracket changed on 1 July 2020 from $37,000 to 45,000, the LISTO did not. That meant that people earning between those amounts did not get the super tax refund. Missing out on tax concessions adds up, as we know, over a working life. A woman in the bottom 20 per cent of wage earners could lose up to $60,000 from their superannuation balance by retirement. This is a significant reform, and boosting the LISTO will benefit 1.3 million Australians—of which around 60 per cent are women. That will help to narrow the gender pay gap in retirement. Workers could receive a potential benefit at retirement of around $15,000. For that alone, it is worth supporting this legislation.