Urgent Action Needed to Address Billions in Super Theft

Australian Council of Trade Unions Submission on Payday Super Exposure Draft Bill

Introduction

The ACTU welcomes the Exposure Draft Bill to mandate payday super to reduce the $5 billion of superannuation theft that occurs every year. Payday super is a crucial step towards ensuring that workers receive the superannuation that they are legally entitled to and can retire with dignity.

The legislation presents additional opportunities to improve the superannuation system for workers through introducing measures to ensure that workers can make an informed choice when choosing a fund during onboarding, protecting the provision of legal and financial information and ensuring that workers have industry appropriate insurance.

Payday super, informed choice of fund, legal and financial information and education, and industry appropriate insurance will deliver significant progress towards realising the Objective of Superannuation to enable all workers to work and retire with dignity.

Necessity for Payday Super

Superannuation is a fundamental industrial right enshrined in Modern Awards, Enterprise Agreements and the National Employment Standards (NES) in the Fair Work Act. Not paying superannuation is wage theft, a criminal offense. Despite this, $5 billion worth of super is stolen from Australian workers every single year. Therefore, urgent action is required to address superannuation theft. The requirement to pay superannuation at the same time as wages is both a necessary policy response to superannuation non-compliance and will deliver far-reaching benefits to workers, businesses, Government and the Australian economy.

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