Govt needs to address underpaid super, ISA says
The number of Australians being underpaid their superannuation has ballooned to three million in 2015-16, compared to 2.76 million in 2014-15, according to Industry Super.
The advocacy group, who based their calculations on the latest Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data, said the underpaid workers were short-changed $1,995 on average. This represented a total underpayment amount of $5.9 billion.
ISA used the findings to highlight that superannuation laws currently before Parliament must go further at a Senate committee meeting last Friday.
“This is an issue for people denied their retirement savings; it’s an issue for government through increased pension costs; and it’s an issue for businesses put at a competitive disadvantage,” ISA public affairs director, Matt Linden, said.
“It has taken policy-makers far too long to get on top of it.”
While Linden welcomed parts of the legislation, such as the introduction of enhanced penalties and extension of single touch payroll to small businesses, he said that it did not adequately address the holes in the super system.
“The Bill does not reflect the changing nature of work, nor does it fully harness technological improvements that have occurred since the introduction of compulsory super over a quarter of century ago,” he said.
ISA believed that the proposed legislation failed to protect young people and women in casual or temporary employment and shut hundreds of thousands of workers out of the system by maintaining the $450 threshold.
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