Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025, Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Bill 2025

Mr BURNELL (Spence) (16:57): Today I want to take the opportunity to speak in strong support of payday super, a reform that is not only overdue but transformational and a reform that restores fairness to our superannuation system and protects the excitement of retirement shared by millions of Australians. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025 is a bill about respect for all workers in Australia.

It's about wages earned but never delivered. It's about the core principle that every Australian worker deserves the full value of their labour, paid on time, without delay or excuse. Payday super will finally require employers to pay superannuation at the same time as wages, ending the outdated and unfair system that has allowed billions in unpaid super to accumulate out of sight, and out of reach, of Australian workers.

Through my life, I worked many jobs before joining parliament but, whether I was serving 'finger-licking good' chicken at KFC or working as a cash-in-transit officer, one thing was a constant throughout: adding to my super and slowly but surely getting ready for retirement. I wasn't thinking about compound interest or retirement balances at 18; I was just trusting that the system would do right by me.

That is the trust every worker places in their employer and in their government, and that is the trust this reform protects. Unfortunately, the Australian Taxation Office has estimated that $5.2 billion in super was unpaid in 2021-22 alone. That is $100 million every single week that workers have put in the hard yards for but never received.

That is not just a number on a page; it is a real loss felt by real people, including people in my electorate—young workers saving for their first home, parents returning to work and older Australians edging closer and closer to retirement. Super is not a bonus that employers should be able to opt in or out of paying; it is deferred wages. Super belongs to the workers, from the moment they clock on to their working shifts, and this parliament has a responsibility to ensure they receive every single dollar they are owed.

I'm glad my colleagues have acted on their responsibility. Unpaid super disproportionately affects younger Australians, women, casual workers and those in insecure employment—people who can least afford to miss out today, let alone in years time. In the north, across Elizabeth, Salisbury and Gawler, there are thousands of people working multiple jobs, raising families and planning for their future.

They don't have the time to chase up unpaid super. Under the quarterly system, many only discover unpaid super years later, when the employer has collapsed or the debt is unrecoverable. Quite frankly, to me, that doesn't seem like a fair go for a lot of people who are already doing it tough.

In a typical ATO investigation, a worker has missed nearly two years of super contributions, and, if they are 35 years old, that can reduce their retirement savings by around $32,000. If their employer goes under, that loss can potentially exceed $90,000. That is the difference between financial security and financial hardship in retirement.

These are not hypothetical scenarios; they're happening now. They're happening in our electorates. They are happening in industries that employ some of the lowest-paid workers in the country—workers in my own electorate.

Payday super stops the damage before it happens. It requires super to be paid in real time so that workers can see their super landing in their account as soon as they are paid. From 1 July 2026, superannuation guarantee payments must be made at the same time as wages.

They must reach the super fund within seven business days. This reform empowers workers with visibility by ensuring that workers across the country can check their account on payday and know that their future is being secured one contribution at a time. The payday super bill also gives the ATO the ability to intervene early and enforce this bill before debts spiral out of control and before workers become short-changed.

Using Single Touch Payroll data and super fund reporting, the ATO will be able to detect unpaid super in near-real time, a significant step forward for compliance, transparency and responsibility for all employers. That is how we stop workers losing thousands of dollars in compounding returns. That is how we ensure accountability in every workplace.

It sends a clear message that super is not optional or discretionary but a compulsory part of wages that must be honoured every single payday. This bill also strengthens the superannuation guarantee charge, which is the penalty employers face when they fail to meet their obligations. Under the new system the penalty will apply to each payday missed, ensuring consistent compliance and real consequences.

The new bill includes additional changes such as: notional earnings, compensating workers for lost investment returns; administrative uplift, ensuring that enforcement costs are covered; and choice loading, penalising employers who fail to pay into a worker's chosen fund. Employers who repeatedly fail to comply even after being warned will face penalties of up to 50 per cent of the unpaid super amount, ensuring that no employer can game the system and that each worker is paid their fair and hard-earned wages.

It's worth noting that this is not about punishing small businesses that are doing the right thing. It's about creating a fair system where everyone plays by the same rules and those who do the right thing are rewarded, not disadvantaged. It is about protecting workers from exploitation and ensuring that responsible employers are not undercut by those who break the rules.

The majority of Australian employers already pay super on time. They welcome this reform because it levels the playing field and rewards compliance. Aligning super with payroll also reduces administrative complexity.

Instead of batching payments every quarter, employers will simply include super in their payroll software, providing clarity and predictability in their cashflow management. The government has committed $404.1 million to ensure smooth implementation, including digital infrastructure, compliance systems and support for employers and payroll providers. The ATO will adopt a supportive approach in the first year.

Employers who make genuine efforts to comply will be supported, not penalised, ensuring a smooth transition across the economy. This reform is backed by industry, super funds, unions, consumer groups and, importantly, hardworking individuals across Australia who are looking forward to retirement. Workers want certainty, they want safety in retirement and they want peace of mind, knowing that every hour they work is contributing to their future.

Payday super delivers that. Here, the impacts of inaction are too great. Every year we delay is another year that billions go missing from the super balances and the back pockets of hardworking Aussies.

Delaying this reform means more workers retiring with less, it means taxpayers shouldering a higher age pension burden, and it means younger generations carrying the cost of unpaid entitlements from the past. We cannot allow that to happen. Superannuation is one of the great pillars of economic security in this country.

It has lifted millions of Australians out of poverty in retirement, and this reform ensures that that promise is upheld for future generations. In communities like mine, super is an all-too-real lifeline and safeguard for the future. It is the difference between retiring with comfort or retiring with uncertainty, between being able to afford medicines, rent, heating and food, or having to make impossible choices.

When super is not paid, when it is delayed and when it is withheld, it's not just a financial loss; it's a breach of trust. Payday super restores that trust. It ensures that when a young hospitality worker in Salisbury starts their shift they know their super is accruing on that day, not months later.

It ensures that when a single mother, who may just have rejoined the workforce, starts working again her super is paid in full and on time, building her security for retirement. It ensures that every worker, no matter their industry and no matter their income, has control, visibility and certainty over their retirement savings. This reform also supports gender equality, because women, who are more likely to work casually or take leave from work for caregiving purposes, are disproportionately impacted by unpaid super.

Paying super on payday means women will no longer face months of compounding loss when their super is delayed just because they had to take time off work for more important issues. Ensuring timely super payments helps close the retirement gap and supports intergenerational wealth creation. This is not just a financial change; it is a social justice measure, a fairness measure and a nation-building measure.

It makes sure that, whether you're retiring in the near future or in decades, the Australian government is looking after you. It upholds the core Australian value that, if you work hard and contribute, the nation will stand by you in return. It is about ensuring that Australians retire with safety, not anxiety.

It is about making sure superannuation delivers on its promise for every worker, not just those with high incomes or secure employment. Yesterday during question time the opposition met the mention of this bill with jeers and disapproval. Some might see and hear those jeers as being directed at the government, but I heard them as being directed at working Australians, who expect their super to be paid on time.

They showed exactly who they stand with and who we stand with. Where they see inconvenience for some employers doing the wrong thing, we see justice for millions of workers. That just shows the difference between us and those opposite.

That's the difference the Australian public voted for. The truth is simple: if you pay wages on payday, you can pay super on payday. That's fair.

If you can process payroll, you can process super. We should not accept excuses when the cost of inaction is borne by workers. Failing to act now means condemning future generations to retiring with less, despite having worked just as hard in life.

Every dollar in unpaid super is a dollar stolen from someone's future—from their retirement, from their ability to live with financial security after a lifetime of work. Payday super stops that theft. It ensures that no employer, whether it's a blue-chip multinational or the local fish-and-chip shop, can use the quarterly delay as a cashflow mechanism at the expense of their workers.

It ends the practice of quietly accumulating super debts until they are too large to recover. This reform will build a fairer economy, a stronger retirement system and a more secure future for all Australians. It reflects the voices of everyday Australians who have been calling for this change for years.

It is supported by data, by evidence and by the lived experience of workers in every electorate in this country, and it ensures that our super system continues to be one of the strongest in the world, delivering for Australians today and for generations to come. In the north, we pride ourselves on hard work and doing the right thing on fairness, and I am sure that across the 150 electorates in Australia the concept of hard work for fair pay is not a foreign one.

Payday super reflects and supports those values. It ensures that students at TAFE or university working part time at Woolies, stacking shelves, don't have to worry about whether their job is doing right by them and that they receive their full entitlements on time, in full, without question. It gives certainty to workers in every industry—from retail and hospitality to construction and care—that their future is protected the moment they clock on.

This reform is about trust in our system, trust in our laws and trust in our parliament to act in the interests of working people. It sends a clear signal that the outdated era of unpaid, delayed super is over and is being replaced by a modern system built on transparency and accountability. Passing this bill is not only the right thing to do; it is the necessary thing to do.

It is the fair thing to do and it is the urgent thing to do. I commend payday super to the House. I urge all members to support it without delay, because every day we wait Australians lose money they have worked hard to earn.

Workers deserve better, and this bill delivers it.