Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025, Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Bill 2025
Ms URQUHART (Braddon) (18:29): I rise today to speak in support of a landmark reform, one that will make a real difference in the lives of working people across Australia, especially in the electorate of Braddon. It's called payday super, and it's about fixing a longstanding injustice. That longstanding injustice is unpaid super.
When I started work full-time, back in 1979, I didn't get super. I was a woman working in a casual job. Even though it was for practically 11 months of the year, I was never permanent, which meant that I didn't qualify for superannuation.
I worked in that job, at a factory, for 11 years, and for nine of those years I did not receive any superannuation. It wasn't until we had a Labor government, and the unions, that we had that superannuation inserted into our EBA. So I lost superannuation for those nine years of predominantly full-time work.
I would have got nine years worth of superannuation for the time that I worked 10 or 11 months a year. It was when Labor brought in the Superannuation Guarantee Act that we started to get superannuation paid. I particularly thank my union, the AMWU, for working hard to ensure that not only I but lots of other workers around the country got superannuation, particularly women, before the superannuation guarantee came into play.
The Australian Taxation Office estimates that, in 2021-22, $5.2 billion in super went unpaid nationally. That is, $5.2 billion, which should have ended up in the pockets of workers when they retired, was not paid into their superannuation funds. That is a national disgrace.
It's $100 million every week that workers earned but never received on their retirement. In Tasmania, the problem is just as serious. New analysis shows that one in four Tasmanian workers are being underpaid their superannuation, representing a loss of $83 million every year.
That works out to around 57,400 Tasmanians who are short-changed an average of $1,450 annually. If you add that up over the working life of a worker, that is a significant amount that they are not receiving. When they decide to retire, they want to end up with a reasonable retirement—something that they can rely on—and they have been short-changed.
In Braddon, where many people work in seasonal, casual and insecure jobs—we have a lot of agriculture, obviously a lot of tourism, hospitality, retail and aged care—this issue hits really hard. These are low-paid workers; they're not earning big money. To have their superannuation not paid is not on.
These are the workers who can least afford to miss out on their retirement savings. In a typical case investigated by the ATO, a worker misses out on nearly two years worth of superannuation contributions. For a 35-year-old worker, that could mean around $32,000 less in retirement savings.
Of course, that depends on what the interest rates on the super funds are each year, what the earnings are and a whole range of things. But around $32,000, for a worker who doesn't earn very much, is a lot of money to miss out on when you're looking at going into retirement with dignity. If their employer goes under—something that we have, sadly, seen happen in regional Tasmania—the damage can be even worse, with their retirement balance going down by over $90,000.
Even worse is what can happen when workers decide they want to boost their superannuation balance by contributing to their superannuation themselves. Sometimes workers do that, even if it's a really small amount; over a period of time it adds up, over their working life. If that's not paid in regularly by their employer then they are disadvantaged.
It's their own money. They are putting in extra and topping up. They are disadvantaged.
I've heard many stories over the years of employees who have contributed themselves—not the superannuation guarantee levy but their own contribution as well—and their employer hasn't paid that into their superannuation. Then, through no fault of the worker, the business goes into liquidation. I've represented workers in those circumstances.
The worker thinks, 'That's alright. I've got my super to fall back on. I've got the money that I put in, the few extra dollars that I put in every week,' but that's gone because the employer didn't put it in.
The worker loses the money they thought they had contributed to their superannuation. That's not just a financial hit; it's an absolute breach of trust. It's money that was earned but never received.
And it's happening far too often. That's why the Albanese Labor government is acting. From 1 July 2026, employers will be required to pay super at the same time as wages, not quarterly.
That's the heart of payday super, and it's a simple change that will make a big difference to workers. They can get their pay slip and they can know what goes into their super. They know that, legally, it has to go in.
It means that they can see their superannuation contributions in real time. Workers have a lot of things to do, and the last thing they want to do is chase whether or not their super goes in every payday. They can see that this will be happening from 1 July next year.
The ATO can also spot missed payments early, before debts spiral out of control and become impossible or difficult to recover. We're also strengthening the rules for employers who don't do the right thing. The updated super guarantee charge will now apply every payday that super isn't paid in full and isn't paid on time.
It's not just a slap on the wrist. The charges include notional earnings to make up for the loss of investment returns; an administrative uplift to reflect the cost of enforcement and encourage employers to fix mistakes quickly; and a choice loading if the employer fails to pay into the worker's chosen fund. Workers have a right to choose their superannuation fund, and if that's not paid into there's a choice loading.
If employers still refuse to pay, even after the ATO steps in, they'll face penalties of up to 50 per cent of the unpaid amount. This reform isn't just about cracking down; it's also about supporting employers to do the right thing. The ATO will use single touch payroll data, which businesses already report, and match it with data from super funds to detect missed payments in near real time.
That means earlier intervention and a better chance of recovery. We're backing this reform with $404.1 million to support the implementation. In the first year, the ATO will take a facilitative approach, meaning employers who make a genuine effort to comply won't be penalised for technical hiccups.
That can happen from time to time when new systems come in. But it's about genuine effort to comply. This reform also helps small businesses, including those in the electorate of Braddon.
By aligning super with payroll, it reduces the end of quarter admin pressure and the risk of large liabilities building up. Whether you're running a farm in Circular Head, a cafe in Burnie or a tourism business over on the West Coast, this change will make payroll simpler, clearer and fairer. But we need to act now.
We need to pass this legislation. We need to pass it quickly to give employers, payroll providers, superannuation funds and the ATO the time they need to get ready for the July 2026 start date. The longer we wait, the more workers will miss out and the harder it will become to recover what they're owed.
Payday super is about fairness. It's about making sure that when a worker earns super they receive it and that it goes into their superannuation fund on payday, not months later and certainly not never. There has been too much of that over many years.
It's about restoring trust in the system and giving every worker the retirement that they've worked hard for and that they deserve. It's a right all workers should have—to receive their entitlement at the time that they earn it.