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

Mr GORMAN (Perth—Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Assistant Minister for the Public Service and Assistant Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) (19:06): That was an outstanding contribution from the member for Moore. It is clear why his constituents sent him here to this place. He's someone who will stand up not just for a fair day's pay today but also for a fair future in retirement for his constituents in Moore.

I think it's worth remembering that what we're talking about here is making sure that every Australian has a good, dignified retirement. It was not until 1908 that Australia got the age pension. It was fiercely resisted by those opposite, in their former party formations.

In those early years of Federation it was Labor that fought, year on year, for an age pension. Back when we didn't have a superannuation system, we had people spending their final years in poverty. The Labor Party said they would reluctantly support Alfred Deakin's government but only on the condition of the passage of an age pension system.

That became pillar 1 of the income support that Australians could rely upon in their later years. For a long period of time, people were relying on that system or on private savings. Prior to Labor's introduction of a universal superannuation scheme for working Australians, only 32 per cent of private sector workers were covered by a private arrangement for superannuation.

The rest were left to rely on the age pension. In 1992 Labor grabbed the opportunity, not for that moment but for the future, to secure a comfortable retirement for millions of Australians through a universal compulsory superannuation scheme. It started with a three per cent guarantee.

It was a compact between business, workers and this place—the parliament. Over the years, we worked up to a nine per cent superannuation contribution, and then, proudly, the job was finished by this government, getting the superannuation contribution up to 12 per cent. We now have all three pillars of the retirement income system in place: the age pension, compulsory superannuation and the ability for people to have private savings to secure their future.

Then we come to this, which, as has been said, is about a once-in-a-generation reform. It's a reform that has been campaigned for by so many for so long, to make sure that we no longer see billions of dollars in unpaid wages—because superannuation is part of people's wages. We've been seeing unpaid wages systematically across our economy to the tune of not millions, not hundreds of millions, but some $5.2 billion.

That's unpaid superannuation that this bill, by having full transparency through the Single Touch Payroll system, will ensure gets into the pockets of the people who have worked for that money—not just into their superannuation accounts today. As the member for Moore said, compound interest is one of the wonders of the financial world, and making sure that wonder is working in the interests of working people is what I want to see with the passage of this bill.

That $5.2 billion is how much is being taken out each and every year. Think about what that might mean for some 35-year-old who's not getting their unpaid super for two years. By the time of their retirement that could be worth some $32,000.

They're literally missing out on enough money to buy that new car that they might want to get as they head into retirement, to do that trip of a lifetime or to be able to make sure that they can just live a comfortable, dignified retirement. This gets us to the point where we'll see that people have to pay superannuation at the same time as they pay wages. I think most of the Australian public know that that is the case.

For those of us in this building, it would be good to see that that is the case for all Australians, and that's what this bill will deliver. It will also ensure that there are appropriate penalties for those who do not deliver on this obligation. Those higher penalties, for those who choose to ignore these laws, will be up to 50 per cent of the unpaid amount in penalty.

Further, we're keen to work with the business community, especially small business, to make sure of their support through the Single Touch Payroll process. We've put on the table some $404 million to support implementation. For government, spending $404 million to make sure that each and every year we're getting an extra $5.2 billion back into the pockets of working Australians is the right thing to do.

We'll have an appropriately sensible approach when it comes to facilitating compliance in the first year, because we know that while this is easy and will make a huge difference, there will be those who will need the extra bit of support. That support will be there, and that's important, too. I want to talk about some of the workers who will benefit from this.

I was in my electorate of Perth just a few weeks ago with the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. We were doing a joint press conference about the importance of making sure that people can have their penalty rates protected on public holidays. As many in this place would know, we've got some good news coming for workers in Western Australia who work on public holidays.

We have two more public holidays coming. WA Day is moving to November, and we're going to have a show day so that people can have a public holiday to get to the royal show and back our farmers and the agricultural producers of Western Australia. Appropriately, people who work on those days will get paid penalty rates.

And we'll come into line with the rest of the country when it comes to having a public holiday on Easter Saturday. I want to commend the premier, Roger Cook, and his parliamentary secretary, Daniel Pastorelli, for their efforts to make sure we bring Western Australia's public holidays into line with those of the rest of the country. Talking about that, I was standing there not just with my ministerial colleague but with Jamie, who works for Woolworths.

Jamie said that getting paid penalty rates helps him afford rent and afford other things, so he really appreciates what we have put forward. Of course, what's really important is that Jamie's not just going to be earning penalty rates on those public holidays; within seven days of getting his pay packet for working on those holidays, he will also get his superannuation.

We stood with Lorenzo, who works in hospitality. Lorenzo said: It also means that over weekends and public holidays we actually get to enjoy more time with friends and family because we have more money to spend … These workers who work these unsociable hours are also customers of many of these businesses, and he wanted to make that point. Fabiola is a hospitality worker.

He said that penalty rates 'really helped us a lot to make our ends meet'. He continued: 'The hospitality industry is a very tough industry.' This bill backs those people who work in those tough industries. It comes on top of other reforms we have brought into this place to help people earn more and keep more of what they earn.

I mentioned people getting the superannuation guarantee of 12 per cent. It was a previous Labor government that made the commitment to get superannuation up to 12 per cent, because we knew, on the advice that we'd received, that it was going to make sure people had the dignified retirement that superannuation is there to deliver. We are paying superannuation on government-funded paid parental leave—something parents have been asking to have for a long time.

This government got it done. And we're pleased that from 2027 we will have a major boost to the low-income superannuation tax offset, increasing it to $810, for those who rely on that offset. We're increasing the threshold from $37,000 to $45,000—again, that single change can lead to an additional $15,000, come retirement, for people on low and middle incomes.

That is good news, and it's why this government always backs superannuation. We believe that you should earn more and keep more of what you earn. We also believe that you should have a dignified retirement.

It is something Labor has fought for every single day. Labor members walk into this place, recognising that we can use the unique power of government to make sure that every Australian has a dignified retirement and can enjoy living in this country once they move past the years they have chosen to work. I'm really proud of what we're putting forward to make sure that we get that $5.2 billion back into the pockets of the people who earned it.

It is time we got this done. I urge every member to support this so that the Australian people can have the money they have rightfully earned in their pockets and in their superannuation accounts. I commend the bill.