Women in Super has expressed dismay that legislation to address an historic economic inequality for the lowest paid workers in the country has been abandoned by the Morrison Government.
The legislation to remove the income threshold of $450 per month on compulsory superannuation payments is part of a superannuation Omnibus Bill that was listed for debate this week. It is now not known if the Bill will be tabled before the next election.
Two out of three of the 300,000 workers in the country earning less than $450 a month are women.
Women in Super Chair Kara Keys said it was extremely disappointing that a Bill with bi-partisan support that has been so long in the making would be jettisoned on the last sitting day of the year.
“The Morrison Government needs to explain why it has walked away from this uncontroversial legislation that would improve women’s lives,” Kara Keys said.
“The removal of the threshold to ensure people earning below $450 per month receive super payments was part of the first Women’s Economic security statement issued by then Minister Kelly O’Dwyer in 2018.
“It is disappointing that a measure that has a negligible cost to the government, a potentially big impact on women and was announced over three years ago has been dropped from a very light legislative program.
“Women in Super calls on the Morrison Government to commit to passing this legislation in February.”
Women in Super has long campaigned for removal of the threshold, which was also recommended following the Senate inquiry in 2016 into Women’s economic security in retirement – ‘A husband is not a retirement plan’.
Women in Super is an industry body that advocates for superannuation policies to improve women’s economic security.
