Media Release

ASFA: Ballooning business profits support Superannuation Guarantee increase

Published 2 September, 2020

Published 2 September, 2020

2 September 2020

ASFA: Ballooning business profits support Superannuation Guarantee increase

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) says the National Accounts data released today re-enforces the need for the legislated increase in the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) to go ahead.

ASFA CEO, Dr Martin Fahy said “once again we see clear evidence that the share of income accruing to business is ballooning while hard pressed workers face the bleak reality of weaker wages for longer.

“At $1 a day per employee, the increase in superannuation is affordable for the majority of businesses and is now critical to allow workers to catch up, given they haven’t seen a significant wage rise in years, and with little possibility of higher wages on the horizon.”

The SG rate is scheduled to increase from its current 9.5% to 10% on 1 July 2021.

In the June quarter 2020, total corporate profits (of non-financial corporations) increased by 15 per cent and was 16 per cent higher than for the corresponding quarter last year. Excluding the mining sector, the quarterly increase in corporate profits was the largest in almost two decades. The ASX200 index rose by 16 per cent over the same period.

In contrast, the total amount of wages and salaries paid to workers in the quarter fell by 2.5 per cent and was around the same level compared with the corresponding quarter last year.

Growth in corporate profits and total wages and salaries paid, June quarter 2020

Source: ABS National Accounts

“Only the scheduled increase in the Superannuation Guarantee will provide workers with a pay rise next year and help to address the structural imbalances that continue to occur between fat profits and flat wages,” Dr Fahy concluded.

For further information, please contact:
Jacqui Maddock, 0451 949 300.

About ASFA
ASFA is the peak policy, research and advocacy body for Australia’s superannuation industry. It is a not-for-profit, sector-neutral, and non-party political, national organisation. ASFA’s mission is to continuously improve the superannuation system, so all Australians can enjoy a comfortable and dignified retirement.

Acknowledgement of Country

We want to respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of these lands, seas, and waters throughout Australia. We pay our respects to Elders both past and present. We acknowledge the history, the resilience and the continual contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of their Country.

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Daniel Mulino MP

Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services

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Born in Brindisi, Italy, Daniel was a young child when he moved with his family to Australia. He grew up in Canberra and completed his first degrees – arts and law – at the ANU. He then completed a Master of Economics (University of Sydney) and a PhD in economics from Yale.

He lectured at Monash University, was an economic adviser in the Gillard government and was a Victorian MP from 2014 to 2018. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer of Victoria, Daniel helped deliver major infrastructure projects and developed innovative financing structures for community projects.

In 2018 he was preselected for the new federal seat of Fraser and became its first MP at the 2019 election, re-elected in 2022 and 2025. From 2022 to 2025, Daniel was chair of the House of Representatives’ Standing Economics Committee in which he chaired inquiries; economic dynamism, competition and business formation and insurers’ responses to 2022 major floods claims.

In 2025, he became the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services.

In August 2022, Daniel published ‘Safety Net: The Future of Welfare in Australia’, which aims to explore the ways in which an insurance approach can improve the effectiveness of government service delivery.