Overwhelming public support for compulsory superannuation and increasing the SG to 12%

Recent polling for ASFA indicates that an overwhelming majority of Australians support the current compulsory superannuation system and want to see the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) increased to 12 per cent of wages.

CoreData surveyed a representative sample of 1,000 Australians in order to collect their views on the compulsory superannuation system and their desired standard of living in retirement.

A significant majority of those surveyed (over 90 per cent) support, or strongly support, compulsory superannuation, with nearly 70 per cent indicating that they strongly support it. Levels of support for the current system also were very much the same across households with different levels of household income.

The overwhelming majority of respondents also supported or strongly supported the scheduled increase in the SG to 12 per cent, with around 80 per cent of respondents across a range of demographics either supporting or strongly supporting the increase.

Australians also want more in retirement than what the Age Pension alone can provide. Around 80 per cent of those surveyed would like to be able to spend at least what is set in the ASFA Comfortable Retirement Standards, which are around $43,300 for a home owning single person and $61,000 for home owning couples.

“The Australian compulsory superannuation system is one of the great successes of public policy in Australia and it receives strong support from the Australian community,” explained Dr Martin Fahy, CEO, Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).

“Australians deserve to enjoy their retirement. To achieve that they will need compulsory superannuation so they have the capacity to spend well above what the Age Pension provides for retirees.”

More information
A detailed report of the survey results is available here.

For further information and media inquiries, please contact:
Mia Kwok, 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.