Media Release

Superannuation peak calls for focus on fairness and stability in upcoming federal budget

The superannuation system is working well on behalf of Australians and only needs minor tweaks, according to the peak superannuation sector body’s pre-budget submission. Stability in policy and taxation settings are a focus, though important measures to improve fairness in the system, particularly for those with lower incomes or superannuation balances, are identified.  

ASFA – the voice of super – is calling on the Federal Government to focus on measures in the upcoming budget that will improve fairness for superannuation consumers, particularly those on lower incomes, through building on the stability and strength of Australia’s superannuation system as part of its pre-budget submission. 

“It’s important to acknowledge that the superannuation system is working well on behalf of the 17 million Australians with superannuation accounts, and delivering strong retirement outcomes for millions of Australians. Super builds our prosperity. It delivers greater financial security for retirees, stable capital for investment, and economic resilience for the country,” ASFA CEO Mary Delahunty said. 

“The March 2025 Budget will be an opportunity to build on the strengths of Australia’s compulsory superannuation system while boosting fairness and financial security in retirement for individuals on lower incomes, especially women. 

“If adopted, ASFA’s budget recommendations would lead to better retirement outcomes for Australians, particularly low- and middle-income earners,” Ms Delahunty said. 

“Importantly, these reforms would align with the recently legislated objective of superannuation, which enshrines the purpose of superannuation as to preserve savings to deliver income for a dignified retirement, alongside government support, in an equitable and sustainable way.”    

ASFA’s key requests  

  • Increase the upper threshold for the Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset (LISTO) 

A cornerstone of ASFA’s push for greater fairness is its recommendation to provide a more appropriate tax incentive for low-income earners, and for the upper threshold of the LISTO to be increased from $500 to $810 a year based on the current tax threshold. 

Currently, as a result of changes to income tax brackets, individuals on incomes between $37,000 and $45,000 receive only a small tax concession in regard to their superannuation, a concession that is less than applies to those with incomes below or above that income bracket. 

  • Fully fund the ATO to pursue employers who don’t pay the required Superannuation Guarantee contribution to their workers 

“The non-payment and underpayment of superannuation by employers risks the retirement income of millions of Australians – it’s equivalent to wage theft and has significant impacts on retirement outcomes,” Ms Delahunty said. 

While the introduction of Payday Super next year, which ASFA campaigned strongly for, will make it easier for employees to keep track of their payments, and harder for ongoing under-payment or non-payment to occur, ASFA says the problem of non-payment of superannuation should also be addressed by the government providing additional support to the ATO so they can undertake greater compliance activity.  

  • More money to ASIC for an information campaign on superannuation, focusing on the Moneysmart website    

“This would enable greater consumer awareness and knowledge in regard to superannuation and investment matters, which will also help consumers spot potential scams and mitigate risks for superannuation fund members and consumers more generally in areas such as cyber risks, fraud, and financial abuse,” Ms Delahunty said. 

  • Review the treatment of superannuation payments owed by insolvent employers   

ASFA recommends unpaid Superannuation Guarantee entitlements when an employer becomes insolvent be included in the definition of unpaid ‘employment entitlements’ for the purposes of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee. 

“Compulsory superannuation contributions are part of an employee’s remuneration and are vital for achieving dignity and stability in retirement,” Ms Delahunty said. 

  • Expanding Superannuation contributions to all employees under 18   

ASFA argues that removing the exclusion from compulsory superannuation of those aged under 18 and working less than 30 hours a week would remove a current inequity in the system, and the benefits from compound investment returns given the long period before retirement would be significant. 

“The intent of not paying super to under-18s working less than 30 hours per week was to stop fees and insurance premiums from eroding low-balance accounts. However, today there are strong protections applying to low-balance accounts, so continuing to exclude this group from SG contributions now lacks justification and disadvantages young people in the early stages of their working lives,” Ms Delahunty said.   

Other recommendations in ASFA’s submission include: 

  • reducing the superannuation tax impact on individuals claiming hardship or compassionate release of superannuation 
  • facilitating one superannuation account for life 
  • taking steps to improve housing supply through greater institutional investment, and   
  • reducing the superannuation tax impact on those employed under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme and facilitating transfer of superannuation to those employees.

Access ASFA’s full submission here.

 


For further information, please contact:

ASFA Media Manager Richard Garfield, 0451 949 300.

About the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA)

ASFA, the voice of super, has been operating since 1962 and is the peak policy, research and advocacy body for Australia’s superannuation industry. ASFA represents the APRA regulated superannuation industry with over 100 organisations as members from corporate, industry, retail and public sector funds, and service providers. We develop policy positions through collaboration with our diverse membership base and use our deep technical expertise and research capabilities to assist in advancing outcomes for Australians.  

We unite the superannuation community, supporting our members with research, advocacy, education and collaboration to help Australians enjoy a dignified retirement. We promote effective practice and advocate for efficiency, sustainability and trust in our world-class retirement income system. 

Derek Thompson

Via live link

Best Selling Author, Podcast Host of 'Plain English'

Sessions

Keynote 8 – Navigating the energy transition: opportunities, investor strategies and policy needs

Few speakers can match Derek Thompson‘s ability to synthesize mega-trends in society, labor, economics, technology, and politics. Put another way: Derek trawls the data sets and does the forecasting and deep reporting necessary to help us better understand how we live, how we vote, how we spend, and how we work.

In his paradigm-shifting #1 New York Times bestseller, Abundance (co-written with Ezra Klein), this award-winning journalist reveals how our policies and culture have pushed us into a world of scarcity (not enough housing, workers, or progress)—and offers a radical new path towards a world where housing is affordable, energy is plentiful, and innovation flourishes across industries.

He shares a compelling vision of a future where we have more than enough for everybody, and a practical, actionable roadmap for how to get there. It starts with taking more risks, building more expansively, and recognizing that we all have the power to create a world of abundance. “Everything’s utopian until it’s reality,” he says.

Carmen Beverley-Smith

Executive Director - Superannuation, Life & Private Health Insurance, APRA

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Carmen joined APRA in March 2023 and holds the role of Executive Director, Life and Private Health Insurance and Superannuation.  

She has had an esteemed career in financial services, spanning over 25 years. She has held diverse leadership roles at Westpac and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, including across risk, transformation and change, product and portfolio development, and sales and service. 

Prior to joining APRA, she held the role of General Manager, Risk Transformation Delivery Integration at Westpac. This involved leading the group-wide implementation of a suite of solutions to uplift risk management capability and develop data, analytics and reporting. 

Carmen leads with a values-driven approach and a particular interest in developing and mentoring talent. 

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Accounting, is a certified Chartered Accountant and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

Amy C. Edmondson

Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School

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Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, a chair established to support the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful enterprises that contribute to the betterment of society.

Edmondson has been recognized by the biannual Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers since 2011, and most recently was ranked #1 in 2021 and 2023; she also received that organization’s Breakthrough Idea Award in 2019, and Talent Award in 2017.  She studies teaming, psychological safety, and organisational learning, and her articles have been published in numerous academic and management outlets, including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Harvard Business Review and California Management Review. Her 2019 book, The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth (Wiley), has been translated into 15 languages. Her prior books – Teaming: How organizations learn, innovate and compete in the knowledge economy (Jossey-Bass, 2012), Teaming to Innovate (Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Extreme Teaming (Emerald, 2017) – explore teamwork in dynamic organisational environments. In Building the future: Big teaming for audacious innovation (Berrett-Koehler, 2016), she examines the challenges and opportunities of teaming across industries to build smart cities. 

Edmondson’s latest book, Right Kind of Wrong (Atria), builds on her prior work on psychological safety and teaming to provide a framework for thinking about, discussing, and practicing the science of failing well. First published in the US and the UK in September, 2023, the book is due to be translated into 24 additional languages, and was selected for the Financial Times and Schroders Best Business Book of the Year award.

Before her academic career, she was Director of Research at Pecos River Learning Centers, where she worked on transformational change in large companies. In the early 1980s, she worked as Chief Engineer for architect/inventor Buckminster Fuller, and her book A Fuller Explanation: The Synergetic Geometry of R. Buckminster Fuller (Birkauser Boston, 1987) clarifies Fuller’s mathematical contributions for a non-technical audience. Edmondson received her PhD in organisational behavior, AM in psychology, and AB in engineering and design from Harvard University.

 

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.