A delegation of ASU members visited Federal Parliament in Canberra last week to urge members of parliament to deliver better outcomes for women in retirement.
ASU members Ann, Rosemary and Vicki told members of parliament about the kind of retirement they will be looking at if the Federal Government doesn’t do something to get super working for women. Women are retiring into poverty, with only, on average, half as much superannuation as men.
A wicked problem
Like many ASU members who are represented in the Not So Super, For Women report our delegates shared their stories that demonstrate the wicked problem with the superannuation system. Women often take low paid employment that works well with taking time to care for children or other family members. This creates a large pay gap in retirement savings between women and men so that in 2017, women were retiring with 47% less super than men and looking forward to poverty in retirement.
Delegate concerns were met with a positive response and a commitment to make improvements to women’s economic security in retirement. But ASU members know that drastic action is required, and we are going to need to put pressure on our parliamentarians to keep them focussed on making the necessary changes we want to see.
Sign our petition
ASU members are calling for a bold new approach to address imbalances of the Australian retirement income system. We need you to join with us and sign our petition here: https://www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/get-super-working-for-women.
We are calling on our parliamentarians to:
- Ensure superannuation is paid on the government’s paid parental leave scheme.
- Eliminate the minimum threshold for compulsory employer contributions of $450 per month in earnings, so that even if we only work for a few hours a month for a particular employer we are still paid superannuation.
- Immediately implement the planned increase in compulsory superannuation to 12%.
- Put in place structures that encourage superannuation contribution sharing when only one parent is working.
- Fund government co-contribution top-ups for workers who are not on track for a decent retirement.