The ACTU welcomes the Morrison Government's apparent abandonment of its push to cut the legislated increase to the superannuation guarantee on 1 July, a decision which should never have been in doubt.
Pressure to delay or cancel the increases came from a small group of backbenchers driven by an ideological desire to destroy the superannuation system.
While the Government has committed to an increase of 0.5 per cent, they are yet to guarantee the subsequent legislated increases to 12 per cent.
The Government is also continuing to push its Your Future, Your Super bill, which seeks to implement a number of policies that would benefit underperforming, profit-driven retail funds and the big banks.
The Bill seeks to staple workers to dud funds for life leaving workers hundreds of thousands of dollars worse off in retirement, forcing workers in high-risk industries at risk of losing valuable insurance. The Bill also seeks to funnel workers into retail funds through dodgy benchmarking and gives the Minister the unnecessary power to cancel job-creating investment at the stroke of a pen.
Workers are currently running out of super ten years before they die on average and it is critical that the Government acts in the interest of working people and not on an ideologic hatred of industry super funds.
The ACTU calls on the Government to drop Your Future, Your Super entirely and guarantee the contribution increase to 12 per cent.
Quotes attributable to ACTU Assistant Secretary Scott Connolly:
"This should never have been up for debate. It will only repair some of the damage done by the Morrison Government's early access scheme which forced more than 700,000 Australians to empty their super to get by.
"Women over the age of 50 are the fastest group becoming homeless and the Government needs to secure their retirement by raising the super guarantee, putting super through parental leave, and abolishing the $450 threshold.
"We call on the Government to drop the Your Future, Your Super bill and publicly confirm that the budget will not include measures which would allow access to superannuation for home loans - a measure which would drive up housing prices and leave workers facing poverty in retirement."
