Superannuation is again in the news, as a push is on to stop the super increases occurring next year. This would mean that rather than employer contributions going to 10 per cent from 1 July 2021, it will stagnate on the current 9.5 per cent. Union members fought for superannuation to be paid on top of wages because all workers should retire with dignity. It was part of a compact made decades ago with the Hawke/Keating governments. It was to provide not only a retirement income for all workers, but also reduce the reliance on sustaining retirement solely on a pension 
(and in turn reduce the drag on the public purse).

In addition, your superannuation funds amount to billions of dollars invested in Australian infrastructure projects that create jobs here. That’s an important contribution to helping Australian families and communities.

Super is not perfect. Women now retire on average with 47 per cent of the superannuation of men. Women over 50 are the fastest growing group of homeless people in Australia. There are real and growing barriers that women face in getting a good retirement. Freezing employer super contributions under the guise of COVID-19 is misconceived and will only worsen this divide. It robs from your future to supposedly address a problem of today (setting aside it just doesn’t end up as additional profits). This is simply not good enough when wage increases are scarce or resisted. Your future, and that of our country, is too important to become prey to short-termism.

P.S. For those approaching retirement, make sure you do not have any super accounts sitting idle from earlier periods of employment. For example, if you resigned and were lost to SASS, and when resuming employment became part of First State, your previous monies may not have been automatically rolled over.