Uncategorised
Labor promises $400 million to reduce super gender gap
Women, on average, retire with $113,000 less in superannuation than men. Labor has announced measures to bridge the gap if they win office.
The two main measures announced by Labor are:
- to pay someone super when they are on parental leave; and
- to phase out the $450 per month minimum income threshold for eligibility for super, which will help people in part-time and casual work.
Deputy leader of the Opposition Tanya Plibersek told ABC News that over 200,000 people will benefit from being paid super on parental leave and hundreds of thousands more will gain from the phasing out of the $450 threshold.
“Women retire on average with a 40 per cent gap in superannuation. We know that older women are the fastest growing group of people moving into homelessness.
“Poverty in old age is completely unacceptable. We need to make sure that we reduce this gap in superannuation as one of the steps to ensure that men and women retire with dignity,” she said.
The independent Parliamentary Budget Office has costed the changes at $409.2 million over four years.
Industry Super Fund, HESTA, welcomed the changes.
“This is a comprehensive package of measures to address the gender super gap and it is pleasing to see reforms we’ve long supported taken up such as phasing out the antiquated $450 minimum monthly super threshold and considering the future super changes on women,” HESTA chief executive, Debby Blakey said.
Letters to the Editor
Share your thoughts on this article or anything else important to you as nurses and midwives by sending a Letter to the Editor.
Four letters are published in the Lamp each month and the letter chosen as Letter of the Month will win a gift card. Please include a high-resolution photo along with your name, address, phone and membership number. You can submit your letter by emailing the Lamp:lamp@nswnma.asn.au