One in four Tasmanian workers are being underpaid their super, representing a loss in retirement savings of $83 million each year, new research has found.
An analysis of new ATO data by the Super Members Council (SMC) finds 57,400 Tasmanian workers are being shortchanged an average of $1,450 each year.
Over six years, unpaid super has been steadily rising in Tasmania, costing workers a total of $443 million. The electorate of Clark had the highest levels of unpaid super in Tasmania - with a total of $90 million over this period. (see table)
Nationally, unpaid super is costing Australians $5.7 billion each year or $110 million a week – a loss that can only be curbed by urgent payday super laws.
The new data comes as a new survey for SMC by Pyxis Polling and Insights finds more than 70 per cent of Australians want payday super laws to come into effect on 1 July 2026. Fewer than one in ten people think the laws should be delayed.
Despite this, payday super was not on the Government’s legislative program in the first Parliamentary sitting fortnight, risking delays that would be paid for by everyday Australians in lost retirement savings.
SMC urges the Government to get on with introducing and passing payday super legislation in the first 100 days of the new Parliament. These urgent laws will help 3.3 million Australians with unpaid super to be paid on time and in full.
In its submission on the payday super exposure draft legislation, the council recommended a series of small but important changes to give employers the support and confidence they need in the transition to the new payment regime, smoothing the path to implementation.
These include extending the payment processing deadline from 7 calendar days to 7 business days, taking a phased approach to ATO enforcement in the early stages to give comfort to employers genuinely trying to do the right thing, and letting employers validate a worker’s correct super account details at any time to prevent payment processing errors.
With digital payroll and single touch payroll reporting systems now available to all employers, many already pay super more frequently than quarterly. As of 2020-21, 56% of all small and medium businesses made super payments more frequently than quarterly.
Super Members Council CEO Misha Schubert says millions of Australians can’t afford any delay to payday super laws.
“It’s disappointing the Government didn’t make payday super legislation a priority in the first sitting fortnight of Parliament, when we know millions of everyday Australians are losing $110 million a week in retirement savings,” she said.
“The average Tasmanian worker could be shortchanged more than $30,000 from their final retirement nest egg if unpaid super isn’t fixed urgently.”
“We urge the Government and all Parliamentarians to get on with it - and pass those payday super laws in the first 100 days of this Parliament.”
Table – Unpaid super by Tasmania electorates in 2022-23
|
Electorate |
People underpaid |
Total underpayments |
Average underpayment |
Underpayments since 2017-18 |
|
Franklin |
12,000 |
$19.2M |
$1,600 |
$89.0M |
|
Clark |
11,450 |
$16.9M |
$1,480 |
$89.7M |
|
Braddon |
11,750 |
$16.8M |
$1,430 |
$84.4M |
|
Bass |
12,000 |
$15.7M |
$1,310 |
$85.7M |
|
Lyons |
10,200 |
$14.4M |
$1,410 |
$84.3M |
|
Tasmania |
57,400 |
$83.0M |
$1,450 |
$433.1M |
Source: Super Members Council analysis of ATO 2 per cent sample file, 2017-18 to 2022-23, and ABS data.
The opinions above are those of the author in their capacity as spokesperson for Super Members Council (SMC). SMC, the authors and all other persons involved in the preparation of this information are thereby not giving legal, financial or professional advice for individual persons or organisations.
Contact details:
Mike Dolan
0474 909 471
[email protected]