SMC welcomes advertising reforms to protect workers in employee onboarding

The Super Members Council welcomes legislation introduced to Parliament today to strengthen consumer protections by tightening advertising rules for employee onboarding platforms.

The Council supports the proposed reforms, which will go a long way to better protect working Australians from inadvertently opening multiple super accounts and losing money to duplicate fees.

These protections will require onboarding platforms to show workers their current super fund first before they see advertisements for any other fund, and limit advertising only to well-regulated MySuper products that have passed the annual performance test.

Crucially, the laws also prevent onboarding platforms from advertising super products in which they have a commercial interest or conflicted remuneration arrangement.

These important reforms uphold the intent behind ‘stapling’ laws passed by the last Government to tackle the growing problem of Australians unintentionally opening multiple super accounts and paying multiple sets of fees.

Since those laws were passed, the share of Australians with their super consolidated into one super account has risen from 74% in 2020 to 78% in 2024. Today’s proposed reforms should further help to ensure Australians are not paying multiple fees.

These consumer protections must be in place at the same time as payday super laws come into effect on 1 July 2026 – and we urge the Parliament to pass them early in the new year.

In its submission on the exposure draft of payday super legislation, the Council also recommended any advertising must include a clear link to the ATO’s YourSuper Comparison Tool. This would help workers to ensure they are in a well-performing super fund.

This recommendation was not included in the legislation, which leaves consumers at greater risk of ending up in a poorer super product, or unintentionally creating multiple super accounts.

“Alongside payday super, these stronger protections will safeguard the retirement savings of millions of everyday Australians,” says Super Members Council CEO Misha Schubert.

“Having clear laws around the types of super products that can be advertised and how those ads are presented will help prevent consumer harm and ensure Australians are not hit by double sets of fees from multiple super accounts.”

These reforms build on payday super legislation which passed Parliament earlier this month: game changing laws requiring employers to pay super at the same time as wages instead of quarterly. SMC modelling shows payday super will deliver a typical working Australian an extra $7,700 by retirement.