Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words;

"the House:

(1) declines to give the bill a second reading;

(2) notes that the Government is not doing enough to combat the blatant theft of worker's entitlements by dodgy bosses;

(3) calls on the Government to help Australians unions protect Australian workers from superannuation theft; and

(4) further calls on the Government to end policy uncertainty on superannuation and ensure Australians can enjoy a comfortable retirement by committing to the legislated increases to the superannuation guarantee".

I rise to speak in favour of the amendment that is moved in my name. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Recovering Unpaid Superannuation) Bill 2019 contains a single schedule that would provide for a one-off, 12-month superannuation guarantee amnesty for employers who have not paid their required superannuation guarantee contributions—not for the last year, not for the last two years, not even for the last five years or even the last decade; in fact, not for the last two decades—for the last 26 years. You heard that right. The bill contains a schedule which will provide an amnesty for employers who have not paid superannuation for the last 26 years.

The measure was previously introduced in the 45th Parliament as part of an omnibus bill. At that stage Labor did not support the bill. We scrutinised it, we consulted with the experts, we consulted with the stakeholders and we formed the view that to support the legislation was not in the public interest.

Unpaid superannuation—

Mr Howarth interjecting—

I will get to you!

Mr Howarth interjecting—

You will feature in this show. To the matter before the House: unpaid superannuation is actually a massive problem. On that matter, we agree with the more enlightened members on that side of the House that it is a massive problem. Industry Superannuation Australia has estimated 2.4 million workers are losing somewhere in the vicinity of $5.6 billion in payments each year. The Australian tax office takes a slightly different view. It says the amount is roughly half that. So somewhere between $3 billion a year and $5.6 billion a year is being lost to workers' superannuation accounts. So, whether you take the ATO's amount or whether you take the estimates of Industry Superannuation Australia, we have a massive problem with superannuation theft in this country. To put this into perspective, that's equal to those workers losing $2,000 per year which should be going into retirement savings. Two thousand dollars per year is being robbed from those workers. Superannuation is part of a worker's pay and conditions. Every worker deserves and, in fact, is entitled to receive their superannuation as a matter of law.

The government have made an absolute meal of this bill. I've said publicly they have absolutely cocked it up. They botched the handling with the business community. They announced and, indeed, encouraged employers without the support of legislation to put their hands up, and we understand that hundreds if not thousands of employers have done exactly that on the promise of an amnesty—that is, they will not pay the fines that are attached to the crime of not paying these superannuation amounts.

We on this side think the bill is a problem. We think the whole scheme is a problem. If the government were serious about unpaid superannuation, they would be looking at a much wider suite of policies. They would be looking at how they can enhance enforcement activities. They would perhaps ensure that workers and their representatives have standing so they could take actions in small claims tribunals and in courts of competent jurisdiction throughout the country to recover unpaid superannuation so that it doesn't fall just to the taxpayer and the Australian tax office to action those unpaid super amounts. We could beef up the resources in the Australian tax office to ensure there is a more aggressive approach towards unpaid superannuation, a more forward-leaning approach to unpaid superannuation. In fact, with an entire suite of approaches, of which perhaps an amnesty was just a small part, you might say that is something worth looking at. But a 26-year 'get out of jail free' card for employers who have been systematically doing the wrong thing does not pass muster.

In the last parliament, Labor senators who inquired into the measure found that the academic literature on the effect of amnesties is mixed and that, in many cases, an amnesty can be counterproductive. How can an amnesty be counterproductive? We found, in other jurisdictions and in other circumstances, that if a non-taxpayer—somebody who is doing the wrong thing—believes an amnesty is just around the corner they will repeat and they will continue their non-paying behaviour. It actually extends the crime.

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