Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Askew for this question. This is indeed a terrific opportunity. That's exactly right: there is $13.8 billion in lost and unclaimed superannuation that is simply waiting to be claimed by ordinary Australians. In fact, New South Wales tops the nation in unclaimed amounts—around $3.4 billion—and New South Wales holds six of the top 10 postcodes. My home state of Victoria follows with $2.2 billion in unclaimed or lost super. Then, in your home state, Senator Watt, $1.9 billion is sitting there. In Western Australia there's $1.2 billion. In South Australia it's $800 million and in the ACT it's $230 million. Indeed even the Northern Territory has around $160 million in lost and unclaimed super waiting to find a home. Senator Askew's home state of Tasmania is also on the list, with $135 billion in lost and unclaimed super. In fact, beautiful Launceston, where Senator Askew is a terrific representative, ranks as the No. 1 postcode in her state for lost and unclaimed amounts.

This is Australians' hard-earned wages. It could be from your first job or a casual job that you held years ago and forgot all about. You may have changed your name. You may have changed your address. You may have lost your super fund from many years ago because it's been inactive for a period of time. But, by law, your super fund is now, thanks to the Morrison government, required to transfer certain amounts to the ATO, which then becomes unclaimed super money. Unlike super funds, the ATO does not charge fees and, thanks to the reforms passed by this government, it proactively consolidates any unclaimed money into an eligible and active account wherever possible. So I encourage all senators to review the lost amounts data and share that news with their constituents.