Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

When the Liberal and National parties start talking about superannuation, you know it's not a good sign. When they were in government they undermined the system by ignoring billions of dollars in unpaid super and by forcing vulnerable Australians to raid their retirement savings during the pandemic. Now they're pushing on with their latest dud idea—forcing young people to raid their super to buy a house. It's a policy that experts say will increase prices and put homeownership even further out of reach. What their policy ignores is that the median super balance of a person under the age of 30 is less than $18,000. Young people don't want to raid what little super they have. They want to see their super and their wages growing.

Earlier this year I met with young workers from the SDA who shared with me the impact of what our current superannuation laws are having on their future, particularly laws that mean young workers under 18 do not receive super unless they work more than 30 hours per week. One worker, an 18-year-old from Queensland, told me that in her three years working in fast food and retail she would have earned almost $2,500 in super, but because she was under 18 she only received $100. She said, 'I did exactly the same job as those over 18. I work just as hard, yet I haven't been able to safeguard for my future like they have.' I also heard from a 17-year-old supermarket worker, who said, 'I started working at 15. Over the 18 months that I've worked, my superannuation is at $300. If the law was different, I would have over $1,800.'

These young workers know how important it is to have a healthy superannuation for retirement, and so does our government. We've strengthened the system by including super in our wage theft laws and making changes to ensure that super is paid at the same time as wages. We are also helping to increase balances by paying super on government paid parental leave and by getting wages moving. We want workers to earn more and keep more of what they earn.