This side of the chamber has always been the friend and champion of superannuation. We introduced it, grew it and protected it, and now we're going to strengthen it. We are always looking for ways to make improvements. For sure, our super system is not perfect, but it is the envy of the rest of the world. The fathers of our modern-day superannuation system are Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. In 1983, when Bob Hawke came to power, only some workers, mostly professionals, had some form of super. Back then, Australia's economy was very different to what it is today. It had high inflation and strict labour market regulation. In order to address a number of outstanding economic and workplace issues of the day, Hawke, the great arbitrator, negotiated with the union movement the Prices and Incomes Accord. They were breathtaking in their achievements.

Among the outcomes of the successive accords was that workers would forgo some of their wage increases in exchange, firstly, for three per cent going into their superannuation accounts. Move forward, and compulsory super—or the super guarantee, as we know it today—was announced in the Hawke government's final budget in 1991 and subsequently enacted in 1992 by the Paul Keating government. At the time of the announcement of compulsory super in August 1991, the Treasurer—my predecessor in Werriwa John Kerin—noted:

"Superannuation is the cornerstone of encouraging greater self-provision. That will help improve retirement living standards and will reduce the budgetary cost of the pension system as the population ages into the next century."

Of course, since those days, there have been any number of adjustments and changes to the super system. I think of the emergence of self-managed super funds and so forth. Compulsory super now stands proudly at 12 per cent, ensuring that the aims of the scheme outlined by my predecessor all those years ago, in the early 1990s, are being fulfilled.

There are, sadly, some anomalies in the system. Notably, women still have, on average, much lower super balances than men. The super guarantee is just that: a guarantee. It's not a privilege. It's not optional. It's not a little extra. It is a workplace right. It's what the workers are owed. Remember its origins, back under Hawke, when the workers forwent their pay rise. Given this, it's incredible that some employers still see super guarantee as something optional. In 2021-22 alone, unpaid superannuation cost workers over $5 billion—in other words, $100 million a week. This is theft. It is wrong, and it has to stop.

Few pieces of legislation give me more delight than this one, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025. Employers will be required to remit to the employee's fund within seven days of payday, rather than quarterly. That is a game changer. Upon receipt, the worker's superannuation guarantee will be put straight to work, earning extra money via the nominated fund.

Further, it will allow workers to keep better track of their super and for the ATO to detect any mispayments. In order to enforce compliance, the bill before us also updates the superannuation charge, which is the penalty that is imposed on employers when they fail to pay super in time and in full. Under the new rules, the superannuation guarantee charge will apply each payday an employer fails to pay super in full and on time. Employers who continue not to pay, even after the ATO has raised a charge, will face even higher penalties—up to 50 per cent of the unpaid amount.

Notwithstanding these compliance measures, the ATO will adopt a facilitative compliance approach in the first year. Unpaid super affects thousands of Australian workers. Statistics tell us that young workers are disproportionately affected. When employers go bust, the impacts can be even more severe, costing workers tens of thousands of dollars. There's a deal of urgency about this matter, because every week that passes sees more workers duped and robbed of the money that their super accounts are owed.

But there's still a logical imperative to passing the bill, because there's a deal of work to be done by employers funds and the ATO to build the system for its implementation. In 2007, Paul Keating made the following remarks when talking on the story of modern superannuation:

"As with all things, something on this scale requires imagination. It also requires conscientiousness and for leaders and ministers to take responsibility. We have already left most comparable countries well behind. But to add to mandatory superannuation from here will require an extra dimension. It will require the defeat of the Howard government. Only a Labor government will return to the as yet unfinished retirement and savings agenda. But the years are ticking by, and with each one we lose the compounding effect on the savings and the wider opportunity to set the nation up for the future."

Paul Keating was right. Only Labor governments can deliver on something as visionary as super because only Labor has any imagination. Labor has the ministers capable of taking the necessary responsibility.

We have, as Keating put it, left most comparable countries behind. Our superannuation guarantee system is the envy of the world, and it will only be embellished and strengthened by passing this legislation. I commend the Treasurer on the development of the bill. It makes this member for Werriwa stand tall. I commend the bill to the House.

Link to Hansard: Full Speech