Time is running out to remove super income threshold

Women in Super (WIS) and Rest Super have called for the legislation to remove the $450 superannuation income threshold be passed this week after it was pulled by Treasury in early December.

WIS said the legislation, which was “inexplicably abandoned by the Government” last year, must be passed by both houses of Parliament this week to meet the 1 July introduction timeframe.

As part of a key commitment in the 2021-22 Budget, the Government tabled the removal of the threshold in its Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Superannuation Outcomes for Australians and Helping Australian Businesses Invest) Bill 2021 in October.

WIS said if the bill was not passed, 300,000 workers paid less than $450 a month – two thirds of whom were women – would continue to be penalised as the only income taxpayers in the country to not have super paid on their wages.

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Rest chief executive, Vicki Doyle, said the $450 income threshold disadvantaged hundreds of thousands of Australians in lower-income jobs, especially those working multiple jobs with combined incomes above the threshold.

Many of Rest’s members worked in the retail sector which typically employed many casual or part-time staff.

“It is one of many factors that lead to women retiring with far less than men. Removing the threshold is an important contribution to improving women’s financial security,” Doyle said.

“We hope that Parliament will pass this legislation this week, and that further measures to improve women’s retirement outcomes, such as including superannuation contributions as part of the Parental Leave Pay and Dad and Partner Pay schemes, will be announced in the upcoming 2022-23 Federal Budget.”

Women in Super chair, Kara Keys, added: “The bill is before the Parliament this week and has bipartisan support. There is no reason not to pass it,” Keys said.

“It would be astonishing if the Treasurer and the Minister for Superannuation could not get this reform through the Parliament this week, having announced in last year’s Budget it would be implemented by 1 July this year.”