Women lost in super debate

The public debate about Australia's superannuation system has put fear into women regarding the security of their retirement savings but has offered no solutions, chair and national spokeperson for Women in Super (WIS) Cate Wood said.

Wood hit out at the lack of air-play the retirement savings gender gap has received despite the level of public debate about the inadequacies of the super system, and the fact that women will retire with approximately half the retirement savings of men.

"The debate about changes to the superannuation system in the upcoming federal Budget has caused great concern for many women regarding the security of their superannuation savings and offered no prospect of helping them overcome the retirement savings gap," Wood said.

"In all the debate regarding the equity of the superannuation system it's remarkable that the greatest inequity, the difference between male and female retirement savings, has received absolutely no attention."

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WIS's pre-Budget submission backs the Low Income Super Contribution (LISC) as crucial to the retirement savings of two million women.

"Three things that can be implemented immediately to benefit women include removing the $450-per-month earnings threshold for payment of superannuation guarantee payments; introducing superannuation guarantee payments on Paid Parental Leave; and lifting the concessional contributions cap from $25,000 to $50,000 for those with balances under $500,000," Wood said.

Wood acknowledged women's working patterns and work type could have negative effects on their super.

She said removing concessions for low income earners in favour of high income earners would not position the superannuation system as equitable.

At the same time, Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) chief executive Pauline Vamos called for calm in regards to the debate and said concessions were equitable across the system.

"It is saving the Government billions in the Age Pension and today, the use of the system and the benefits of the system are broadly equitable across all income tax brackets," she said.