Australia’s $1.4-billion superannuation industry cannot be complacent, despite 20 years of the superannuation guarantee (SG), former Hawke government minister Susan Ryan said yesterday.
“We still have unfinished business,” Ryan, who is now age discrimination commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, said.
The first problem was the lack of SG for parental leave and carers’ payments. Ryan compared this to asking people to take sick leave or holiday leave without SG contributions from the employer.
Second, “we need to refine and strengthen governance”, and implement MySuper, she said at the launch of Christine St Anne’s book, A Super History.
The third unfinished area was the lack of provision for indigenous people, she said.
“There is no SG for indigenous [people] working under the CDEP (Community Development Employment Projects),” she said.
Ryan highlighted the fourth point as needing more post-retirement choices, “perhaps annuities, and higher caps for those with lower savings”.
More education about superannuation was needed for members and the public at the same time as the SG was slated to rise to 12 per cent, she said.
Ryan made Australian political history in 1984 when she became the first woman to serve in the cabinet of a federal Labor government, under Bob Hawke.
Ryan also served as head of two industry bodies: the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia and the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees.
