In a submission to the Senate Economic Security for Women in Retirement Inquiry, AIST argues that superannuation policies and pay need to be examined under a “gender lens” in order to address the specific needs of women.
“Improving women’s retirement outcomes is not just a matter of pulling levers inside the super system,” AIST chief executive Tom Garcia said.
“If we are going to close the gap, we need a holistic approach, which includes a full examination of relevant policies outside of super.
“Women live longer in retirement but they retire with significantly less savings. Without fresh policies, we cannot expect to see any improvement,” he said.
AIST has also called on the federal government to convene a broad-based summit on the objectives of the retirement incomes system, followed by a technical review addressing structural issues.
“Legislating objectives for superannuation will hopefully put an end to ad hoc policy tinkering and provide a robust framework with which to assess any future policy proposals.
“After 25 years of compulsory super this is a long-overdue measure that will be particularly valuable both in tackling the gender savings gap and assisting the current tax inquiry,” he said.
