Labor Rules out Raising Compulsory Super Contribution From 12 to 15 Percent

Labor also plans to stop unsolicited sales calls targeting Australians aimed at convincing them to change super funds to high-risk investments.

Labor member for Fraser Daniel Mulino makes his maiden speech in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra on Aug. 1, 2019. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino has ruled out lifting compulsory superannuation contributions from 12 to 15 percent.

Currently, Australian employers are required to pay a compulsory 12 percent of a workers’ salary into a superannuation fund on top of wages. While federal public servants receive a 15.4 percent guarantee.

“There’s no plans to lift the super guarantee. Getting it to 12 percent was the work of Labor governments over a very long period of time,” said on ABC radio.

“And I might say … it was fought tooth and nail every step of the way by the opposition.”

Meanwhile, Labor plans to stop unsolicited sales calls targeting Australians aimed at convincing them to change super funds to high-risk investments.

“Lead generators reaching out to these people in unsolicited ways, undertaking highly manipulative interactions to convince them that their super products were not performing well or were inappropriate, and then manipulating them into inappropriate products for them,” Mulino said on the ABC.

Mulino’s crackdown comes after Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg raised concerns with Labor’s handing of Super.

“Labor hasn’t delivered the minimum service standards it promised when Cbus, AustralianSuper, and others stopped paying death benefits,” he said at the National Press Club on Aug. 12.

“This has enriched unions and banks, but stolen choice and agency from Australians,” he said.

Meanwhile, the conservative-leaning One Nation leader Pauline Hanson pushed for superannuation access to be opened up earlier—it’s normally restricted until retirement.

“It is their money; they’ve sacrificed it in lieu of pay,” she said on News24.

“A lot of Australians are doing it tough now and struggling to pay off their mortgages. In some ways, I feel that you should give them their money now and let them help them with the cost of living.”