Active Super

Low-income earners and women will be the main beneficiaries after a minimum salary threshold for receiving superannuation was abolished. 

From 1 July 2022, workers earning less than $450 a month before tax will be entitled to receive superannuation from their employers after legislation passed through Parliament in February. 

This is expected to benefit an estimated 300,000 low-income earners, 63 percent of whom are believed to be women. It should lead to improved retirement outcomes for women, low-income earners and people doing part-time work. 

Superannuation Minister Jane Hume described the $450 threshold as a “discriminatory, inequitable relic” and that many of the people who had been denied super worked multiple part-time jobs. 

Around 200,000 of these workers are said to be women, based on estimates in the government’s Retirement Income Review. 

Industry experts agree that removing the threshold will make a significant difference to disadvantaged workers. 

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia Chief Executive Martin Fahy said the move was “an important step towards improving the retirement savings for low-income earners, particularly women and younger Australians who work part-time, whose superannuation is adversely affected by this threshold”.