Payday super: everyone deserves to get their super paid on payday
Super Consumers Australia welcomes the draft legislation to make payday super a reality.
Paying super on payday will bring the super system into the 21st century. We commend the Federal Government for progressing this important system fix.
Included in the draft legislation that the Government has released for consultation is a partial ban on advertising superannuation products during employee onboarding.
“The partial ban is a step in the right direction, as it will stop the worst super funds from being advertised during employee onboarding. But we remain concerned that there is not a complete ban on this advertising,” says Katrina Ellis, Deputy CEO of Super Consumers Australia.
“Employers shouldn’t be able to monetise their staff by subjecting them to super fund advertising when they start a job. It is not in workers’ best interests to have their employment monetised, and to exploit the complexity of super by advertising through onboarding software.”
Without a ban, super fund advertising during employee onboarding will only become more common as this process is increasingly digitised.
“We are concerned that these ads will result in people inadvertently setting up a duplicate super account when they change jobs. Four million Australians currently have two or more accounts. This number has remained high despite the introduction of account stapling, which was designed to end unintended multiple accounts. This is because new employees are being forced to pick a fund when they start a new job and are increasingly being subject to advertising when joining a new employer. The half measure announced in the draft legislation will only see the problem of duplicate accounts continue. The Productivity Commission found duplicate accounts set the average person back $50,000 by the time they retire due to multiple fees and insurance premiums. We encourage parliament to amend this bill and protect Australians from harmful advertising when they are starting a new job.”