Yesterday (Thursday, 9 October), the Albanese government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill\u202f2025 to parliament, which will require employers to pay their employees\u2019 super at the same time as their salary and wages. The changes will take effect from 1 July 2026. \n<\/p>\n
In the second reading speech for the bill, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that the need for the reforms was \u201cclear and compelling\u201d. \n<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhile most employers do the right thing, some disreputable ones are exploiting their employees,\u201d he said. \n<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the most recent financial year data, there was almost $5.2 billion in unpaid super that should have gone to workers. That\u2019s $5.2 billion that should be helping thousands of Australians in their retirement, but isn\u2019t.\u201d \n<\/p>\n
This issue, the treasurer continued, \u201cdisproportionately\u201d affects more vulnerable Australians and women. \n<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s because those on lower paid, casual and insecure work \u2013 who are more likely to be women \u2013 are most at risk of missing out on their super.\u201d \n<\/p>\n
\u201cSuper is an entitlement of workers, like salary or wages, and unpaid super is a form of wage theft. This Bill will help put a stop to it,\u201d he said. \n<\/p>\n
There is also, Chalmers went on, a productivity dividend: \u201cSmaller, more frequent super contributions will help employers manage their payroll more smoothly. This legislation also redesigns the superannuation guarantee charge to be fit\u2011for\u2011purpose and make Payday Super work.\u201d \n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current charge is a blunt tool that isn\u2019t tailored to employers\u2019 circumstances. And it is complicated for employers to correct late contributions and calculate their liability. The redesigned charge will prompt employers to quickly rectify late or missed superannuation contributions, and it simplifies the process,\u201d he said. \n<\/p>\n
\u201cEmployers will no longer need to choose which period their late contribution should count towards or calculate their own liability. This will all happen automatically.\u201d \n<\/p>\n
Time to “get it done” \n<\/p>\n
The Super Members Council welcomed the \u201cgamechanger\u201d legislation\u2019s introduction, and urged parliamentarians to \u201cswiftly\u201d pass it. \n<\/p>\n
According to the council\u2019s modelling, in 2022\u201323, 3.3 million Australians lost an average of $1,730 each a year, which would make people up to $30,000 poorer in retirement. \n<\/p>\n
Payday Super, SMC said, is a simple fix. \n<\/p>\n
Its chief executive, Misha Schubert, said: \u201cThe introduction of payday super legislation has been a long time coming, it\u2019s time to get this done.\u201d \n<\/p>\n
\u201cPayday super is also tipped to deliver an average of an extra $7,700 for working Australians by retirement because being paid your super sooner helps to grow your retirement savings faster,\u201d she said. \n<\/p>\n
Time to stop \u2018unacceptable\u2018 wage theft \n<\/p>\n
The Australian Council of Trade Unions said the new laws will significantly reduce superannuation theft, which it said disproportionately impacts young workers, women, migrant workers, and those in insecure work. \n<\/p>\n
Requiring employers to pay workers\u2019 super on pay day will make super theft more noticeable, the ACTU said, meaning workers get the benefits of compound interest earlier and retire with more. \n<\/p>\n
ACTU assistant secretary Joseph Mitchell said: \u201cSuper theft is unacceptable. Super is workers\u2019 retirement savings, not employers\u2019 money. Paying super on payday is a commonsense way to make it harder for dodgy employers to steal workers\u2019 super.\u201d \n<\/p>\n
\u201cPaying super on payday mean some workers will retire with tens of thousands of dollars more in superannuation, not just by reducing super theft but by getting their money earning compound interest faster,\u201d he said. \n<\/p>\n
\u201cSuper theft affects younger workers more which makes payday super an intergenerational inequality issue. If we\u2019re serious about tackling intergenerational inequality, we must stop super theft and payday super is critical to stopping super theft,\u201d Mitchell continued. \n<\/p>\n
\u201cPayday super is a long overdue reform. Unions urge the Parliament to urgently pass this legislation to ensure more of workers\u2019 money gets to workers.\u201d \n<\/p>\n
A \u2018common sense\u2019 approach \n<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, business management solutions provider MYOB noted it supports the government\u2019s effort to improve retirement outcomes. Chief executive Paul Robson said: \u201cMYOB advocates for certainty for small and medium-sized businesses, giving them time to adapt to changes and remain compliant. To this end we welcome the clarity and confidence the introduction of the Payday Super Bill gives SMEs, ahead of the new superannuation payment requirements.\u201d \n<\/p>\n
Robson said the provider was \u201cpleased to see the government has considered industry feedback and taken a commonsense approach to compliance timeframes\u201d, noting the bills reflect a revision of the originally proposed window for compliance from seven calendar days to seven business days. \n<\/p>\n
\u201cSmall and medium-sized businesses employ around two-thirds of Australia\u2019s workforce, making their readiness essential to the successful rollout of Payday Super. Empowering these businesses to implement the changes effectively will be key to achieving the Bill\u2019s goals,\u201d he said. \n<\/p>\n
And Employment Hero chief executive Ben Thompson said that the bill provides \u201cmuch-needed clarity and certainty\u201d preparing for what he called one of the most significant payroll and compliance reforms in decades. \n<\/p>\n
\u201cEmployment Hero strongly supports the intention of the reform and has consistently advocated for practical implementation that recognises the realities of how small and medium businesses operate. \n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re pleased to see some of the considerations raised with Treasury reflected in the bill and we look forward to continuing to consult as it progresses through Parliament,\u201d he said. \n<\/p>\n
Employment Hero further pointed out that its own modelling shows a looming $124,000 working capital gap for SMBs to meet the government\u2019s Payday Super requirements, while 15 per cent of SMBs are unaware of the changes, one in three say they will need to build cash reserves to stay solvent under the changes, and over one in five may change their pay cycles, despite 84 per cent of employees opposing this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yesterday (Thursday, 9 October), the Albanese government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill\u202f2025 to parliament, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-210444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}