Big NT super woes
TERRITORIANS are dead last in the nation in terms of superannuation, a new report from Industry Super has found.
And NT women have the lowest savings of all, earning 30 per cent less super than Territorian men and having an average balance $8400 worse off than the typical Australian woman.
It’s led the organisation to call for the federal government to fast-track increasing the super rate from 9.5 per cent to 12 per cent.
But the government has defended the gap, saying it was focused on getting more women into the workplace to address the shortage.
“It’s not right that Territorians continue to retire with balances persistently lower than what they need for an adequate retirement,” Industry Super Australia advocacy director Georgia Brumby said.
Ms Brumby accused the federal government’s Superannuation Minister of abdicating her responsibility to women.
“There is little more important to a women’s economic security than super,” she said. “Jane Hume, as both the Super Minister and the Minister for Women’s Economic Security, has an opportunity to show real leadership and recommit to boosting the super savings of women everywhere.”
Ms Brumby also said Northern Territory MPs, Luke Gosling and Warren Snowdon, needed to push the Coalition to do more.
Statistics from Industry Super showed the average Solomon man had $61,100 in their super account, compared to $45,500 in the median woman’s. In Lingiari, the situation was even worse. Men had a median of $55,600, more than $10,000 worse than the national average male, while Lingiari women had accrued less than $40,000 each.
“Territorians were promised they would get a savings boost, it’s time the government delivered it,” Ms Brumby said.
“Previous delays to the super guarantee increase has already cost a worker on the cusp of retirement $100,000.”
Superannuation Minister Jane Hume, however, said the government had made “substantial progress on the pay gap and participation gap”. “Increasing female participation in the workforce is key to enhancing women’s economic security, and that is exactly what the Morrison government is achieving,” she said.