Mums lose $22m super

TOWNSVILLE mums could have been $22m better off when they retire if the federal government paid superannuation on its parental leave scheme.

New data from Industry Super Australia (ISA) show more than 20,000 North Queensland mums have tapped into the parental leave pay in the past decade, putting a $22m dent in their retirement savings.

The issue could equate to $14,000 less in the kitty for a mother of two. In the 2019-2020 financial year, more than 2000 North Queensland women missed out on $2.8m in payments.

In the electorate of Herbert, 10,880 women lost $12m in super payments, while in Dawson, 9220 women lost 10.3m in payments.

ISA advocacy director Georgia Brumby said Townsville women were being made to sacrifice retirement savings to have children.

“It’s hard enough trying to juggle work and raising a family – it’s not fair that thousands of women are also missing out on thousands from their super as well,” she said.

Ms Brumby said if there was no change to the scheme to include superannuation payments, more women would be at risk of retiring into poverty.

The parental leave scheme is understood to be one of the only forms of paid leave where there is no requirement to pay super.

Superannuation and Women’s Economic Security Minister Jane Hume said the government had made reforms to the paid parental leave scheme last year to enhance its flexibility and allow families to choose how it was used.

“Given the disruptions to Australia’s workforce due to Covid-19, we have not seen the full impact of these reforms since they were proclaimed. It would be remiss of this government to make further changes without proper consideration of the changes already made,” Senator Hume said.

“We are focused on improving retirement outcomes for women by increasing superannuation coverage and making our system fairer for women and all Australians.”

In Townsville, 99.5 per cent of applicants for the paid parental scheme were women, 0.5 per cent were men.

ISA’S analysis showed that missing super payments had a dramatic impact on a women’s final super balance.

A woman who spent five years out of the paid workforce in their late-20s and early-30s could be almost $100,000 worse off. Across the state, women lost $315.4m in super due to parental leave, while men lost only $1.9m.