Largest superannuation fund dedicated to Australia's health and community services sector calls for proposed legislated Objective of Super to "include a commitment to close the gender super gap to ensure Australia’s retirement system does not entrench inequity".

According to the 2021 Census, more Northern Rivers Region residents worked in health care and social assistance than any other industry. A total of 22,893 people to be exact - of which 17,582 were women.

It is likely that more than a few belong to this industry union.

HESTA CEO Debby Blakey

Super objective must focus on eliminating gender super gap: HESTA

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HESTA

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31 March 2023

HESTA has called for the objective of super to include a commitment to close the gender super gap to ensure Australia’s retirement system does not entrench inequity and that future reforms deliver better outcomes for women and low-income earners.

In its submission to the Federal Government’s consultation on legislating the objective of super, the $70 billion industry super fund strongly supported the proposed wording of the objective. With almost 80% of HESTA members women, the Fund has called for the explanatory materials to the legislation in relation to ‘equity’ to clearly reference the elimination of the gender super gap and the need to avoid entrenching or creating inequity for women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and those on low incomes.

HESTA CEO Debby Blakey said clarifying the objective in this way could help keep future super reform focused on tackling the structural inequities that prevented women from receiving the full benefits of super.

“HESTA strongly supports the need to enshrine in law an objective of super that focuses on achieving dignity and equity in retirement, and this goes hand in hand with closing the gender super gap,” Ms Blakey said.

“Our super system is world class, but its design continues to disadvantage certain groups, including women, many of whom continue to experience an intolerable level of economic insecurity in retirement.

“Crystallising the legislative objective of super to include eliminating the gender super gap and avoiding further inequity will help ensure future reforms address super’s gender blind spot and make our retirement system fairer for all Australians.”

HESTA’s submission recommends implementing a Gender Superannuation Impact Assessment to evaluate how future reform contributes to eliminating the gender super gap as well as to assess Australia’s progress in this respect. The Fund has also called for ‘dignified retirement’ in the explanatory materials to refer to a retirement that promotes financial security and wellbeing.

The gender super gap remains a significant issue, with factors such as the gender pay gap and career interruptions due to caring responsibilities causing Australian women to still retire on average with around a third less super than men.1

HESTA has long advocated for measures to help close the gender super gap, including paying super on the Commonwealth Parental Leave Pay scheme and the introduction of a super “carer credit” for unpaid parental leave. The Fund has also sought reform to the Low Income Super Tax Offset and other tax concessions to improve equity and fairness in the super system.

“As a priority, we want to see super paid to workers taking paid leave to care for children because this will help make our retirement system fairer for all Australians and take an important step forward in addressing the gender super gap,” Ms Blakey said.

“Unpaid caring work make an enormous difference to our economy and to the health and wellbeing of families. It’s time our super system recognised this important contribution.”

HESTA recommendations on legislating an objective of super

HESTA recommends that:

1. The explanatory materials to the legislation should provide further definitional context to the concept of a “dignified retirement”, being one which promotes “financial security and wellbeing in retirement” through a standard of living that:

• is supported by retirement income sufficiently above the Age Pension (or other government support);

• supports a person’s ability to economically and socially participate in the community; and

• is consistent with community expectations.

2. The explanatory materials to the legislation in relation to “equity” should clarify the importance of promoting workforce and community participation and ensuring superannuation system settings do not entrench or create inequitable outcomes, including for women, low-income earners and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

3. The explanatory materials to the legislation in relation to “equity” should expressly include the objective to eliminate the gender superannuation gap, so that women fully benefit from our superannuation system.

4. Robust additional accountability mechanisms are enacted, to ensure future superannuation policy changes are properly judged against their compliance with the objective, and there is periodic review of the performance of the system against the objective of superannuation. This should include a “Gender Superannuation Impact Assessment” being conducted, both when new policies are proposed and periodically, to measure progress towards eliminating the gender superannuation gap.

ENDS

[1] KPMG (2021). The Gender Superannuation Gap – addressing the options.

About HESTA

HESTA is the largest superannuation fund dedicated to Australia’s health and community services sector. An industry fund that’s run only to benefit members, HESTA now has more than one million members (around 80% of whom are women) and manages close to $70 billion in assets invested around the world.

 

State of Play Australia 2023: working women remain exploited by denial of equal pay, wage theft and systemic unpaid superannuation

 

“Private superannuation first emerged for a small group of salaried employees in the nineteenth century and spread amongst white-collar employees. After several failed attempts at introducing national superannuation, private superannuation became more widely available in the 1970s through negotiation on its inclusion in industrial awards. This process accelerated under Productivity Award Superannuation, and subsequently under compulsory superannuation through the Superannuation Guarantee. In this way, the maturing superannuation system has become the vehicle for providing higher incomes in retirement for most Australian employees. At the same time, the age pension remains as an essential safety net income, ensuring that all Australians have security in retirement.”  [Australian Dept. of Treasury, (May 2001), “Towards higher retirement incomes for Australians: a history of the Australian retirement income system since Federation”, p.1]

Here in Australia we like to think we live in an egalitarian society with a long history of social justice and income support via a universal welfare system.

We tend to forget that the national aged pension scheme began in 1901 with eligibility exclusions based on character and race.

While most people would be aware of the historical and continuing significant wage inequality between working men and women resulting in an average female base wage gap in the private sector of 16.1 per cent & in the public sector 11.2 per cent, not everyone realises that wage theft by deliberate underpayment or withholding of wages by employers has been known in Australia since the 1880s and such theft has become widespread in the last nine years. In many industries becoming systemic and normalised. Women are considered vulnerable to wage theft due to higher rates of part time work casualisation and the higher rates of casualisation in the industries in which they are employed - particularly in health care & social assistance, accommodation & food services and retail.

Additionally, few seem to recall that superannuation schemes operating in Australia were not obliged to admit working women for the first 134 years of the existence of such schemes in this country.

This following is the state of play in 2023 for females aged 15 to 65 years currently in the workforce.

As there are est.182,069 females of workforce age resident in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, the following might be of some interest to them.

Monash University, Women’s Health And Wellbeing Scorecard: Towards equity for women, November 2022, excerpt:

Australia ranks 1st for women’s education but 70th on women’s economic security and opportunity.

Equitable health and wellbeing of the community is a social justice issue, and is also essential for social and economic growth. Health, employment and economic resources are basic human capabilities that give individuals the freedom and capacity to participate in society. Having good health, meaningful employment and a decent level of income and wealth allows individuals to fully participate in and contribute to society.

These are also vital for economic growth. Our economy is built upon healthy and skilled people participating in the labour force, and in our society. Poor health, low income and absence from the labour force comes at enormous cost presenting a key barrier to future prosperity.

Women disproportionately have lower income, less engagement in the labour force and poorer health even in a high-income country like Australia. This inequality costs $72 billion in lost GDP just associated with women’s labour force absence in Australia alone. Removing the structural barriers that prevent equality is an urgent priority. This report confirms that progress is either not being made or is too slow with over a century needed to close gender gaps…….

Industry Super Australia, SUPER SOLUTION: How payday super will benefit women in retirement, 29 March 2023, excerpts:

New analysis from ISA reveals the toll unpaid super takes on women.

 In 2019-20, one in five women were underpaid super. They missed out on a total of $1.3 billion in super guarantee contributions. Over the last seven years, this figure amounts to an eyewatering $10.8 billion.

 Two in five young women (aged between 20-29) who earn less than $25,000 per annum were underpaid super.

 By the time they retire, they can miss out on more than $40,000 in super savings due to these missing contributions and the lost compounded returns on those contributions.

 ISA cameo modelling on the impact of unpaid super in female dominated industries shows that it can result in an enrolled nurse having $44,000 less super at retirement, a personal assistant having $37,000 less super, and an aged care worker having $35,000 less super.

A key driver of the unpaid super problem is that super payments are misaligned with wages. Mandating the payment of super with wages will benefit women immediately. This change could result in an additional $300 million in super contributions flowing to women over the next four years from better compliance activities and less scope for employers to dud their workers. Increasing the frequency of super guarantee contributions would also deliver an extra $8,000 at retirement to 4.2 million workers, many of whom are women, as investment earnings on super contributions will begin to accrue sooner…...

Under Australia’s super system, employers must comply with the super guarantee by contributing at

least 10.5 per cent of their employee’s earnings to their super fund.

Contributions must be made at least on a quarterly basis, although employers can – and many do –

choose to make contributions on behalf of their employees more frequently.

Over the last 30 years, we have built a super system that now holds around $3.4 trillion in assets.

However, the success of our system and its capacity to promote financial security and wellbeing for

workers in retirement depends on employers doing the right thing: paying super contributions for each

employee in full and on time. Unfortunately, this does not always occur.

Unpaid super affects one in five women, costing each affected worker an average of $1,300 in super

contributions each year. In 2019-20, women missed out on a total of $1.3 billion in super guarantee

contributions. Over the last seven years, this figure amounts to $10.8 billion.

By the time they retire, these women can miss out on more than $40,000 in super savings each, due to

the missing contributions and the lost compounded returns on those contributions.

For women who are underpaid super, the adverse impact on their retirement outcomes is further

exacerbated by:

 factors outside the super system that contribute to the gender gap in super balances, for example, that women spend more time out of the workforce than men to care for children, are more likely than men to undertake part-time work, and earn less than men when they are working, and

 persisting inequities within the super system, for example, that super is not paid on the Commonwealth Parental Leave Pay scheme.

In other words, the consequences of being underpaid super can be more acute for women, who continue to retire with a third less super than men.

This report therefore focuses on how fixing unpaid super will benefit women in retirement.

It builds on our unpaid super report released in October 2021, which examined the main causes of unpaid super and the key policy reforms that are needed to ensure workers are not deprived of their super guarantee contributions. The key policy reforms discussed in that report include:

 Mandating payment of super with wages: The single most effective change would be to require employers to pay super guarantee contributions at the same time they pay employees’ salaries. This reform would address many of the causes of unpaid super, including poor business practices by employers, insolvency, and super contributions not being visible to employees. ISA analysis shows this reform is also revenue neutral over the forward estimates and would produce significant long-term fiscal savings…..

The full report can be read and downloaded at:

https://www.industrysuper.com/assets/FileDownloadCTA/How-payday-super-will-benefit-women-in-retirement.pdf

Tweet of the Week

 

Just in case he’s forgotten - this is me with Angus Taylor on Sunrise in 2016.

Here’s what he said when the Libs increased taxes on super in govt: “it’s totally inappropriate that someone who has contributed millions + millions of dollars continues to get those 15% concessions” pic.twitter.com/0q5icfsbUD

— Tanya Plibersek (@tanya_plibersek) February 27, 2023

 

Big super funds have threatened to vote against company directors who do not make sure their businesses are committed to action on global heating that includes hitting net zero by 2050

The Guardian, 26 April 2021:

Big super funds have threatened to vote against company directors who do not make sure their businesses are committed to action on global heating that includes hitting net zero by 2050.

The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (Acsi), which represents investors that manage more than $1tn in retirement savings and hold about 10% of the shares in the top 200 companies in the country, said some boards were not tackling the climate crisis quickly enough.

Its tougher stance comes after a week in which regulators and ratings agencies stepped up the pressure on corporate Australia to properly consider climate risks and the US president, Joe Biden, increased the pressure on the Australian government to commit to emissions cuts sooner.

Australian companies attempting to find new markets due to the trade war with China face a risk that Europe will impose border taxes due to the country’s high emissions. At the same time, new research by insurance group Swiss Re, released this week, estimates that Australia’s economy will take a hit of as much as 12.5% by 2050 if the globe warms by 2.6C.

Under a new climate policy, released on Monday, Acsi now expects companies to adopt and detail a corporate strategy in line with the international Paris agreement, which aims to limit heating to 1.5C, and commit to net zero emissions by 2050.

Acsi said that companies should also work out and fully disclose what physical and financial risk global heating poses to their assets, as well as making sure that their lobbying efforts – including through industry associations – do not undermine efforts to limit climate catastrophe.

It said it would also support “say on climate” resolutions, which ask companies to publicly report on their climate exposure, that are put forward by shareholders at annual meetings.

If companies consistently fail to comply with the new policy, Acsi may recommend a vote against directors when they come up for re-election at shareholder meetings.....

 

How the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) sees Australia's national pension scheme

 

It would appear that the Australian Government national old age pension scheme is managing to tread water when in comes to international comparison - predominately because its cash transfers are set roughly on par with the official poverty line adopted by this country and therefore on paper no-one is falling post-retirement into abject poverty.

However, with an ongoing acute shortage of affordable housing/ social housing stock, a large cohort of women bringing little or no superannuation into their retirement and successive federal governments which have failed to introduce and fully fund health and wellbeing support systems for Australian as they enter old age, the national age pension scheme appears to be failing a great many people.

OECD Pensions at a glance 2019, 27 November 2019:

OECD’s biennial report on the pension systems across OECD and G20 countries. Each edition opens with an overview comparing pension policies of OECD countries and recent reforms. This is followed by at least one thematic chapter and a range of indicators including pension projections for today’s workers.

The 2019 edition; reviews and analyses the pension measures legislated in OECD countries between September 2017 and September 2019. As in past editions, a comprehensive selection of pension policy indicators is included for all OECD and G20 countries. Moreover, this edition provides an in depth review of different approaches to organising pensions for non-standard workers…..

How does AUSTRALIA compare?

Key findings

 While contributing to superannuation funds is nearly universal among employees, only 27% of the self-employed made contributions in 2016-17.

 Full career self-employed workers will have a pension equivalent to 90% of that of full career employees despite not having made any pension contributions.

 Relative incomes of those aged over 65 to the total population are low at 72% compared to the average of 87%, while poverty rates for the elderly are very high in Australia at 23%, ten percentage points above the average. As Superannuation funds can be taken as a lump sum, this might skew these figures.

 Replacement rates in Australia are lower than the OECD average. The future net replacement rate for a full-career male (female) average-wage earner is 41% (37%) compared to 59% (58%) for the OECD. With the relatively high value of the Age Pension this improves to 76% (72%) or low earners compared to the average of 68% (68%).

 Five-year breaks in the career for childcare or unemployment lower future replacement rates by 12%, much higher than the OECD average of 4% and 6%, respectively…..

Excerpts from the 2019 document:

Employees are automatically enrolled in theSuperannuation system, although they are not compelled to make any contributions as the base scheme is entirely financed from employer contributions, whilst additional voluntary contributions can be made by employees. The self-employed are thus only covered by voluntary contributions and there is no requirement for them to contribute to the Superannuation scheme.

With near universal coverage of employees the Superannuation scheme has shown its effectiveness in providing a savings mechanism but with no compulsion for the self-employed to enrol their participation rate is much lower, at only 27% in 2016-17.

As a result, the self-employed tend to be solely reliant on the Age Pension, giving them a lower replacement rate at retirement compared to employees……

The average income of current retirees is only 72% of the population figure for the over 65s. There is also considerable variation by age with the 66-75 years age group at 78% compared to only 64% for those aged 76 and over. This age profile partly reflects the building-up of the impact of the Superannuation system, which was only introduced in 1992: those aged over 75 today would have had only limited opportunities to contribute….

Australia is ageing more slowly than the OECD average. Given the relatively limited involvement of the government in pensions and the slower ageing process, there is less of an issue of public finance pressure than in many other OECD countries. Public expenditure on pensions is projected to remain well below half of that of the OECD average. The Superannuation system being defined contribution is not subject to financial sustainability issues and as it will reach full maturity fewer individuals will be reliant on the Age Pension safety-net.

Future net replacement rates for average-wage earners in Australia are low at 41% compared to 59% for the OECD on average. The situation is however much better for lower earners with a net replacement rate of 76%, compared to 68% on average for the OECD, as the Age Pension provides an effective safety net for this group. However, individuals who are taking the  Superannuation component as a lump sum are then able to spend it as they wish. Once the funds start to deplete they can also then become eligible for at least a partial payment from the Age Pension….

In Australia, the impact on pension entitlement of interrupted careers is mixed depending on the absence period. There are no credits for either unemployment or childcare absence within the Superannuation system, unlike most other OECD countries, where in addition childcare absences usually have a lower impact on future pension entitlements than unemployment. For five years out of the labour market the pension entitlement in Australia for an average-wage earner is reduced by 12% compared to 6% on average in the OECD for unemployment and only 4% for childcare.….

The projected working-age population (20-64) will decrease by 10% in the OECD on average by 2060, i.e. by 0.26% per year. It will fall by….. more than 20% in Australia….

Mandatory pension contribution rates differ widely among OECD countries….Contribution rates are the lowest, below 10%, in Australia, Canada, Korea, Lithuania and Mexico.

Recent Pension Reforms

JULY 2018

From July 2018, members with total superannuation balances below AUD 500,000 are allowed to carry forward unused concessional (before tax) contribution-limit amounts for up to 5 years. From July 2019, members can access the unused contribution.

JULY 2019

Superannuation funds have to cancel supplemental life and disability insurance coverage for accounts with 16 consecutive months of inactivity unless participants actively choose to maintain the coverage.

The law caps the total annual administrative fees superannuation funds can charge accounts with balances below AUD 6,000 at 3% of the year-end balance. (Previously, there was no fee cap.) The law also prohibits superannuation funds from charging exit fees when accounts with any balance amount are transferred to other providers.

From July 2019, the Pension Loans Scheme (a voluntary, reverse mortgage type loan providing a fortnightly income stream) was expanded to all Australians who reached the normal retirement age with securable real estate/assets owned in Australia. The maximum fortnightly payment (pension plus loan) also increased from 100% to 150% of the fortnightly maximum rate of pension.

Superannuation funds have to transfer accounts with balances below AUD 6,000 to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) after 16 consecutive months of inactivity. Within 28 days of receiving an inactive account, ATO will combine it with an active account belonging to the same participant if such an account exists and the combined balance would be at least AUD 6,000. If the account cannot be combined, ATO will continue to hold it until it can be combined or issue a lump-sum payment to the participant if he or she is aged 65 or older or the account balance is less than AUD 200.

Scotty and Josh are riding the superannuation wrecking ball in 2020

 

Josh and Scotty a double act since 2018
IMAGE: The Guardian

Employers are required to fulfil their obligations under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (or under industrial agreements in many cases) to make superannuation contributions on behalf of their employees.

The current statutory rate of employer compulsory superannuation contributions is scheduled to rise incrementally by 10 per cent in 2021 and reach 12 per cent in 2024.

According to the Financial Review on 15 July 2019; Politicians, public servants and academics are among the est. 2 million workers or 18 per cent of all employees who would be unaffected if a scheduled rise in the compulsory Super Guarantee from 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent to 12 per cent did not occur as their existing employer superannuation contribution is already above 12 per cent.

Another est. 300,000 people, or 3 per cent of all employees are not included in the Super Guarantee as they earn less than $450 a month before tax and est. 63 per cent of these workers are female.

Add to this the reportedly 2.2 million employees who do not receive their full super entitlements because their employers unlawfully do not pay all or any employer contributions to eligible workers and, the size of the workforce who might receive a benefit from a 0.5 per cent increase in the Super Guarantee next year has shrunk to est. 8.2 million workers.

Based on full-time average adult weekly earnings in October 2020 an employer’s compulsory superannuation contribution per worker would be est. $651 per month at 9.5% in 2020 and $681 per month at 10% in 2021.

That’s an increase of $30 a month or $7.50 a week next year.

A dollar a day is not going to break either the employer or the worker and, at the end of the 2021-22 financial year there would be an extra $415 in interest payments in that worker's superannuation account – and if that worker has another 30 years before retirement that $415 dollars in interest could represent up to $29,000 more in his/her superannuation account at the end of that time period.

When one considers that an est. 98 per cent of all businesses in Australia employ 20 or less people and as that would only mean an employer contribution increase of $20 or less a day for the vast majority of employers, it is hard to see this as an unreasonable move.

After all, even the Morrison Government admits that superannuation assists middle income earners to smooth their income over their lives, and Without compulsory superannuation, middle income earners would not save enough for retirement.

However, the Abbott-Trunbull- Morrison Government does not fancy 8.2 million workers receiving an extra $30 a month in their super accounts next year.

So Josh Frydenberg is doing a good imitation of Chicken Little and screeching the sky will fall if $1 a day is added to a worker’s superannuation account in 2021. 

He bespoke a study from Treasury to back him up when it comes to not increasing the Super Guarantee this year and moving towards a policy of forcing homeowners on age pensions or retirees with little super to either sell their house or borrow against it in order to fund retirement, so that Scott Morrison can happily continue his personal war on the poor and vulnerable.

Put simply the Morrison Government is arguing that neither workers, their bosses nor the national economy can afford an increase in the amount of money which enters a worker’s superannuation for his/her financial benefit on retirement.

Quite frankly I see no real justification for that stance.

A stance that is also incredibly hypocritical given that by 2007 the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Scheme saw newly elected federal parliamentarians receiving government compulsory contributions into their own superannuation accounts at a rate of 15.4 per cent in order to bring superannuation arrangements for parliamentarians in line with current community standards.

The lack of congruence between what federal politicians see as community standards applicable to themselves and community standards as applicable to ordinary workers is so marked that the ordinary voter has begun to notice......

This is Josh. He gets 15.4% super & he can access it as soon as he leaves parliament. You get 9.5%. You have to wait until 67. There is a super guarantee which will raise your super to 12%. Josh wants to stop this. That’s what his sweaty rants are about. Because fuck you. pic.twitter.com/32fuaY2ega

— 🖕🏿🍑💧Rudy Terwilliger (@wolftickler2000) November 23, 2020

 

So how is your super fund weathering the COVID-19 pandemic?

Apparently superannuation funds across the board have felt the impact of the global economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, it was the retail super fund and self-managed fund sectors which experienced the largest contractions. 

Despite the total savings pool falling slightly the outlook is positive according to Rainmaker Information's assessment of the Australian industry on 5 June 2020:

Australia's superannuation savings pool has withstood the COVID-19 financial crisis so far, falling just 0.3% in the 12 months to 31 March 2020, while bolstering cash reserves. 

Australia's prudential regulator for the superannuation system, APRA, has just released its latest quarterly industry snapshot. It shows the superannuation system is in remarkably strong shape given the economic shock of COVID-19. 

This should give Australia's 12 million super fund members and their families confidence that while their superannuation has been buffeted by COVID-19, their superannuation savings are safe. 

Illustrating this, while APRA's figures show Australia's superannuation savings pool contracted 7.7% during the three months between December 2019 and end March 2020, over the 12-month period to end of April 2020, it decreased by just 0.3%. 

2019 was one of the best years ever for superannuation savings in Australia. 

"Compared to the 23% fall in global stock markets in first quarter of 2020 as well as the 14% fall over the 12-month period to March, this is a stunning result," said Alex Dunnin, executive director of research and compliance at Rainmaker Information. 

Dunnin said even though the SelectingSuper MySuper performance index, which is compiled by Rainmaker, fell 11% during this three month period, over 12-months the index is down only 4%. 

As a result, Australia's superannuation savings have only fallen to March 2019 levels. During the 2008-09 Global Financial Crisis the SelectingSuper index fell as low as -21%. 

But not all parts of the superannuation sector are weathering the COVID-19 crisis equally. 

The not for profit (NFP) super fund segment comprising corporate, public sector and industry super funds, contracted 5% in the March quarter. 

Comparatively, the retail super fund sector contracted more than twice as much, up to 12%. And Self-managed super funds (SMSFs) contracted 9% in the same period. [my yellow highlighting]

"Two-thirds of the decrease experienced across the superannuation savings pool came from APRA-regulated NFP and retail funds." 

"While the retail super segment holds roughly one-quarter of superannuation savings assets compared to the NFP segment that holds half, each segment fell by about the same amount in dollar terms." 

"APRA figures show the retail super fund segment holds 24% of their investments in Australian equities, compared to just 15% by NFP funds. 

"Retails funds are more vulnerable to fluctuations in equities markets, however, industry super funds with a larger share of their investments in unlisted assets such as real property, infrastructure and private equity were better insulated from the worst of these equities falls.

" Liquidity also became a concern for some superannuation market commentators and politicians when the government announced the Early Release of Superannuation scheme on 22 March, with speculation that some super funds may find it difficult to pay these early redemptions. 

Super funds with investments in unlisted assets such as property, private equity and infrastructure were singled out for special mentions because of concerns they may have too little set aside in cash reserves. 

However, APRA's superannuation snapshot has revealed that super funds $273 billion in cash at the end of March, which is 27-times the amount of money that has so far been paid out in Early Release claims. 

To appreciate the total amount held in liquid assets held by super funds, Dunnin said you should also include the additional $466 billion held in bonds. 

"The 14% held in cash and the 22% held in bonds means super funds have $739 billion or 36% of their total investments held in liquid assets. 

"NFP funds have 37% of their assets available in cash and bonds, marginally exceeding the 36% held by retail super funds. Industry funds hold 31% of their assets in these instruments." 

During the March quarter, funds received $29 billion in contributions, taking the value of total contributions for the past 12 months to $121 billion, further adding to these funds' liquidity. 

"This is the highest contributions inflow in more than two years," said Dunnin. "These added contributions are often missed when analysing these 'vulnerable' funds. 

"Sure they may have a higher than average proportion of younger members, however they receive hundreds of millions in contributions each month." he said.

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) key statistics for the superannuation industry as at 31 March 2020 can be found at https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-releases-superannuation-statistics-for-march-2020.

Australian Prime Minister Morrison gives full amnesty to employers who have stolen all or part of their employees superannuation

Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), media release, 24 February 2020: 

With daily revelations of wage theft dominating the start of the new parliamentary year, the Morrison Government has today passed a bill which will waive penalties for employers who have stolen superannuation from workers. 

The bill protects employers from prosecution by the ATO for any theft of superannuation back to the birth of the system, regardless of the size of the theft or the intent of the employer. 

This is an unprecedented move by a federal government – blanket pardoning of a serious contravention of federal law, with no caveats or limits. 

The Government has said publicly that if employers cannot determine the extent of their theft before the end of the amnesty, it will be extended.

Quotes attributable to ACTU President Michele O’Neil: “We are living through a national crisis of wage theft and superannuation forms a significant part of this issue. Instead of punishing the employers who have been stealing money from their employees, potentially for decades, the Morrison Government has waved them through without any penalty whatsoever. 

“This law will recover a tiny fraction of the billions in super estimated stolen since the beginning of the system and will do nothing to change behaviour in the business community. 

“The Government has had seven years and has done nothing to help workers with unpaid super. Workers need their right to Super included in the National Employment Standards so that repayment can be easily pursued and have super paid at the same time as wages. 

“The best way to stop wage and super theft is to allow unions to once again conduct compliance checks in workplaces to end this epidemic of ripping off workers. 

“This is a shameful act by a Government which it seems will stop at nothing to cater to employers at the expense of working people. 

“The ACTU will continue to explore all available legal avenues to ensure that working people get the money they are owed and that thieves are held accountable for their actions.”

The amount of unpaid super owed to workers in Australia was estimated in 2018 to be at least $5.9 billion and wages theft by employers was thought to total $12.8 billion.