A WHO'S who of Australia's highest profile women want increased compulsory superannuation payments.  

In an open letter today, the women -from business, academia, the arts and public life - have used the eve of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day tomorrow to push for the higher funding.

The signatories include Dr Lyn Kiers from the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Palliative Care Australia chief Dr Yvonne Luxford, Perpetual Limited director Elizabeth Proust and AGEST Super chief executive Cath Bowtell.

The letter says the increase in payments from 9 per cent to 12 per cent is critical for all Australians, but particularly important for women who face an uphill battle to build up enough savings.  

"Despite nearly 20 years of compulsory superannuation, Australian women still retire on average with half the superannuation of men," campaign leader and superannuation lobbyist Fiona Reynolds said.


A recent OECD report found that nearly 27 per cent of Australians over 65 had incomes below the OECD poverty threshold, Ms Reynolds said.    

"This is the fourth highest old-age poverty rate in the OECD countries and more than double the OECD average," she said.  

"We know that women are overrepresented in this group because of broken work patterns, lower wages and longer life expectancies.

"All Australians need 12 per cent super, but Australian women need it most."  

By the time people are ready for retirement with only 9 per cent super, people wont be able to afford a bus ticket.  Of course super must be increased.  As far as how to go about it, that is not for me to work out.         

Dignity in retirement is paramount for people who have worked all their lives, and superannuation provides money to enable comfortable retirements.

Today every worker has the right to their own superannuation account but that right would not exist had it not been for the campaigns fought by union members from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Over twenty years ago, unions won superannuation as a right for all Australian workers and set up Industry Super Funds to look after the retirement savings of their members. Today Industry Super Funds look after the needs of more than 4.7 million Australian workers, and control assets of more than $200 billion.

Recognising that for many workers retirement incomes are still inadequate, the ACTU is campaigning for a lift in employer superannuation contributions from the current minimum of 9% — where it has been stuck since 2002 — to 12% by 2012. And then a further lift again to 15% by 2015.

Brief history
Until the early-1990s, universal or compulsory super did not exist. In 1983, only 39% of the workforce had superannuation, and total Australian superannuation assets were $50 billion. Access to super depended on age, gender, occupation, occupational status, whether you were full or part-time, permanent or casual, or a contractor.

Superannuation was deeply inequitable: less than 25% of women and blue-collar workers had an account. High income earners such as permanent public servants and full-time white-collar workers were more likely to have access to super.

Unions had begun to campaign at an industry or workplace level for super in the 1960s and 1970s. In some cases, industry funds were developed from industrial campaigns that included strike action to persuade employers to contribute.

In the early-1980s, in light of research that the taxpayer funded pension system was not sustainable to meet the needs of an ageing population, the ACTU developed strategies that led to the campaign for compulsory, universal superannuation.

The main objectives of this campaign were that super should be available to all workers, the savings would belong to workers rather than employers and was portable as they changed jobs, and that employer contributions should be preserved until retirement. Unions also wanted employee representation on super fund boards and trusts.

The provision of super came about through union-employer negotiations, and was provided by employers in place of pay rises as deferred pay.

But progress was slow until the Keating Labor Government introduced the Superannuation Guarantee in 1992. Initially it was set at 3%, phasing up to 9% by 2002.

Adequacy of superannuation
It is widely acknowledged that a compulsory savings rate of 9% Superannuation Guarantee is inadequate to fund the retirement incomes of low and middle income earners, particularly those whose working lifetime commenced prior to the SG systems.

The system will be inadequate for sections of the workforce, particularly women, casuals and part-time employees, who suffer low contribution amounts and disrupted periods of saving.

Increasing superannuation contributions in the medium term to at least 12% through bargaining and increasing the SG rate is an important part of ensuring workers have adequate retirement incomes.

It is the ACTU’s objective to lift employer superannuation contributions to 12% by 2012 and 15% by 2015.