Superannuation
Australia’s ageing population creates a number of challenges for our nation moving forward. One challenge is to ensure that we have sufficient savings to provide for our retirements.
Australia’s superannuation system is unique and provided an important source of finance for Australian businesses during the global financial crisis. But we need to ensure our superannuation savings are enough to provide a secure and dignified retirement to working Australians in the future.
The Government will increase the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent. This is expected to benefit around 8.4 million employees. The Government will also extend the superannuation guarantee to cover older workers up to age 75.
The government will also improve the fairness of the superannuation through a new concession worth up to $500 for 3.5 million low income earners who currently get no superannuation concession for their compulsory savings.
The government recognises that many older Australians wish to make catch-up contributions to superannuation and will double the contributions cap to $50,000 from 2012-13 for people aged over 50 with balances under $500,000.
These changes are expected to increase Australia’s pool of superannuation savings by $85 billion over the next ten years and are projected to increase the retirement benefit of an average worker aged 30 by $108,000.
Go to www.futuretax.gov.au/pages/FairerSuperannuation.aspx for more information.