Late Tuesday afternoon the Coalition issued a press release ‘COALITION SEEKING TO PROVIDE GREATER CHOICE FOR PAID PARENTAL LEAVE’. After providing in-principle support earlier this year to the introduction of super on the government’s paid parental leave (PPL) scheme, the Coalition is now seeking amendments to ‘introduce more flexibility for paid parental leave’.  

Paying super on paid parental leave is not an issue of flexibility; it has never been an issue of flexibility. This is about the inequity in women’s retirement outcome. 

The decision to pay super on the government funded PPL scheme recognised that as the only form of leave that did not attract super, women were disproportionately disadvantaged when they took time out of the workforce to have children.  

After fierce advocacy for over a decade, we welcomed the announcement earlier in the year and acknowledged it as a significant step towards closing the gender super gap and alleviating women’s poverty in retirement.  

The Coalition’s proposal to allow individuals - almost all of whom are women - to access the proposed value of the superannuation entitlement in a lump sum as it is ‘the same level of financial support’ as a payment into their super accounts is disingenuous. Due to compound interest, the actual impact on a woman’s finances at retirement is not simply the $2,900 offered by the Coalition. It is more than $7000. For the average mother of two, this extra $14,500 makes up a significant proportion of the $53,000 gap that women reach retirement with.  

Once again, women are being asked to choose between financial security now and in retirement.  

As Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said last year, “superannuation is your money. It is not a piggy bank to be spent or taxed to fill budget holes.” 

The proposal for super to be paid on PPL is a measure to impact women’s financial security in retirement. There is no argument that there are cost of living pressures for families at this time, but the Coalition’s short-sighted proposal is asking young women to bear the brunt of that, as their mothers have done before them. 

As we saw with COVID-19 Early Release, and recent proposals to allow women to access their super at the point of separation, there is significant risk that women will not benefit from this money at all. Through the COVID-19 Early Release Scheme up to 70,000 Australia women were forced, humiliated, or scared into accessing their superannuation savings early. Data shows that coercive control – including economic abuse – escalates during pregnancy and post-partum, as well as at the point of separation.  

Not only would this proposal do nothing to close the gender super gap, it would also leave women open to coercive control and economic abuse. We will not let this happen.