Treasurer introduces payday super laws
Source: Workplace Express (subscription service) - 09.10.2025
Employers will be required from July next year to make super contributions within seven calendar days of paying their workers' wages and salaries, under legislation introduced today by the Albanese Government.
The "payday super" legislation, announced in the 2023-24 Budget (see Treasury backgrounder and Related Article), in league with a companion Bill introduced today, creates "a strong incentive for employers to make super contributions for their employees at the same time as they pay the employee's qualifying earnings", according to the explanatory memorandum.
In his second reading speech for the bills, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said "workers should be paid their super at the same time they're paid their salary and their wages, and that's exactly what this bill enshrines into law".
He told Parliament that workers "will benefit from more frequent and earlier super contributions that will grow and compound over their working life".
"For the average 25-year-old worker's retirement balance, this is the equivalent of receiving an extra $6,000 in today's dollars."
Observing that unpaid super "is a form of wage theft", Chalmers said the most recent financial year data indicated almost $5.2 billion should have gone to workers.
He continued that most unpaid super "is being picked up too late" and the new laws will enable the ATO "to more quickly identify employers not making contributions".
Chalmers told Parliament that the second Bill introduced today "works in conjunction" with the payday super legislation and ensures that the Super Guarantee Charge "is imposed for any day wages are paid and there is a shortfall of [super] contributions".
He continued that the "redesigned" SGC "will prompt employers to quickly rectify late or missing superannuation contributions, and it also simplifies the process".
"Employers will no longer need to choose which period their late contribution should count towards or calculate their own liability", as it will now "all happen automatically".
He said the rejigged SGC "will deliver significant consequences for employers that repeatedly fail to pay their workers or let super go unpaid for long periods of time, and it will make sure that workers are accurately compensated for lost earnings if their employer is late in paying their contributions".
Chalmers said the ATO had advised Treasury that it will consult on the approach it will take to compliance in the first year of the new regime.
Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025
Home page - Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025
Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Bill 2025
Home page - Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Bill 2025
