8th Dec 2020, 4:53 PM – Senate Motions - Women's Economic Security - Retirement incomes

The same number of senators vote for and against a motion introduced by Tasmanian Senator Catryna Bilyk (Labor), which means it failed.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) on average, women retire with superannuation balances 50% lower than those of men,

(ii) 40% of older single retired women live in poverty and experience economic insecurity in retirement,

(iii) an estimated 220,000 women miss out on a combined $125 million of superannuation contributions as they do not meet the requirement to earn $450 per month from one employer, and

(iv) the Government deliberately excluded consideration of systemic problems in the superannuation system for women from the terms of reference of its retirement incomes review, despite 100 prominent Australians in senior business roles writing to the Treasurer and calling on him to do so; and

(b) calls on the Morrison Government to help women achieve equality in retirement by responding to the inequality raised in the retirement incomes review's final report and look at the systemic issues that lead to inequality between men's and women's retirement incomes.