Media statement | 8 July 2025
An Increase to Retail and Fast-Food Wages and an Increase to Superannuation…………. for some:
The SDA QLD Branch Secretary, Justin Power, believes that the 3.5% increase to the wages of retail and fast-food workers was a great win for those workers who are struggling to make ends meet.
The increase in the Superannuation Guarantee from 11.5% to 12% was also a very significant result for the Australian workforce.
But not everyone benefits from the increase in superannuation!
If you are under 18 years of age and do not complete at least 30 hours of work a week you are not entitled to superannuation.
If you are under 18 and new to the workforce, chances are you are not regularly getting 30 hours a week. If you are under 18 and working while you study, there is almost no chance that you are working 30 hours a week.
Some may think that under 18-year-olds don’t need superannuation at this stage of their life. But no one needs superannuation during their working life. You need superannuation when you retire. And with our aging population, in the future pensions may be wound back. If this happens this young generation, will become more and more reliant on superannuation in retirement.
It is possible that when our current under 18-year-olds retire there will be no pension at all, only superannuation savings to live on, and so they will need every dollar they can put away.
And with compounding interest, it is the superannuation they earn now, that will be worth the most in retirement.
If a 17-year-old is working 20 hours a week in today’s current market, they could be losing as much as $39,000 in retirement compared to what they would have had earnt with the removal of the 30 hours cap.
A 16-year-old doing only 12 hours a week is $40,000 worse off.
Recently, Justin Power and Senator Corinne Mulholland met with young retail workers in Gympie who agreed that young Australians need and deserve every dollar of superannuation they can get.
A young retail worker, Brady, said “It’s time in the market that increases your savings. The more young people get in super now, the better.”
Josie said “Kids pay tax, make the same contribution. They should get the same super, they do the same job.”
Layla, a young retail worker, said “We all work just as hard as each other, kids work just as hard as adults, it’s not fair they don’t get super.”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gi6AMAXy4bBmumQTn9XK3nMVM_h8gNda/view?usp=sharing
Janine, a retail worker from Roma said, “Young people may not need Super now, but they’ll need it in retirement. They work as hard as the rest of us.”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w9C-y8MVZHKjxiuBzNQlu4u_mBnaCTLz/view?usp=drive_link
Further Superannuation reform is needed and this discriminatory 30 hours a week bar needs to be scrapped, and it needs to be scrapped now!
Superannuation was designed for all working Australians…… not just some.
Quotes attributable to the SDA QLD Branch Secretary;
“The separate requirement for under 18-year-olds to work 30 hours a week to receive superannuation is antiquated and discriminatory and it’s time for it to go.
This is especially important for this young generation who are already experiencing issues with cost of living and who will struggle to be able to afford their own home.
Australians will increasingly rely on superannuation in retirement so they should receive superannuation on every dollar earned.”
Ends
Media Contact- Rose Strange 0418781524