Rest members signal support for pre-budget policy proposals

A survey commissioned by superannuation fund Rest of its members has found ‘overwhelming support’ for the fund’s proposed policy reforms as part of its 2025-26 pre-Budget submission published in January.

The survey of 1,007 Rest members, conducted by Redbridge Group between January and February this year, showed significant endorsement of four recommended policy changes in particular, which Rest Chief Strategy & Corporate Affairs Officer, Tyrone O’Neill, said indicated the public felt strongly about implementing a fairer super system.

The four recommended policy changes that received the most support from Rest members included:

• Protect the super of family violence victims: 80 per cent support changing the law so family violence perpetrators are not able to inherit their victim’s superannuation benefits. Only one per cent oppose this.
• Update the Low Income Super Tax Offset (LISTO): 77 per cent support raising the LISTO so it’s fairer for low income workers. Only one per cent oppose this.
• Commence a review into Superannuation Carers’ Credits: 71 per cent support a system to apply credits to the super of parents and carers for time away from work. Only 3 per cent oppose this.
• Super for all under-18 workers: 71 per cent support making super payable to all workers under the age of 18, regardless of how many hours they work. Only 5 per cent oppose this.

“Rest represents over 2 million Australians, including around 1.2 million women and 1 million workers under the age of 30. This is equivalent to 1-in-7 working Australians – a sizeable segment of the labour force – expressing support for fairer and more equitable super,” O’Neill said.

“We’ve made 10 policy recommendations to the Government that we believe will support fairer and more equitable retirement outcomes for our members and have a positive impact on the world they will retire into.

“Our priority recommendation is to extend the Superannuation Guarantee to all under-18 workers, including those working less than 30 hours per week, with an appropriate transition period for businesses.

“The current rules are unfair and disadvantaging young Australian workers. We urge the Government to commit to this change in the Budget and include a thorough consultation process and multi-year staged approach to implementation.”

According to the super fund’s submission made ahead of the 2025-26 Budget’s release tonight, it made five other recommendations including:

• “funding and developing a framework for data sharing between government agencies and super funds to uplift data integrity, and support efficiencies across the system
• co-designing with First Nations peoples the development of a holistic ‘First Nations Retirement Strategy’
• establishing an ambitious, Paris-aligned and scientifically backed 2035 Australian Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in order to ensure a swift and orderly transition to a Net Zero economy, and prioritise the release of the Net Zero Plan and robust sectoral decarbonisation plans in order to give investors the certainty needed to allocate capital to the transition
• accelerating current work with State and Territory Governments to prioritise policy changes to encourage institutional investment in housing supply, and
• outlining a more detailed roadmap and provide appropriate resourcing for the next phase of the sustainable finance agenda, including a focus on decent work and social and economic inequality.”