{"id":1624,"date":"2019-02-19T07:42:29","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T07:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=1624"},"modified":"2019-02-19T07:42:29","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T07:42:29","slug":"government-must-act-on-superannuation-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2019\/02\/19\/government-must-act-on-superannuation-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"GOVERNMENT MUST ACT ON SUPERANNUATION THEFT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon has called on the Morrison Government to match Labor\u2019s tough superannuation policy after it was revealed that\u00a0Newcastle-Hunter workers are losing out on almost $150 million in superannuation<\/a>\u00a0payments each year.
\nMs Claydon said she was appalled but not surprised that one-third of Hunter-Newcastle workers were owed superannuation payments totalling $146 million.
\n\u201cToo often I get calls from Novocastrians at their wits end after being short-changed thousands of dollars that is rightfully theirs,\u201d Ms Claydon said.
\n\u201cEven when the ATO officially confirms the money is owed, workers can\u2019t chase this money as the debt isn\u2019t technically owed to them.\u201d
\nMs Claydon called on the Government to match Labor\u2019s policy to get tough on dodgy bosses and make it easier for employees to recover unpaid super.
\n\u201cUnpaid super is theft, pure and simple. It\u2019s about time the law treated it as such,\u201d Ms Claydon said.
\n\u201cUnder Labor, employers who underpay superannuation to their staff because of a false or misleading statement will be fined an amount equal to 100 per cent of the unpaid super. Employers who fail to tell the ATO about unpaid superannuation when asked will face fines equal to 300 per cent of the unpaid super.
\n\u201cLabor will also enshrine a right to superannuation within the National Employment Standards, giving workers the power to pursue their unpaid superannuation through the Fair Work Commission or Federal Court.\u201d
\nMs Claydon said there needs to be more serious repercussions for employers that shortchange workers on super.
\n\u201cAt the moment, too many employers are withholding superannuation as a means of cashflow management. That\u2019s an appalling business practice, but there\u2019s not enough incentive to do the right thing,\u201d Ms Claydon said.
\n\u201cGood employers who pay their workers\u2019 superannuation entitlements are at a competitive disadvantage to the bosses who shirk the rules.\u201d
\nMs Claydon said the Morrison Government\u2019s failure to get tough on unpaid superannuation was yet another betrayal of Australian workers.
\n\u201cAustralian workers are already being hit by record low wage growth, rising costs and a decline in the standard of living,\u201d Ms Claydon said.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s time the Government stood up to dodgy bosses who are failing to pay their workers the super they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon has called on the Morrison Government to match Labor\u2019s tough superannuation policy after it was revealed that\u00a0Newcastle-Hunter workers are losing out on almost $150 million in superannuation\u00a0payments each year. Ms Claydon said she was appalled but not surprised that one-third of Hunter-Newcastle workers were owed superannuation payments totalling $146 … Continue reading “GOVERNMENT MUST ACT ON SUPERANNUATION THEFT”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}