In this guide
- Super boosts wealth for middle Australians
- New law to prevent abusers from hiding super assets
- Government consults on superannuation consumer protections
- Super funds should be able to move members into retirement phase – HESTA
- AI phishing scams on the rise
- ATO launches new app feature to stop scam calls
- Get more guides like this with a free account
Super boosts wealth for middle Australians
The wealth of many Australians has tripled over the past twenty years, thanks to superannuation, according to The Power of Super: Building Wealth for Everyday Australians report by the Super Members Council (SMC).
Between 2002 and 2022, non-housing wealth almost tripled (up 196%) for middle Australians (i.e. those in the middle-wealth bracket) who are recent retirees, the report found. This cohort is now more than $256,000 better off in retirement.
“Thanks to the creation of super three decades ago, millions of everyday Australians now own a direct profit-share in the nation’s economic growth for the first time,” SMC chief executive officer Misha Schubert said.
As a result of the increase in super wealth, the amount of income retirees draw from super rose by 117% for recent retirees over the same two decades, growing from $340 a week on average for recent middle-wealth retirees in 2002, to $740 in 2022 in wage-adjusted terms.
“Those super savings owned by millions of everyday Australians are now one of Australia’s most important economic institutions – lifting retirement incomes for retirees, reducing pressure on budgets and supporting long-term growth and stability across the economy,” Schubert said.
New law to prevent abusers from hiding super assets
The Federal Government has introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (The Survivors Law) Bill 2026, which will prevent convicted child sexual abusers from hiding their assets in super to avoid paying compensation to their victims.
The law is designed to enable victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to apply for a court order to access additional personal or salary-sacrifice super contributions made by the offender where a related court order for compensation remains unpaid after 12 months.
When introducing the law, the government said it was committed to ensuring the reforms operate as intended and that it would review the operation of the law after full commencement to assess its effectiveness for survivors.
“No survivor should be denied justice because a perpetrator has been able to deliberately hide assets in the super system to evade the law,” Schubert said.
The reforms also include amendments to the Bankruptcy Act 1966 to allow compensation debts to survive an offender’s bankruptcy.
Government consults on superannuation consumer protections
The Federal Government has released three consultation papers designed to give consumers greater protection in the wake of the Shield and First Guardian Master Fund collapses.
The consultation papers are on curbing lead generation activity, enhancing member protections in the superannuation system and reform options for the compensation scheme of last resort (CSLR) to support its ongoing sustainability.
“The collapses of the Shield and First Guardian Master Funds, which impacted over 11,000 consumers and more than $1 billion of superannuation funds, have highlighted the need for a comprehensive reform package which responds to the ecosystem of alleged misconduct surrounding these failures,” assistant treasurer and minister for financial services Daniel Mulino said in a statement when announcing the consultation papers.
Included in the paper on the CSLR are proposals for self-managed super funds (SMSFs) to only be eligible for the CSLR if they make contributions to the scheme. There is also a proposal for SMSFs to be excluded entirely from the scheme.
“The paper on the CSLR focuses on options to improve the predictability and structure of funding arrangements, better align the scheme as a mechanism of last resort and enhance recoveries,” Mulino said.
Peak advocacy bodies had differing responses to the proposals, with the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) welcoming the consultations.
“Ensuring consumers experience fewer losses in the first place is the most effective way to stop the CSLR’s costs spiralling out of control,” ASFA chief executive officer Mary Delahunty said.
However, the SMSF Association disagreed with the proposals regarding SMSFs and the CSLR.
“SMSFs should not be required to contribute to the funding of the CSLR, and they should remain entitled to receive compensation where conditions are met under the current framework,” SMSF Association chief executive officer Peter Burgess said.
Super funds should be able to move members into retirement phase – HESTA
Australians may have missed out on an estimated aggregate $13.5 billion in tax-free investment returns between 2017 and 2025 because they did not move their super into retirement phase when eligible, according to a white paper by HESTA.
The paper – ‘Make the move: guiding members to tax-free retirement’ – suggests that super funds should be allowed to act in their members’ best interests by transitioning them into the tax-free phase of super on their behalf when eligible, with the ability for members to opt out.
“Without reform, the problem will only grow. We need system-level change to make it easier for people to access tax-free income in retirement,” HESTA chief executive officer Debby Blakey said.
The paper, which used research conducted by Laneway on behalf of HESTA, analysed diverse eligible groups of members and found that every member group could benefit from transitioning to a retirement product when they became eligible.
It also found that current retirement product take-up rates were low at 30% for HESTA members and 45% system wide, despite super funds’ member education efforts and targeted communications.
“The research finds every eligible member cohort analysed is better off when they have access to a retirement phase option rather than staying in accumulation… That’s why we’re calling for a well-designed default mechanism that would seek to ensure no Australian is left behind simply because the system failed to guide them,” Blakey said.
AI phishing scams on the rise
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is removing record numbers of harmful social media phishing and investment scam websites, taking down 11,964 such websites in 2025, a 90% increase on the previous 12-month period.
ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said scammers were increasingly using AI to make ads and websites appear more realistic.
“We’re seeing AI being used to create professional videos, fake endorsements and targeted ads designed to lure people into handing over their details,” he said.
“That’s why ASIC has significantly stepped up its online scam takedown efforts.”
Scammers are also using people’s growing interest in AI to create misleading and unrealistic claims about the opportunity to make money quickly and easily.
Last year Australians lost $2.18 billion to scams, with investment scams costing $837.7 million, according to the National AntiScam Centre’s latest Targeting Scams Report.
ATO launches new app feature to stop scam calls
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is also doing more to prevent scammers taking advantage of Australians and has introduced a new in-app security feature that can immediately identify if a caller is legitimate or not.
“Scammers are becoming increasingly savvy, making it harder for individuals to distinguish between illegitimate and genuine contact,” ATO assistant commissioner Anita Challen said.
“This powerful security measure means fraudsters will find it harder to pretend to impersonate the ATO, Australians will have more control of their accounts and more certainty that they are dealing with the real tax office,” she added.
Taxpayers can download the ATO app and register their device. Then, when they receive a call from someone claiming to be from the ATO, they can open the ATO app, log in and select a verify call option.
The ATO says that within 30 seconds, a notification should confirm if it is an ATO call and if such a notification doesn’t appear, users should treat the call as a scam and hang up.
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