Superannuation for workers younger than 18

Written by Claude Haiku 5.5 from the extracted text on 19 Oct 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

The release comprises emails, a draft response to a Prime Minister and Cabinet request, a meeting brief for the Treasurer on a June 2026 meeting with the SDA and young workers, talking points for a potential Greens disallowance motion, and an ATO briefing email, all concerning extending superannuation guarantee (SG) coverage to workers under 18. Currently SG applies to under-18s only if they work more than 30 hours a week, a longstanding exemption now consolidated in the Payday Super regulations. Treasury told PM&C it cannot verify Super Members Council projections of higher retirement balances and has no up-to-date modelling of the exemption's impact. Cited figures include SMC analysis that over 90 per cent of under-18 workers work less than 30 hours, and a Rest Super example of an extra $18,100 at retirement for a typical 15-year-old member. Briefing material notes the Senate committee's in-principle support for the change but advises sequencing it after Payday Super embeds.