29/10/2025
Shadow Minister for Financial Services Pat Conaghan MP says the Coalition supports Payday Super – but Labor’s three-year delay in legislating it has left small businesses with an unreasonable timeline with which to comply.
“The Coalition supports Payday Super. Superannuation is part of a worker’s pay. It’s not a bonus, not a gift, not a privilege. It’s your money. You earned it. You deserve it.” Mr Conaghan said.
“For decades, super was paid quarterly because that’s what the technology allowed. It was the Coalition’s Single Touch Payroll reforms that finally laid the foundations for real-time payments. We support this change, but Labor has turned a good idea into a nightmare for small business.”
Labor first announced Payday Super during the 2022 election but didn’t introduce the legislation until October 2025 – more than three years later.
“That means they gave themselves three years to write the law, but only eight months for small businesses to implement it,” Mr Conaghan said. “It’s not fair, and it’s not realistic.”
Under the proposed law, from 1 July 2026 employers will be required to pay super at the same time as wages rather than quarterly – a major shift for small businesses.
The change will force employers to overhaul payroll systems, software and cashflow processes. Treasury’s own impact analysis originally assumed an 18-month transition, not the rushed eight-month window now facing employers.
“Labor’s delay in introducing this legislation has put honest employers in an impossible position,” Mr Conaghan said. “They want to do the right thing, but they can’t if the systems aren’t ready and the rules aren’t clear.”
The Coalition is calling for a staged start date, giving small businesses with fewer than 20 employees until 1 January 2028 to comply.
“This approach would give small businesses time to prepare and follows the same common-sense path we used to implement Single Touch Payroll,” Mr Conaghan said.
“It would give 97 per cent of businesses extra time to prepare – while delaying Payday Super for only 28 per cent of employees. That’s a fair, balanced and responsible outcome.”
“The goal here isn’t to stop Payday Super. It’s to make sure it succeeds. Workers deserve to be paid their super, and small businesses deserve a fair chance to get it right.”
