Aldred calls for action on super payments

Member for Monash Mary Aldred will introduce her first private member's motion to parliament this week, calling on the Federal Government to reform superannuation payout timeframes.
"It's now been over 18 months that the Albanese Government promised legislation to crack down on big super taking too long to pay Australians what is their money for retirement, and we're still yet to see any progress," Ms Aldred said.
In January 2025, the Federal Government announced plans to introduce mandatory service standards for superannuation funds. Despite this, Ms Aldred said there were more than 4000 Australians waiting up to four years to access their own money.
Ms Aldred said over the past 12 months she had worked on behalf of a number of constituents who had waited in some cases years for their superannuation company to pay out on death benefits.
In several cases, it was only after Ms Aldred's representation directly to the chief executive officer that the constituent was finally able to receive their payout.
"One of the first things I did when assisting constituents with this issue was to check what the mandated minimum payout timeframe was with the regulator, ASIC," Ms Aldred said. "It turns out ASIC says 'as soon as practicable'. In other words, there is no mandated minimum timeframe, and that's not good enough."
"These are not isolated cases. There are literally thousands of Australians waiting years to access their own money because big super has made an artform out of frustrating every effort at every turn for people to access their own money, especially death benefits.
"Transferring calls, not answering emails and challenging every document. It's a story I've heard too often by my own constituents, and it's time to put a stop to this.
"In many cases we are talking about older women, who while navigating the grief of losing their spouse have to jump through every obstacle imaginable just to access their own money.
"We're talking thousands of dollars if the amount of money withheld had been put in a bank instead of sitting months with a super company," she said.
ASIC said payments should be made 'as soon as practicable' – but there was no mandated timeframe.
Last year ASIC also announced legal action against one superannuation company who had kept 7000 of its customers waiting up to four years to access money.
In addition, the ASIC Claims Handling Review released a landmark report revealing that 78 per cent of reviewed death benefit claim files were delayed by processing issues within the trustees' control.
Under current superannuation law, a fund may also be required to pay death benefits to a person who used family and domestic violence against the deceased.
"This is desperately unfair, cruel and wrong," Ms Aldred said. "It must stop and I'll be fighting for a change in the law."
More than 3360 complaints were made against superannuation funds in the year to June 2025, according to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. It's likely they'll increase again this year.
"Australians are still waiting for action by this Federal Government," Ms Aldred said. "That's why I'm moving a private member's motion to compel the government to get on with it, and taking a stand on behalf of the older Australians in my electorate who have been treated with such little respect by their superannuation company."