Voice to Parliament
Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (09:55): Women retire with 24 per cent less super than men, meaning we are more likely to spend our final years living in unequal and unacceptable levels of economic insecurity, and for Indigenous women the contrast is even more stark. We retire with on average 15 per cent less than our non-Indigenous counterparts. This year, however, we have a chance to draw a line in the sand on the super gender gap in the form of the Voice to Parliament. When I spoke at the Women in Super national roadshow recently, I reminded them that the Voice to Parliament is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to break the cycles of disadvantage that have perpetrated discrimination against First Nations people for generations, and that includes the issues that enable our exclusion from paid employment and from dignity in retirement. A yes is a vote for a better and fairer future. It is a vote to finally reduce the specific barriers that Aboriginal people face in our day-to-day lives, including with super, and we just must get this done.