Coalition's super on PPL plan 'deeply worrying'

The Coalition has confirmed that it plans to make paying superannuation on Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave (PPL) optional for working mothers, as a $158 million budget saving measure.

The Coalition's election costings revealed several cost-saving proposals including $1.2 billion of cuts to programs, which experts have said are aimed at Australia's working women.

If elected this weekend, the Coalition's 'Superannuation on Paid Parental Leave - parental choice' would be introduced to help boost the Budget's bottom line.

Super Members Council (SMC) said the cash-out proposal undermines the policy intent of boosting the retirement savings of new mums.

SMC chief executive Misha Schubert said the proposal sends a message to women that they should sacrifice their future financial security to meet daily living costs, which would exacerbate women's retirement poverty risk.

The super advocacy group said time out of the workforce is a key reason women are currently approaching retirement with around a third less super than men.

Schubert urged a swift policy reversal, saying making super on PPL option would widen the super gender gap.

"Telling new mums to cash out their parental leave super payments is a deeply worrying departure from the longstanding bipartisan principles of universality and compulsion in super that are key to a more financially secure retirement for all working Australians," Schubert said.

"It undermines the whole policy intent to boost the retirement savings of Australian mums and to start to turn around the gender super gap - which has been widening for women in their 30s.

"It sends a concerning message to new mums that they should sacrifice their future financial security to meet daily expenses. And it risks putting pressure on mums to raid their retirement savings or being forced to do so by coercively controlling partners. We urge the Coalition to reverse its position."

"Why is it that women are being asked to choose between financial security now and in retirement?"

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) also spoke out against the move, saying it represents a large hit on working women and their families.

In addition to the change to super, the Coalition's costings also contain a $556 million cut to Commonwealth Prac Payments - stripping away cost-of-living support for those studying to become teachers, nurses, midwives and social workers over the next four years.

The Coalition also plans to restore the activity test on childcare to save $420 million over the forward estimates, but the ACTU said it would make it much harder for women to get enough guaranteed childcare to look for work or increase their hours.

ACTU president Michele O'Neil slammed the proposals saying the Coalition has "never tried to understand working women or cared about what support families need to be able to run their lives, and to hold down jobs - because if they did, making it harder to get childcare would not be the solution".

"Neither is taking paid super off paid parental leave, as it's still mostly women, who take the hit to their super balances when they have children, and that unfairness must end," O'Neil added.

"Cutting super on paid parental leave not only hurts women, it makes no sense if the goal is to lift workplace participation."

The Parenthood also criticised the plan slamming it as a "false choice" that will leave women worse off.

"This isn't a real choice - it's a trap. This policy will force new mothers to choose between poverty now or poverty in retirement," The Parenthood chief executive Georgie Dent said.

"This move completely undermines progress toward closing the gender super gap. It ignores the fact that women retire with 25% less in their super accounts than men and are the fastest-growing group entering poverty in retirement."