If successful, a private member's bill introduced by Liberal senator Jane Hume last Thursday will attempt to close the gender gap in superannuation by allowing couples to split their collective superannuation balances evenly between them.
Under the bill, dubbed The Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Tackling the Gender Super Gap) Bill 2025, the spouse with the higher balance would be able to roll an amount into the account of the spouse with the lower balance.
Designed to be different from the splitting of contributions in super, Hume’s bill deals with splitting super balances - using a rollover from one fund to another.
Senators expect this structural change to help directly tackle the gender super gap, often accused of being one of the most systemic structural failures of the superannuation system.
While the gender super gap currently sits at about 21.3%, it is far greater for women approaching retirement.
Ironically, the law already allows for super balances to be split, but typically this is only under family law provisions as part of divorce proceedings.
Given that this outcome no longer requires a court order and can be done via standard forms and recognised tax treatments of a rollover amount - when a marriage or relationship has ended – Hume argues that couples who stay married should be entitled to the same provisions.
The benefits
Assuming it is extended to married couples, how would it impact you and your spouse?
The beauty is that the amount transferred - which could occur as a one-off lump sum or be done annually - would not be treated as a contribution, but as a rollover, and as such would avoid any additional taxes.
It would also retain the original fund's proportion of concessional and non-concessional components.
While both spouses’ funds would be required to remain in the accumulation phase, those in defined benefit schemes, as well as accounts already in the pension or drawdown phase, would be excluded from using the mechanism.
However, to avoid potential unintended consequences [for those with multiple super funds], the proposed bill would also only be available to people who have just one super account.
Recommended guardrails
As a further guardrail against being abused, the proposed bill would also stipulate that the transferring fund would not be allowed to have a lower balance than the receiving fund following the rollover.
Similarly, the amount rolled over cannot cause the receiving fund's balance to then breach the transfer balance cap.
"This is all about choice; allowing couples to manage their collective retirement savings to reflect their collective choices throughout their lives," Hume said.
"The benefits of this reform are clear and far-reaching. This Bill is about more than just superannuation; it's about closing the gender super gap."
Existing provisions are clumsy, complex and unclear
Hume expects her suggested mechanism to replace the existing spouse super contributions method, which, due to a lack of awareness, complex eligibility and too few incentives, is currently only used by an estimated 1% of Australians using it in 2021-22.
While Hume’s proposed bill doesn't force anyone to do anything, she says it simply gives families the option to share what they've built together, in recognition of unpaid labour, broken work patterns and professional sacrifices that so often fall to women.
"This bill explicitly recognises the economic partnership at the heart of most families. It empowers couples to plan for retirement together, allowing a more even distribution of superannuation during the accumulation phase."
Given that funds using this mechanism would retain the original proportion of concessional and non-concessional components, which means that when someone dies, the money transferred doesn’t have additional tax benefits for beneficiaries.
How to rollover
The amount being rolled over from one spouse to another can be managed in one of two ways:
- The amount rolled over cannot leave the original fund with a lower balance than the receiving fund.
- The amount rolled over cannot cause the receiving fund to have a balance higher than the transfer balance cap.
“This [bill] is all about choice; allowing couples to manage their collective retirement savings to reflect their collective choices throughout their lives,’ said Hume.
“The benefits of this reform are clear and far-reaching. This Bill is about more than just superannuation it’s about closing the gender super gap.”
