Abstract
The thesis explores the origins and development of the Australian system of
superannuation, from 1983 to the mid-1990s, during the terms of the Hawke and
Keating Labor Governments, and the Accords between those governments and the
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), on behalf of the Australian union
movement. Prior to 1983, access to superannuation was largely confined to male
managerial and professional employees and was further limited in terms of eligibility,
vesting and portability. In the 1970s unions began to exploit limited power in particular
enterprises and industries to pursue superannuation as deferred income. The three tier
Australian system evolves from this start: (i) mandatory contributions under
legislation; (ii) employee supplements to retirement savings; and, (iii) a social security
safety net, the universal age pension entitlement. Relentlessly pursued by the unions,
generalled by ACTU Secretary Bill Kelty, from Accord Mark I in 1983, and its subsequent
iterations, superannuation became an industrial right. It may never have occurred but
for the leadership of Prime Minister Bob Hawke and particularly his Treasurer, later
Prime Minister, Paul Keating. The circumstances of the origin of AustraliaĆ¢ s system of
compulsory superannuation were unique. A question explored and answered in the
thesis is whether its origins and development were deliberate or largely accidental. The
development of superannuation savings as a means of curtailing direct inflation through
wages growth is also evaluated.