Meet Gai
Earlier this year, I was taken by Gai’s story. She could have been my mum. Gai lives in Bowral in my electorate and is a shop assistant at a supermarket chain.
Gai is lucky enough to own her own home. When she retired from full-time work, she used some of her $110k of super to buy a new Kia to replace her rundown Suburu that was on its last legs. She can visit friends, family and get into the one shift of work she does each week to top up her pension payment. It is the first new car Gai has ever owned.
Because of super, Gai’s quality of life is much better. It is not a large sum, but she is independent and uses her super to top up the small amount she makes each week from her shift work to live off. In a few years, she hopes to be able to stop work and use her super to top up her pension payments. Gai and her friends shared that they worry what would happen to women in regional towns who were shop assistants like them if they didn’t have super to help make ends meet in retirement.