Millions of Dollars in Lost Super Waiting for Hunter Workers

BY JESSICA ROUSE

There's millions of dollars of lost and unclaimed super just waiting for in accounts Hunter workers.

The latest figures from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) show that across the region there's $342 million lost super accounts and super being held by the ATO just waiting to be collected.

MAITLAND has the highest amount of untouched super with $19 million, followed by Wallsend with just over $17 million.

Next on the list is Charlestown where there's around $16 million, in Ashtonfield there's $15.8 million and in ADAMSTOWN there's $12 million.

The ATO considers 'lost' super to be accounts held by super funds where they've lost contact with the fund member. By law after a period of time, they're transferred to the ATO which is when they're considered to be 'unclaimed super'.

The ATO says it's easy for people to lose track of their super funds when we change jobs, move house or just haven't updated details with our super funds.

The Empty City

BY TYLER FARDELL

Census data has revealed almost 20 percent of homes in Newcastle's East are vacant, equating to around 1000 empty homes.

The shocking number is almost double the state average at 10 percent, and the census data showed there was almost 100,000 vacant properties across NSW and Victoria.

The vacant hot-spot was in the Newcastle postcode of 2300, which includes suburbs like Cooks hill and Bar Beach.

Following these figures, there are calls for the NSW state government to follow both the Federal and Victorian governments and introduce a tax for vacant properties.

However, that idea has been criticised by members of the housing industry, saying it has the potential to dry up the supply and increase house prices and rental costs in Newcastle.

Craig Jennion

Executive Director of the Housing Industry Association in the Hunter, Craig Jennion says not only is he against a tax against vacant properties, but the figures gathered in the census can not be taken as completely accurate.

"The way they gather information about whether a home is vacant or not cannot be counted as reliable", he said. "On the day they collect information, if you're not home for any reason including holiday or just out for lunch, the property is counted as vacant".

"Any additional taxes would slow down on supply which is something we don't need in the Hunter", he said.

"Our housing affordability in the Hunter has been a strong point and I would hate to see that change".