Now lawCrime & Courts Introduced in the House of Representatives, 25 Mar 2026

Child abuse survivors can now reach abusers' hidden super

Some child sex offenders put extra money into super, their retirement savings, so they would not have to pay what a court ordered. This law lets survivors find that money and get a court order to take it. It also stops going broke from wiping out what survivors are owed.

Official name: Treasury Laws Amendment (The Survivors Law) Bill 2026

Who it affects

• Child sex abuse survivors who are owed money by a court order: You can find out about the abuser's extra super payments. You can ask to have that money paid to you.
• People found guilty of child sex abuse crimes: Extra money they put into super can be taken to pay what they owe their victims.
• Super funds: They must pay out the money when the tax office sends them a formal notice.
• Abusers who go bankrupt: What they owe survivors stays owing after they go bankrupt.

Abusers hide money in super

A court may find someone guilty of child sex abuse. It can then order them to pay money to the survivor. This is called compensation. Survivors can also sue for money in a court that deals with private disputes.

Super is money saved for when you stop work. It is mostly locked away until you retire. So a survivor usually cannot touch it to get what they are owed.

The government's notes on the bill say some abusers have hidden millions of dollars in super to dodge paying. They put large extra payments into their accounts. Sometimes they did this when they thought they would be charged.

In 2018, the Turnbull Government promised to fix this. That was the Liberal and National government led by Malcolm Turnbull. But no law was brought in. In January 2023, the Albanese Government began asking people for their views again. That is the Labor government led by Anthony Albanese.

News reports said this followed a long campaign by survivors. One was Grace Tame, a former Australian of the Year.

Who can use it

The abuser must have been found guilty of a child abuse crime listed in the law. This means a child sex abuse crime under federal law. It also covers some crimes like slavery where the victim was under 18.

A court must have ordered the abuser to pay the survivor for harm from the crime. It can be a criminal court or a court for private disputes.

The money must have been owing for at least 12 months. It must still not be fully paid.

There is a time limit to chase the debt under state or territory law. That time must not have run out. In New South Wales, for example, the limit is 12 years.

Step one, finding the money

First, the survivor asks the tax office for details. The tax office keeps records of super payments. Its head is called the Commissioner of Taxation.

The tax office tells the survivor how much extra money the abuser put into super. This is money on top of what an employer has to pay. The payments must be from a set time, going back to the 2002-03 tax year at the earliest.

That set time starts 10 years before the date the survivor says the abuse first happened. It ends when the survivor asks the tax office.

Some payments are cut by 15%. That allows for tax the fund already paid on them.

The abuser's total super might be less than those extra payments. If so, the tax office can share the total too. The survivor only gets the facts they need to choose whether to go to court.

Step two, the court order

The survivor then asks the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia for an order. That is a national court that hears family cases and many others. The order tells the tax office to take money out of the abuser's super. Its official name is a perpetrator contributions release order.

The abuser can fight it. They can argue the rules are not met. They can say the amount or the date the abuse began is wrong. The court can let them raise other points too. If they say the amount is wrong, they must prove it.

The court must not publish the survivor's name. The government says this is so survivors are not scared off from asking.

In some cases, the court cannot make an order. One is when the abuser is bankrupt. Another is when their super is frozen under laws about money made from crime.

There are also rules for when a family law case, such as a divorce, involves the same super.

Step three, getting paid

Once the court makes the order, the tax office sends a formal notice to each super fund involved. It tells the fund to pay out the money.

The fund pays the money to the tax office. The tax office passes it on to the survivor. The amount cannot be more than what is still owed. It cannot be more than the extra payments found either.

The payments the abuser's employer had to make stay in the account. The government says this keeps a basic level of savings for when they retire.

Say a man is found guilty in 2024 of abusing a child from 2015. A court orders him to pay $200,000. By 2026, he has paid nothing.

Records show he put $300,000 of extra money into super since 2005. The survivor can now ask for an order to get the $200,000 from that super.

Bankruptcy no longer wipes debt

Some people cannot pay what they owe. They can go bankrupt. When that ends, most of their debts are cancelled. An abuser could use this to get out of paying.

This law changes the Bankruptcy Act. Now, money a court ordered for a listed child abuse crime is still owed after bankruptcy. The abuser must have been found guilty of the crime. The survivor can keep chasing the debt afterwards.

Start date

Dr Daniel Mulino is the Assistant Treasurer, a junior minister for tax and money. He brought the bill to the House of Representatives on 25 March 2026. That is the lower house of Parliament. The House passed it on 13 May 2026.

The Senate is the other house of Parliament. It passed the bill the next day, on 14 May 2026.

The Governor-General is the King's representative. He signed it into law on 20 May 2026. It became Act No. 47 of 2026.

It started the next day, on 21 May 2026. The government says it still needs to write some smaller, detailed rules to finish the job. These do not need a new vote.

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

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