Lake Macquarie councillors vote for superannuation and pay rise from July 1, 2022

It comes after optional superannuation was added to the Local Government Amendment Act 2021 last year, to start from July 1 this year.

The elected council was required to vote to allow the payment, which will be limited to the Commonwealth amount, currently set at 10.5 per cent.

The change has been long sought by the council. A collective of Lake Macquarie Labor, Liberal and Independent councillors co-authored a motion advocating for the benefit in 2017.

Labor councillor Adam Schultz spearheaded that campaign, saying at the time the current situation was "discriminatory and out of step with community expectations", a comment he repeated at Monday's council meeting.

"The Superannuation Guarantee administration came into effect in 1992," he said. "Over that 30 year period, the Superannuation Guarantee contribution has been compulsory, for virtually everyone employed in Australia.

"Despite this, in NSW, mayors and councillors that serve on local government were excluded.

"The situation for the past 30 years has been discriminatory and out of step with community standards, as the purpose of superannuation is to provide income in retirement to substitute, or supplement the age pension.

"What kind of message for the past 30 years has been sent to employers if if we're local representatives, and were effectively denied superannuation? What is the message that the state government was looking to send?

"Over the last 30 years, there's been a number of different governments in power, it's been Liberal, Labor and nearly everything in between. But I just think that it's important to acknowledge where we've been in those past 30 years and where we're going to for the future."

Mayor Kay Fraser said the move would help to attract quality candidates into elected council roles.

"It's not about any of us here in the chamber, but it's about who we want to encourage to join local government," she said.

"There are a lot of young mayors, not myself but a lot of younger mayors in NSW, and it's hard to attract mayors to a full time position as mayor without the payment of superannuation."

Former Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock has previously said remuneration was a "significant factor in encouraging more people - particularly women and younger people - to serve on their local council".

On the same date the superannuation will come into effect, the mayor and councillors will also receive a pay rise of the maximum rate to be set by the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal, which will be up to 2.5 per cent.

The current rate for Lake Macquarie councillors is $31,020, while the mayor also receives an additional $90,370.

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