First Nations Foundation said it has recovered more than $4.15 million in lost and unclaimed superannuation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across remote and regional Queensland, using the result to highlight what it described as persistent failings in the super system’s ability to help members access money already owed to them.
The organisation said newly-lodged Australian Taxation Office data showed its Financial Wellness Outreach program reconnected $4,148,693 in super across 12 communities during five outreach trips between July and November in FY26, with the recoveries concentrated in areas where digital access, identity checks and fragmented services can make claiming super significantly harder.
The program covered Sarina and Mackay, Palm Island and Charters Towers, Mapoon, Napranum and Weipa, Croydon and Normanton, and Hope Vale, Wujal Wujal and Cooktown, where First Nations Foundation said face-to-face support was needed to bridge gaps that mainstream service channels were failing to close.
Rather than treating the outcome as a one-off community success story, the foundation framed the recovery as evidence of a deeper structural problem: that compulsory super does not guarantee members can readily access their balances, particularly in remote and regional First Nations communities.
Chief executive Leah Bennett said the result underscored the disconnect between the design of the retirement system and the lived experience of many First Nations Australians.
“Australia’s retirement system is world class on paper. But for many First Nations people, particularly in regional and remote communities, there is still friction at the final step,” Bennett said.
“This result shows what happens when the system meets people where they are, on Country and in community, with culturally informed support and the right institutions at the table.”
First Nations Foundation said its outreach model brings super funds, banks, utilities providers, ombudsmen, government agencies, ATO representatives and foundation staff directly into [the] community to help people locate lost balances, clear identity verification hurdles and navigate myGov and ATO systems.
The foundation said the issue is often not whether super exists, but whether members can get through what Bennett described as the “last mile” of paperwork, digital systems and disconnected services to claim it.
Bennett said the scale of the result should force broader reflection across the financial services sector about how much effort is still required for some Australians to access their own retirement savings.
“For a small not-for-profit to travel to 12 communities across five regions in Queensland in four months and achieve this result should prompt reflection across the financial services sector,” she said.
“A modest investment in logistics and partnership can translate into life changing financial outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
Since 2016, First Nations Foundation said it has helped reconnect First Nations people with more than $30 million in superannuation.
