Changes to help protect your super
25 June 2025
We have aligned with the wider super industry to:
Cancel insurance in accounts that have not received a relevant contribution for 16 months
Transfer inactive low balance accounts to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
These changes are in line with the Australian Government’s Protecting Your Super legislation, which was introduced in 2019 to protect Australians’ super savings from erosion by unnecessary fees and insurance premiums.
For GESB to adopt these measures for the benefit of our members, changes to our governing regulations, the State Superannuation Regulations 2001, had to come into effect.
The regulation changes apply as of 25 September 2024.
What it means for you
Here’s a summary of the changes and what they mean for members.
For full details, including definitions and criteria, read our Significant Event Notice.
Your insurance will be cancelled if your account has not received contributions for 16 months
If your GESB Super or West State Super account has not received a relevant contribution for 16 continuous months, your insurance will be cancelled, unless you notify us that you wish to keep your insurance cover with GESB.
A relevant contribution includes before and after-tax contributions from you or your employer and rollovers. See the Insurance and your super brochure for a full list of relevant contributions.
We’ll write to you at the 9, 12 and 15-month mark to let you know your insurance cover may be cancelled if we don’t hear from you. You can advise us at that time if you’d like to keep your insurance.
We started contacting impacted members directly by email and/or letter in late June 2025.
Your super balance will be transferred to the ATO if your account is classified as ‘inactive low balance’
Your account will be considered an inactive low balance account if:
- Your balance is below $6,000
- You haven’t got insurance on the account
- You haven’t made any changes to your account or made any relevant contributions or rollovers to the account within the last 16 months, and
- You haven’t met a condition of release in that time, for example you turned 65
We’ll write to you to let you know your account is considered inactive low balance. You can advise us then if you’d like to keep your account with GESB.
We will start contacting impacted members directly by email and or/letter in mid-2026.
Your account will be closed
If your account is considered inactive low balance, it will be closed and the balance will be transferred to the ATO, unless you notify us that you wish to maintain your account with GESB.
West State Super accounts cannot be reopened.
How might ‘inactive low balance’ apply?
To help show what the inactive low account balance changes could mean, we’ve provided some case studies below.
These are for illustrative purposes only.
Tom has a West State Super account with no insurance and a balance under $6,000. He has not made any contributions, such as salary sacrifice, personal contributions or employer contributions, or made a change to his investments or binding death nomination, in the last 16 months.
This means he is classified as a low balance inactive member. Tom has not told GESB he wants to keep his account with GESB, so his account will be closed, and the balance transferred to the ATO.
After 28 days of receiving Tom’s money, the ATO will try to transfer his account balance to his active super fund if he has one.
Alice has a GESB Super account with a balance under $6,000, has no insurance and has not made any contributions, such as salary sacrifice, personal contributions or employer contributions, to the account for 16 months.
However, 4 months ago Alice submitted a binding death nomination for her GESB Super account, instructing GESB to give her super to her nominated beneficiaries when she passes away. Because she took this action, Alice’s GESB Super account is not classified as an inactive low balance account.
If, in another 12 months, Alice has not made any contributions, or made a change to her insurance, investments or binding death nomination, her GESB Super account may be classified as inactive low balance at that time.
Adam is a contributing member of Gold State Super. He also has a West State Super account, however he has not made any contributions, or made a change to his investments, insurance or binding death nominations, to this account for the past 16 months.
Even though he is continuing to contribute to his Gold State Super account, Adam’s West State Super account is classified as inactive low balance and will be closed and transferred to the ATO, unless he tells us in writing that he wishes to retain it.
What can you do now?
Make sure your contact details are up to date so that if we do contact you about an inactive account, you will receive the communication.
You can check and make changes to your contact details and/or account at any time by logging in to Member Online.
To protect your account information, especially with the rise in cyberattacks, we’ve added additional security features to Member Online.
If you haven’t logged in since 1 July 2020, you’ll need to register again, so you can set up your two-step security preference.
If you’ve forgotten your login details, you can reset your password on the Member Online login page or read our FAQ for help with your username.
More information
- For more information about insurance, read the Insurance and your super brochure
- Find out more about how we transfer super accounts to the ATO
- Call us on 13 43 72 or use Live chat
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Thank you for printing this page. Remember to come back to gesb.wa.gov.au for the latest information as our content is updated regularly. This information is correct as at 12 June 2026.