Govt 'unlikely' to raise super payments

The federal government is unlikely to heed Paul Keating's call for compulsory super contributions to be increased, a cabinet minister says.

The former prime minister wants employer contribution levels, as a proportion of income, to be raised from nine per cent to 12 per cent.

"It's got to be done by the government," Mr Keating told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

"If you go to 12 per cent ... you've got a sustainable system."

But a spokesman for Superannuation Minister Chris Bowen said that ahead of the release of the Henry tax review the government was not committed to raising the level of compulsory super.

"To suggest we're talking about increasing it is not right," he told AAP.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions wants the super contribution raised to 15 per cent.

The umbrella group for industry funds, the Industry Super Network, would like the level raised to a more modest 12 per cent on the proviso commissions and fees are brought under control, and the tax on contributions is made more equitable.

"We support increasing the contribution rate but let's do that by getting the system working properly," chief executive David Whiteley said.

Mr Keating said his Labor contemporaries should go to the next election promising to increase the super contribution level.

It was "no big deal" to insist superannuation contributions be lifted by 0.5 per cent a year over six years, he argued.

Mr Keating, whose government introduced compulsory super in 1992, said the government should ignore Treasury's "brazen" advice that recommends contributions remain at nine per cent.

Mr Whiteley says he does not expect the government to increase the super contribution level, based on current indicators.

Jeremy Cooper, the head of the government's superannuation review, has recommended streamlining the super industry's electronic system as a way saving up to $1 billion a year in administration costs.

A super industry conference in Brisbane finishes on Wednesday.