Tony Abbott flip-flops on super reform

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By Leith van Onselen

A year’s a long time in federal politics. Just over a year ago, Tony Abbott was Prime Minister and steadfastly refused to wind-back Australia’s superannuation rorts, claiming that “we [the Coalition] respect people’s savings. We don’t think that superannuation is government money. It’s your money”. He also argued that “there is a world of difference between taxpayer-funded benefits and people’s own savings.”

Later, Abbott pledged that the Coalition would never “increase the taxes on super”.

Now that Abbott has been consigned to the back-bench, he has fallen into line with leader, Malcolm Turnbull, and now supports the Coalition’s super reforms. Here’s what Abbott said about superannuation in an interview published today in The Conversation:

Michelle, there obviously is some disgruntlement among some people who are normally very strong Liberal supporters. But the point I keep making to them is that superannuation is not about building up your wealth, it’s about giving you a reasonable income in retirement. Now over the years some people have seen it as a vehicle for wealth creation.

The government, quite understandably in the circumstances, wants to return superannuation to its original purpose. The Labor Party, likewise, wants to return superannuation to its original purpose, which is why Labor has some rather similar proposals on the table to ours…

Obviously there are some issues with the superannuation among staunch Liberals, and the point I keep making to them is that we cannot avoid tough decisions. We cannot avoid doing some things that will upset people if we are to boost the economy and at the same time get the budget under control.

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Finally Abbott speaks some sense. Maybe if he had taken such a stance when he was leader he might have kept his job?

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.