Superannuation chief warns Government dismantling super is like being 'an anti-vaxxer'

ABC News
August 5 2019


The head of Australia's peak superannuation body has warned the Government not to mess with the superannuation system.
Key points:

    The Federal Government is drawing up the terms of reference for an inquiry into super and pensions
    Some Coalition MPs have called for the super guarantee increase to be delayed or scrapped entirely
    Super funds have warned the Government not to tinker with superannuation rules

"If you start dismantling superannuation, you're essentially an anti-vaxxer," Martin Fahy told 7.30.

"You're pulling the system apart and leaving individuals exposed and losing the herd effect."

The Federal Government has announced a review into superannuation and some of its MPs have called for a delay, or entire scrapping, of the legislated increase to the compulsory super guarantee to 12 per cent.   

    "The irony of this is, this is coming from politicians who get 15 to 16 per cent contributions themselves," Dr Fahy said.   

"We need to commit to going to 12 per cent.

"We need that herd effect so we can keep the age pension for those that need it.

"The group and pooling effects … the scale of superannuation is ultimately what protects us all."
'The case has not been made for ever bigger super'

In recent weeks the Federal Government has flagged a broader review of retirement incomes.

The Assistant Minister for Superannuation Jane Hume said that would also include a look at the pension system.

"The terms of reference for that review is still being decided but it will look at the interaction between the superannuation system and the pension system, and also the effect on national savings," she told 7.30.

In the meantime, a group of federal MPs have begun airing their own ideas about the superannuation system.

The most radical of those ideas came from New South Wales senator Andrew Bragg in his maiden speech to Parliament a fortnight ago.

Giving his maiden speech, Andrew Bragg calls for superannuation to be voluntary for people earning less than $50,000.

He said low-wage earners should be able to opt out of superannuation altogether.

"Certainly, the case has not been made for ever bigger super," he told 7.30.

    "I would change direction. Super should be made voluntary for Australians earning under $50,000."

Another Coalition MP, Victorian senator James Paterson, said the current superannuation system was not working and called for the legislated increase in minimum mandatory contributions, set to increase to 12 per cent, to be delayed.   

Bit of hot air from the union propaganda parrot Blackday having a squawk at the moon.

Of course the Super funds don't want it altered.

The unions depend on pilfering Industrial Super for their existence.

The weakness is the under performing super funds that are just wasting members money.

This is the area that needs cleaning up.

And the ScoMo govt is right onto this.

I'll be lodging or delivering a 'manifesto' (as someone elsewhere called it) to von Frydenburg's review of ALL superannuation.

Quote:


This will probably be something like (now that the Federal election is over):

1. Gradually raising the pension age to 70 (which ScoMo was thinking about late last year but 'chickened out' when he woke up to the fact that it would probably have cost him the election).

2. Gradually raising the super preservation age - the age when you can access your super - until it is the same as the pension age (yes, they are actually looking into it):

http://www.taxreview.treasury.gov.au/content/StrategicPaper.aspx?doc=html/Public...

None of this will probably apply to the pollies, of course.

Thank goodness I've got in early and taken my super as a pension (at age 62) before all this BS starts happening.

Oh... and why do we need an assistant minister for superannuation? Or a minister, for that matter? How much is that costing us?

The geriatric Lefty HERO Keating has a bit of a rave.






Super sceptics like anti-vaxxers, says Paul Keating
Paul Keating Samantha Maiden 8:31am, Aug 7, 2019 Updated: 3h ago



Paul Keating has compared those campaigning against an increase to the super guarantee with “anti-vaxxers”.



The architect of the modern superannuation scheme in Australia hailed super with contributing to the looming first current account surplus since 1975.

“You can see it in today’s current account – today’s trade figures and the current account deficit. In the ’80s, the current account deficit was around 5 per cent of GDP – very big. In other words, we had our begging bowl out to the rest of the world saying, please provide us the capital, because we were capital-poor,” he said.

“Now the current account deficit is under 1 per cent of GDP. It has gone from 5 to under 1 and the trade surplus is appearing for the first time in a long time.

“And that’s because the pool of Australian retirement savings in super, at three trillion, are now bigger than the free reserves of China.

“The current account deficit is improving structurally. This could not happen without superannuation.”

Some Liberal MPs have recently proposed delaying or scrapping the planned increase in the super guarantee to 12 per cent by 2025.

Asked why super was under such assault on a regular basis, Mr Keating said the Liberal Party simply hated superannuation.

“Because it’s like climate deniers. We’ve got a bunch of people in the Liberal Party who have always hated superannuation and they are super deniers,” he said

“They are superannuation deniers. Someone said yesterday, pithily, they are like anti-vaxxers, they are against vaccine, you know?”

Mr Keating said denying workers a super increase was denying them a legislated pay rise.

“That’s 2.5% of income, whether you take it as savings or super or you get it as cash, it is 2.5% of income. If this is refused, what a Liberal government would be doing would be pilfering, stealing, robbing, the workforce of 2.5% of income.”



“I cut the top marginal rate from 60% under John Howard, to 47%. It is still at 45%, 35 years later. How pathetic is that? The top marginal rate in Australia shouldn’t be a jot over 39%.”

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/08/07/super-sceptics-like-anti-vax...