Senator David Pocock says hard conversations are needed about policies like superannuation tax concessions for the wealthy amid a cost-of-living crisis, after Labor raised the possibility of broader reform to the system.
The treasurer Jim Chalmers used a speech to super and pension fund managers on Monday to argue super should be “equitable and sustainable”, leading to speculation about the future of super tax concessions, which have already cost the budget more than $50bn in lost revenue and are set to eclipse the aged pension.
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said the government had “sold Australians a pup” and was on track to break an election promise not to change superannuation tax concessions, setting up another political stoush over Australia’s tax system.
However, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Pocock, a powerful independent crossbench senator, suggested the government needed to show courage on the issue.
“At a time where there is a huge cost-of-living crunch being felt by millions of Australians and we’re constantly told that there’s not enough money to raise something like jobseeker … but we can’t touch tax concessions for super, the stage-three tax cuts – $250bn – is somehow off the table,” he said.
“These are the hard conversations that we’re going to be able to have and really be able to talk about them in a way that recognises who is getting the benefit from [these policies].
“It’s not the majority of Australians. It’s not the Australians that are really struggling and making decisions between food and medicine. It’s Australians who I think are generally doing OK.”
Asked later on the ABC whether he would support any caps on generous tax concessions, Pocock responded it was “certainly something I would be interested to look out at the details of” if there was a proposal.
Anthony Albanese said before the May 2022 election there were “no plans” for any changes to the superannuation system.
The Labor government quickly backed away from a separate conversation Chalmers floated about the future of the stage-three tax cuts before handing down his first budget last October, after opposition attacks about potential broken promises.
But so far, the prime minister has not resiled from raising issues about the sustainability of the superannuation tax scheme.
Albanese said on Tuesday there had been no announcements about any changes or proposed changes.
“The long-term issue of superannuation is something that we need to deal with,” he said.
“My government makes no apologies for pointing out what the future looks like in 10, 20 years’ time if there isn’t a debate about change and we are engaged with that debate, very clearly.”
Taylor said on Tuesday “Australians were told very clearly Labor wasn’t going to play around with superannuation”, signalling the opposition would fight any proposal to change super tax concessions.
Meanwhile, assistant treasurer Stephen Jones will push for the government’s short-term proposal to define superannuation through legislation, in a speech to the Sydney Institute later on Tuesday evening.
In an extract of his speech, Jones said the government was immediately focused on the “preservation” of superannuation, which included ensuring superannuation was for retirement, outside provable hardship situations.
“The attacks on preservation are still current,” Jones will say.
“Some would say that housing affordability can be addressed by letting people raid their super. But this policy is the new clothes of an emperor who doesn’t believe in superannuation. We know that the answer to housing affordability is building new homes.
“We need a legislated objective of superannuation to stop governments trying to use super for anything but retirement incomes.”
