The Coalition Government’s super proposals
Government’s second tranche super proposals:
On 27 September 2016 the Coalition Government released for public consultation the second tranche of exposure draft legislation and explanatory material to implement a number of the superannuation changes announced in Budget 2016.
Details of the Government’s second tranche is available here. Further information can be found on the Treasury website.
For public submissions on the second tranche, the Government allowed from 27 September 2016 to 10 October 2016; 13 days to consider 234 pages, 57,600 words of very complex, far-reaching proposed legislation.
O’Brien’s, Hammond QC’s and Save Our Super’s second tranche joint submission to Treasury:
On 10 October 2016, Terrence O’Brien and Jack Hammond QC, on behalf of themselves and Save Our Super lodged with Treasury their joint submission in response to the second tranche. That joint submission is available here.
Tax Institute’s second tranche submission to Treasury:
On 10 October 2016 the Tax Institute lodged its corresponding submission to Treasury. It is available here. It is also publicly available on http://www.taxinstitute.com.au/leadership/advocacy/read-submissions.
In Save Our Super’s opinion, the above submissions demonstrate that the Coalition’s proposed superannuation changes are wrong in principle and unworkable in practice.
Government’s third tranche super proposals:
On 14 October 2016 the Government released for public consultation the third tranche. Details of the Government’s third tranche are available here. The Exposure Draft Bill and Explanatory Material are available on the Treasury website. Public submissions closed on Sunday 23 October 2016; 9 days later.
O’Brien’s, Hammond QC’s and Save Our Super’s third tranche joint submission to Treasury:
On 23 October 2016, Terrence O’Brien and Jack Hammond QC, on behalf of themselves and Save Our Super lodged with Treasury their joint submission in response to the third tranche. That joint submission is available here.
The limited time allowed for submissions in response to the second and third tranches, makes a mockery of the concept of public consultation. Obviously, the Government wants to rush the superannuation changes through Parliament as soon as possible.
Second and third tranche submissions sent to Coalition
On 10 October 2016 and 24 October 2016 respectively, we wrote to Messrs Gee MP and Buchholz MP in their roles as leaders of the Coalition Backbench Committee on Economics and Finance and sent them copies of:
- Terrence O’Brien’s, Jack Hammond QC’s and Save Our Super’s joint second tranche submission and the Tax Institute’s second tranche submission: and
- Terrence O’Brien’s, Jack Hammond QC’s and Save Our Super’s joint third tranche submission.
Subsequently, we wrote to all Coalition Senators and Coalition MHRs and sent them copies of those submissions.
Labor’s super policies
On 26 June 2016, Labor dropped their 2016 election superannuation policies. Subsequently, they proposed increased superannuation taxes, despite saying in their policy released just over a year previously, that “If elected, these are the final and only changes Labor will make to the tax treatment of superannuation”. Labor has not announced any replacement superannuation policies.
Save Our Super’s position:
Save Our Super believes that all Parliamentarians should promote and support superannuation policies and legislation which contain grandfathering provisions that maintain the previous entitlements of those Australians who will be significantly affected by major rule changes to the then existing superannuation provisions.
We are convinced that, if the proposed legislation is passed by the House of Representatives, the Senate should subject it to careful scrutiny. It should refer the whole of the Government’s proposed superannuation package to a Senate Committee. The Senate Committee should invite and consider public submissions and objections. The Government’s and Treasury’s assumptions which underpin the changes should be open to public challenge. On any view, the recently released details of the measures deserve far more detailed scrutiny than has been possible to date in the unreasonably short time made available for consultation. Moreover, the fragmentation of the measures into tranches of drafting has prevented any integrated overview of how the measures fit together.
UPDATED PETITION
The Federal Coalition Government has made a number of changes to its Budget 2016 superannuation proposals. Consequently, Save Our Super has updated its earlier email petition/s to take into account those changes.
Thank you if you signed the earlier petition/s. Please support, or continue to support, Save Our Super by completing our updated petition here.
