24 February 2023
Anthony Albanese Must Come Clean On His Pension Entitlements If He Wants To Prove We All Get A ‘Fair Go’ In Retirement
If our analysis about how the Prime Minister could be eligible for a pension in excess of $400,000 per year for the rest of his life is so wrong, he should prove it The “fair go” has been a favourite go-to phrase of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese since he was elected to federal parliament in 1996. The phrase’s egalitarian notion
24 February 2023
Prime Minister Must Be Transparent On Superannuation
“The Prime Minister’s silence was deafening when he refused on several occasions to be transparent with Australians about the generous pension provisions for politicians who are set to change superannuation rules for the rest of us,” said Daniel Wild, Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs. This morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, under sustained questioning, refused to give
8 September 2022
Kelty Puts Politics First, Good Policy Second
This article was originally published in The Australian Financial Review on or about 8 September 2022 and was written by the author in their capacity as a contributor for that publication. It has been republished on the IPA website with permission. The views expressed are those of the author alone. Bill Kelty is a political genius. But his ideas are grounded in the
14 December 2020
Who Is Compulsory Super Benefitting: Ordinary Australians Or The Top End Of Town?
Mainstream Australians are being failed by the political class as the gap between two Australias continues to widen. This failure is exemplified by a superannuation system that siphons money to the financial sector and political class and actively prevents mainstream Australians from achieving the Australian way of life. The legislated increase of forced super contributions from the current rate of 9.5% to 12%
20 November 2020
Why The Liberals Need A Better Labor Than The One They’ve Got
It was 13 years ago last week Kevin Rudd as the then-Labor opposition leader announced ‘This sort of reckless spending must stop’. He said it at the launch of the ALP campaign for the 2007 federal election in response to the claims the Coalition’s election promises were extravagant “middle-class welfare”. Unkind critics of Rudd might say that was one of his few
5 November 2020
Bloated Super Sector Sucking Up Workers’ Wealth
The Morrison government has a key decision to make before the end of this financial year: does it stand with mainstream Australians who have suffered through the lockdown-induced recession, or with the financial sector and industry super elites that are seeking to line their pockets further at the expense of working people? The compulsory superannuation contribution rate is legislated to
24 April 2020
We Cannot Tax Our Way Out Of Debt
These days probably the best way to guarantee the federal Coalition government won’t do something is to have Malcolm Turnbull suggest it. So when Turnbull on the publicity tour for his book raised the prospect of further tax increases on superannuation and investment income, he might well have done enough to ensure they are unlikely to happen. And nor should they. Jobs
22 March 2019
The Unions Unsheath Their Super Weapon
Bill Kelty knew exactly what he was doing when 40 years ago, he and a few others first developed the idea of government-enforced compulsory superannuation. Superannuation was, is, and will be for the foreseeable future an essential part of the industrial armoury of the Australian trade union movement. Control of superannuation gives the union movement an influence over the factors
7 August 2018
Industry Super Funding of Union Movement in the Spotlight
The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry has entered its fifth round of hearings in Melbourne this week, examining the superannuation industry. “The superannuation industry in Australia has become a playground for vested interests. Between 2013 and 2017 trade unions directly received over $18 million from industry super funds via directors fees alone,” said
26 March 2018
Five Reasons Labor’s Superannuation Changes Would Damage Australia
In a speech to the Chifley Institute last week, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten announced that the Labor Party would introduce further changes to Australia’s compulsory superannuation system.1 The key change is to abolish cash refunds for so-called excess dividend imputation credits. This means any superannuant whose tax liability is negative following the franking of dividend payments from companies would no
