Labor calls for wage renegotiation

A Queensland Federal Labor Party member has called on the Liberal government to allow workers to renegotiate their wages so they can receive the money that will no longer be going into their superannuation.

Griffith member Terri Butler urged the government in Parliament to let people who made agreements between 7 September 2013 and 2 September 2014 to renegotiate so that their take-home pay increases following the superannuation guarantee rate rise delay.

"On 2 September, when Tony Abbott ripped this money from people's retirement savings, he claimed that workers would now see more in their take-home pay — a disingenuous argument," Butler said.

She said there is no evidence to show employers are renegotiating with employees to increase their take-home pay.

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She quoted former Reserve Bank Governor Bernie Fraser who said "employers are not going to say, ‘well look, we don't have to make this mandatory improvement in super contributions so therefore we are going to give the equivalent amount to workers — that's not going to happen'".

But Victorian Liberal party member for Deakin Michael Sukkar defended his government's move, saying that in light of tough fiscal circumstances, the government decided to "cushion the budget" from the full effects of the increases and raise the rate slowly.

Sukkar also quoted leader of the opposition Bill Shorten when he was minister for financial services and superannuation in government.

"He said ‘increases in compulsory super come out of people's wages.'

"So I would say to the member for Griffith, if you don't believe us, look at the words of your own leader: ‘increases in superannuation invariably come out of the pockets of workers'."

Sukkar added that while increasing super is a good goal to have, it should be done in a sensible way.

"Having hit superannuation accounts with $9 billion of additional taxes over six years they [Labor] should, in my view, sheepishly avoid this topic because they have absolutely no credibility."