Labor finally backs Budget super changes

Nick Sherry

The Federal Opposition has given its formal support to the superannuation changes announced by the Government in the May Budget.

After refusing to give better than indicative support to the Budget changes in the absence of formal Government costings, the Opposition spokesman on superannuation, Senator Nick Sherry, said the Australian Labor Party had decided to support the package following its finalisation by the Government on Tuesday.

“It is in the interests of stability and certainty in our compulsory superannuation system and provides some improvements to simplicity and incentives,” he said.

Sherry said that while the Opposition had consulted widely on the Budget package with a range of groups, its task had been made difficult by the Government’s refusal to provide detailed costings.

While confirming support for the Budget superannuation package, Sherry said he believed the Government needed to reconsider the tax increase on contributions from 15 per cent to 46.5 per cent for employees where employers failed to provide a tax file number.

He claimed more than a million Australians could be hurt by the measure, most of whom would be in the low to middle income bracket.