Stephen Cenatiempo:
Time to talk federal politics now with the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury and the Member for Fenner, Andrew Leigh. Andrew, good morning.
Andrew Leigh:
Good morning Stephen.
Cenatiempo:
A momentous day yesterday, absolute jubilant scenes out of Israel early evening our time – I’d think mid‑morning Israeli time. Twenty living hostages. Now, we’ve got still got 28 sadly, that have been murdered by Hamas. We need their remains returned so that their families can get closure. But I tell you what for all his faults and failings, Donald Trump pulled off something that nobody else could.
Leigh:
I think only a US President could have got this over of line and it really was joyous to see those hostages being brought home to their families. There’s a lovely story about 2 hostages who huddled together in a tunnel, deciding if they ever got out they’d go on a surfing holiday together, and now they’re making those plans. There’s so many parents and that have longed to see their children back. So yes, on a human level you just had to feel a sense of hope for peace and calm in the Middle East, and for the killing to stop.
Cenatiempo:
Yeah, it’s going to be – look, obviously a lot of water left to go under the bridge, and President Trump after visiting Israel, moving on to Egypt to sign these peace deals. I guess the real telling point here is that so many Arab nations have signed up for this. Obviously, they’ve had enough of the Iranian‑backed terror regimes that have been attacking Israel, and once upon a time they would have liked to have seen Israel wiped off the map, but they’ve grown a modern spine so to speak.
Leigh:
Well, I think many of those Arab nations will be playing a big part, particularly in the rebuild and there’s been talk of significant amounts of capital being put up by Gulf States in order to fund the rebuilding of Gaza. You know, some 4 out of 5 buildings in Gaza having been destroyed, that’s going to be a massive operation. And only those Arab nations can ensure that Hamas doesn’t play a part in the future governance of Gaza which is obviously essential to peace in the Middle East.
Cenatiempo:
And the most difficult part of this. Now, closer to home whilst all of this was going on under the cover of international goings on, the Treasurer has decided to back down on his proposed changes to superannuation tax that would have seen unrealised capital gains taxed. And I speak to enough of your colleagues in the Labor Party off air to know that this wasn’t popular even in your own party room. You were all set out to defend it. Now that it’s been changed, how do you justify this backflip?
Leigh:
Well, we know that super concessions are costing the budget a lot. They’re costing about $55 billion a year, and in a couple of decades the super concessions will cost more than the pension. So we did need to curtail those super concessions and we found a better way of doing that. This will ensure that the low‑income super tax offset – a benefit which goes largely to low‑paid women, is increased. And the number of beneficiaries of that will be 14 times bigger than the number of people with more than $3 million in their super balances.
Cenatiempo:
So, this is going to be a massive hit to the budget though. How do you pay for that?
Leigh:
Well, in the short‑term the main cost is delaying operation for a year in order to make sure that we can get implementation right. But in the first full year of operation – which is the fiscal year 2028–29 – it saves the budget, and so it’s a cost in the short‑term but a save in the long‑term is the way to think about it.
Cenatiempo:
Yeah, but Andrew the question here is that everybody knew this was a bad idea. The original plan was a bad idea. Every expert said it was bad, the Opposition said it was bad, I know members of your own backbench were saying this is bad, the superannuation industry was saying it’s bad. How did this get through the party room in the first place?
Leigh:
Well, Stephen it’s really about the implementation and we looked to do it in a way which appeared straightforward, but it ultimately turned out not to be the best way of tackling the problem. The new approach that we’ve taken is fair. It still ensures that superannuation is concessionally taxed, even for people with more than $10 million in their super accounts. But it doesn’t have the problem of taxing unrealised gains, which people had raised earlier, and alongside that we’ve also found room in the budget in order to benefit low‑income earners because we know there’s that big gender superannuation gap in retirement.
Cenatiempo:
I want to talk about something, and I know you’re across the interview I did yesterday with the Shadow Veterans’ Affairs Minister, Darren Chester. The government is planning to effectively put a 20‑year Statute of Limitations on military decoration, so those who served in the First and Second World Wars will no longer be eligible to be decorated retrospectively, which – well, all military decorations are retrospective, let’s be honest about that. Again, I know that there are backbenchers in the Labor party that are absolutely furious about this. What’s the rationale?
Leigh:
Well, Australia’s unusual in having an independent review tribunal for defence honours and awards. No other Commonwealth country has one of those, and we’ll continue to have an independent review panel. But at the moment the review process is very broad. You can review decisions going all the way back to 1939, which often means that you’re considering issues where the relevant people – including senior officers – have passed away. This means that if you’ve got a refusal decision relating to a length of service award going for World War II, then the tribunal won’t be able to go back and review that. It will be looking at decisions where the relevant witnesses are still alive, and the commanders of the day are available.
Cenatiempo:
Yeah, but under this plan, Teddy Sheehan our most recent Victoria Cross recipient, would never have been considered.
Leigh:
Yeah look, I understand the importance of the Teddy Sheehan case, and we’re obviously all very pleased in the parliament to see that go through. But at the moment anyone can bring a claim. There is huge breadth of ability of this review tribunal to review decisions. This is simply saying that a refusal decision relating to length of service award can’t be done if the person is over 100 years old or would have been over 100 years old, and a refusal decision relating to an honour would have to be made within 20 years.
Cenatiempo:
But the thing is Andrew, I mean when you talk about we’re the only Commonwealth country that has an independent tribunal, we’re also the only Commonwealth country that has the Australian War Memorial and the breadth of archives and information they have. And given that there’s only roughly 30 of these applications made a year, we’re not talking about anything particularly onerous, and we’re not talking about – we’re not a country that doesn’t have extensive records that we can draw back on, even if the people have passed away.
Leigh:
Yeah, I guess Stephen. It’s about ensuring we’ve got a defence honours and award system that has appropriate integrity. Tens of thousands of ADF personnel receive acknowledgements annually, there is a proud tradition of that and there’s the ability to have those decisions reviewed. These decisions will still be able to be reviewed in some cases going back many decades. But it won’t any longer go back to 1939, which makes it very difficult in order to make a proper decision.
Cenatiempo:
I reckon it should be allowed to go back to the Boer War Andrew, but we’ll have to agree to disagree on that. Good to talk to you. We’ll catch up again in a couple of weeks.
Leigh:
Thanks so much Stephen, take care.
Cenatiempo:
Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury and the Member for Fenner.