Senator Nick Sherry, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, today called on new Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and new Shadow Treasurer Julie Bishop to stand up to Peter Costello and reject his attacks on working Australians saving for their retirement.
"Mr Costello today launched an extraordinary and heartless attack on working Australians who have saved into superannuation funds."
"Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop should show some leadership and join with the Government to stand up for Australians who are feeling the effects of global financial market turmoil, and not just stand by and let one of their Liberal MPs attack Australians for saving for the future," said Minister Sherry.
Mr Costello claimed today in The Australian that when Treasurer he had never encouraged people to contribute to super during reforms in 2007, yet in an interview with Scott Murdoch on Sky Business Sunday on 1 July 2007 Mr Costello did exactly that:
"There is no doubt there has been a huge flood of money into superannuation – and the greatest flood of money into superannuation ever. That is actually a good thing… We knew that there would be an amount that would go in and we wanted to encourage it."
On top of this, the Liberal Government launched a multi-million dollar advertising campaign to encourage exactly this outcome.
Today Mr Costello went even further by attacking Australians who are concerned about their super balances by saying that no one should "worry about people who made voluntary decisions about superannuation" (pg 1, The Australian).
"What I want to know right now is whether the new Liberal leadership will reject these disturbing comments made at a time of uncertainty?"
"As the Government has been saying, superannuation is a long-term investment. Whether Mr Turnbull joins me in rejecting Peter Costello's comments will indicate whether he's likely to be a long-term investment for the Liberal Party, or just another short-term seat warmer for the increasingly erratic Mr Costello," said Minister Sherry.