A day after Kim Beazley launched Mark Latham's 're-heated' superannuation ideas, there are significant questions left unanswered, Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer, Peter Dutton, said today.
As well as being a 're-heated' Latham policy on superannuation, Labor's announcement yesterday failed to address key issues that will directly affect Australian workers, Mr Dutton said.
In 2004 Labor announced that it would retain the superannuation surcharge and increase it back up to 15%. Last year the Howard Government abolished the superannuation surcharge.
Kim Beazley and Labor now need to come clean and tell workers whether they will retain the Latham policy to re-instate and increase the superannuation surcharge, he said.
Mr Dutton said in 2004 Labor promised to reimpose the superannuation work test.
This policy would specifically disadvantage those women who may be able to contribute to their superannuation between jobs, or when taking breaks from the workforce.
The Howard Government removed the work test from 1 July 2004.
Kim Beazley needs to say now whether or not he will keep this Latham policy, Mr Dutton said.
Mr Dutton also highlighted what a difference two days make in Labor policy making. On Friday 7 April, Labor's Nick Sherry and Lindsay Tanner said it was time to:
ensure accurate costing of the long-term cost of new programmes .
They said that Labor would:
make it mandatory for all new policies subject to significant demographic risk to be assessed and reported as projections over a 40 year period, consistent with the Intergenerational Report .
On Monday, Kim Beazley jointly announced with Nick Sherry a number of new ideas in superannuation, yet there was not a single word as to costings.
Kim Beazley needs to come clean with Australians on what his plans are and how he is going to pay for them. Or were his shadow Ministers acting alone, another blow to his weak leadership?