After maintaining a policy against the Government's superannuation co-contribution payment which benefits low and middle income workers, Labor has now announced that it will consider changes ‘in the longer term’ to help low and middle income earners.
Labor has stopped short of calling it another review - instead, in typical Labor style, Senator Sherry is making vague promises today about looking at changes; in other words, “the review you have when you're not having a review."
The fact is Senator Sherry's comments are designed to divert attention away from data released yesterday showing Australian's have embraced the Government's Better Super reforms with record contributions to superannuation and the absence of Labor policy.
Labor’s sudden commitment to the Government’s co-contribution scheme is yet another backflip coming from the party that promised to abolish the co-contribution scheme in 2004.
The Labor Party has now been forced to recognise how successful the Super Co-contribution scheme has been – just like the Medicare Safety Net.
Over the first three years of the Super Co-contribution scheme, the Government has contributed over $3.2 billion directly into the superannuation accounts of low and middle income workers.
For a 40 year old person on an average income the Better Super changes will mean they will have around an extra $76 per week to spend in retirement at age 65 without contributing any extra to their super.
The real risk to the superannuation savings of Australians is that a Rudd Labor Government would mismanage Australia's $1 trillion economy and send unemployment skyrocketing.
You can't save for your retirement if you don't have a job.