Thursday 24 June was a historic occasion for the country with the unexpected appointment of Julia Gillard as the first female prime minister.
In no time there was a call for the newly-appointed PM to review the bittersweet resource super profits tax (RSPT).
A review of the RSPT is likely. The big question now is whether a wind-back of the tax will also mean a wind-back of super reform, particularly the government’s superannuation guarantee (SG) boost to 12 per cent and tax concessions for low-income earners.
This week, Karen Maley from the Business Spectator recommended that the “PM would be well advised to drop the superannuation sweeteners the resource tax was supposed to fund”.
“Most of us care so little about our retirement savings that we can’t even be bothered to tick any of the boxes when it comes to choosing how we’d like to have them invested,” Maley said.
Maley might be correct in gauging people’s general apathy toward their super, however, she obviously has not looked at recent polls that show an overwhelming majority of people support an increase in the SG.
A June Newspoll found 73 per cent of workers backed the SG rise to 12 per cent. Importantly, 56 per cent were prepared to pay for the increase from their wages.
Despite some spectacular failings in key policy areas – climate change, for example – the government has implemented some big reforms in the industry, particularly the phasing out of commissions and finally an increase in the SG.
Like the mining sector, Australia’s super system supported Australia through the global financial crisis, providing much needed liquidity to the capital markets.
Let’s hope Gillard’s government will recognise the importance of our compulsory super system and not step back from its commitment on key reforms, particularly the SG hike.
