The federal coalition has executed a high-diving backflip with pike over the government's move to increase the superannuation guarantee from 9 per cent to 12 per cent over the next few years.
The minerals resource rent tax was tabled before Parliament during the last sitting, with one of the key selling points for the government being the linking of the mining tax to increasing the super of Australian workers.
Even though the coalition opposes the mining tax, with opposition leader Tony Abbott last week telling journalists the tax remains "a threat to investment and jobs", the coalition has committed to keeping the clause in the legislation that increases the super guarantee from 9 per cent to 12 per cent over the next few years.
Speaking to Investor Weekly, a spokesperson for opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey directly confirmed the coalition's position.
"The coalition will not be reversing the increase in the superannuation guarantee from 9 per cent to 12 per cent should we form government," the spokesperson said.
"If the legislation before the Parliament is passed, the increase in the super guarantee will stand."
The spokesperson was unable to shed any light on how the coalition would pay for retaining the rise in the super guarantee, particularly in the face of the opposition's promise to bring the budget back into surplus faster than Labor.
"The coalition will release details of how it will pay for the increase in the super guarantee before the next election" was all Hockey's spokesperson was able to offer.
Some pundits see this as a smart political move by the coalition, allowing Abbott to walk into an election campaign with the double-barrel attack of opposing the carbon tax and the mining tax without threatening to claw back the super guarantee from Australian income earners.
However, the backflip does focus a harsh spotlight on previous comments by Hockey, who raised concerns about the increase in the super guarantee in an interview with Investor Weekly in June.
"The coalition has concern that this will be an impost on small business," he said at the time.
"The increase from 9 per cent to 12 per cent will either have to be borne by small business or by employees."
He argued Labor's promise could backfire, affecting the ability of small business to offer adequate wages and maintain jobs.
"At a time when cost-of-living pressures are paramount for Australian families, the coalition believes this will simply reduce take-home pay and eat into already small profits of Australian small business," he said.
