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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/jun/02/superannuation-policy-continues-to-cause-headaches
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| Shorten attacks Sinodinos on superannuation: 'People don’t want surprises' - live updates | Shorten attacks Sinodinos on superannuation: 'People don’t want surprises' - live updates |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 4.19am BST | |
| 04:19 | |
| A brief digression on one of the mattress artisans, Neville. | |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| In fact Neville is one of the -Neville is - Neville, was stitching one of the beautiful mattresses there, Neville with his handsome white beard has become a household figure in China. | |
| He’s become so well known through the publicity for the AH Beard products. Next time I go to Beijing, I will be able to say people I know Neville from AH Beard, with his own magnificent beard. | |
| 4.18am BST | |
| 04:18 | |
| Bill Shorten: left of himself | |
| Q: PM, briefly, this morning your treasurer said that Labor was using taxes as bullets. You have called for moderation in language from MPs before. Is it possible that people who have faced real bullets might find the treasurer’s language inappropriate? | |
| The prime minister also ponies up Bill Shorten’s war on business. | |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| Bill Shorten has declared war on business. He’s declared war on the family businesses of Australia. He is denying them the tax relief that in the past he himself has said they deserve, and in the past Labor governments have delivered. This is a change, this is a dramatic move to the left. | |
| This is the most anti-business Labor leader we have seen in a very long time. He’s more anti-business than even he used to be in the past. Now the reality is that Bill Shorten has declared war on business and the first casualties are jobs. | |
| (I’d be careful about the “first casualty” locution myself, because you sail close to truth being the answer when you invoke the phrase, and you do invite scrutiny of the truth of the statement. At least Turnbull spares us the bullets.) | |
| 4.13am BST | |
| 04:13 | |
| 'Let's get real about this' | |
| The prime minister says he needs to be very clear about superannuation and the impact of the changes. | |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| Now, it is true that some people, around 4%, on high incomes and with high superannuation balances will have to pay some more tax on their superannuation account in the sense they will pay the 15% tax whereas previously they were paying nothing. So if you have someone who has $10m in their superannuation account in retirement, currently they are not paying any tax at all on the earnings from that. No tax at all. | |
| Under our changes, they will have no tax on the earnings of $1.6m and on the balance they will pay 15%, right? 15% remains avery concessional tax rate. That is less tax than a kid pays on his marginal income stacking shelves at Woolies. | |
| Let’s get real about this. Nobody likes paying more tax. Super has been an extremely generous system. It remains a very generous tax advantage system. That hasn’t changed. | |
| Updated | |
| at 4.13am BST | |
| 4.10am BST | |
| 04:10 | |
| 'As I've made it clear, there will be no changes to the policy' | |
| Q: Can I just ask, on this business, has this business benefited from the China Free Trade Agreement and was there a tariff on mattresses that has been removed? | |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| There is, it’s coming down. It’s coming down to zero by 2019. So it is - the mattress tariff is reducing and it’s reducing from the outset, it started off at 19% and is coming down to zero. | |
| Q: Yesterday your cabinet secretary Arthur Sinodinos said if you win the election, there will be consultation on various changes. Will there be any changes to your superannuation policy either before or after the election? | |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| As I’ve made it clear, there will be no changes to the policy. | |
| It’s set out in the budget and that is the government’s policy. What Arthur was referring to was that there is always consultation about the details of the drafting and what I think Mathias Cormann called the administrative implementation. | |
| But the policy, the substance of it, the economic substance of it, that is all settled, that’s in the budget and that’s our policy. | |
| 4.07am BST | |
| 04:07 | |
| 'Australians can do anything ..' | |
| The prime minister is speaking to reporters in Sydney. Malcolm Turnbull just invoked the word “artisans” in relation to mattress makers at this factory. | |
| Malcolm Turnbull: | |
| Australian artisans, Australian technology and selling them into China into the biggest market in the world. A little while ago, a container every three months. Now there is a container ever three days. | |
| This company didn’t export before. Now, thanks to the big open markets that we have made available to Australian manufacturers, to Australian exporters of every kind, they have 3% of their sales going to China and it’s growing. | |
| Australians can do anything including selling mattresses into the Chinese market. More jobs, more growth. That’s our national economic plan and this business is a family business. | |
| Mattress artisans, let us rejoice. | |
| 3.49am BST | |
| 03:49 | |
| Helen Davidson | |
| Looking north, the head of the Northern Land Council has called for Malcolm Turnbull to find a new Indigenous affairs minister if it wins government because Nigel Scullion is “not up to the job”. | |
| Chief executive of the NLC Joe Morrison, was addressing the Native Title Conference in Darwin this morning and launched a blistering tirade against Scullion - with whom he has historically had a fractious working relationship. “This minister is not up to the job, and I would implore Malcolm Turnbull, if his Coalition government is returned on July the second, to look among his caucus and find a new minister who has the interests of Indigenous people at heart and a commitment to work with the institutional architecture, not against it,” Morrison said. | |
| Morrison said he believed times for Indigenous affairs had “never been bleaker than under Senator Scullion’s watch, when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs were folded into the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.” Morrison praised the strength of the Northern Territory’s Aboriginal Land Rights Act and accused Scullion of holding “abiding scorn” for it against the “fragile bundle of rights” under its federal equivalent. | |
| Morrison questioned whether Scullion intended to change the operation of the Land Rights Act, saying prior to the 2013 election Scullion had promised there would be no amendments without the consent of land councils. “There’s been no such assurance on the eve of this election, and for as long as Nigel Scullion remains Minister, I believe Aboriginal land rights in the Northern Territory and the important role and functions of the land councils will remain under threat,” Morrison said. | |
| Morrison also criticised Scullion over leasing arrangements, and the controversial Indigenous Advancement Strategy. | |
| Senator Scullion and his army of bureaucrats failed Indigenous Australians dismally, yet in the face of a damning Senate inquiry he stands up before the NLC Full Council and claims that, in his words, he’s untangled a mess of programs that had barely made an impact on Indigenous intergenerational disadvantage. | |
| Well, that disadvantage is not diminishing. The evidence is there every year as pious Prime Ministers, year after year, stand in Parliament to deliver the Closing the Gap Report. | |
| Minister Scullion takes my breath away. | |
| Where’s the accountability here? | |
| Scullion has been contacted for comment. | |
| 3.32am BST | 3.32am BST |
| 03:32 | 03:32 |
| Right now, Malcolm Turnbull is looking at ... mattresses. | Right now, Malcolm Turnbull is looking at ... mattresses. |
| PM is inspecting the wares #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/S0PdaRnxjE | PM is inspecting the wares #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/S0PdaRnxjE |
| 3.31am BST | 3.31am BST |
| 03:31 | 03:31 |
| Toxins, in a chart. Yes I did forget to share the picture before. This says it all, really. | Toxins, in a chart. Yes I did forget to share the picture before. This says it all, really. |
| A press conference with the prime minister is coming up very shortly. | A press conference with the prime minister is coming up very shortly. |
| 3.19am BST | 3.19am BST |
| 03:19 | 03:19 |
| Katharine Murphy | Katharine Murphy |
| Hello everyone, thanks to Gabi and to Paul and to the readers for managing that short period of turbulence, I’m back. | Hello everyone, thanks to Gabi and to Paul and to the readers for managing that short period of turbulence, I’m back. |
| 3.09am BST | 3.09am BST |
| 03:09 | 03:09 |
| Gabrielle Chan | Gabrielle Chan |
| Back to superannuation, Shorten was asked about Labor’s policies. Both Labor and the Coalition are moving to rein in generous superannuation concessions, set up by Peter Costello in the last year of the Howard government. | Back to superannuation, Shorten was asked about Labor’s policies. Both Labor and the Coalition are moving to rein in generous superannuation concessions, set up by Peter Costello in the last year of the Howard government. |
| In terms of our policies we outlined last year, we led. We said if you earn more than $250,000 that the money you have paid into your superannuation would be taxed at 30 cents rather than 15. Currently you don’t get to that 30 rents tax rate until you are at $300 ,00. So we brought that down by $50,000. | In terms of our policies we outlined last year, we led. We said if you earn more than $250,000 that the money you have paid into your superannuation would be taxed at 30 cents rather than 15. Currently you don’t get to that 30 rents tax rate until you are at $300 ,00. So we brought that down by $50,000. |
| We also said in a retirement phase if you had earnings, interest, from your superannuation lump sum which was delivering you more than $75,000 dollars a year, that you would pay a 15% rate on the earnings above $75,000. | We also said in a retirement phase if you had earnings, interest, from your superannuation lump sum which was delivering you more than $75,000 dollars a year, that you would pay a 15% rate on the earnings above $75,000. |
| And we said this because we knew that Howard and Costello were too generous back in the ‘06, ‘07 budget because prior to then there had been a limit that superannuation was never intended to be a tool where people would minimise all their taxation. But we knew that Howard and Costello had gone too far. | And we said this because we knew that Howard and Costello were too generous back in the ‘06, ‘07 budget because prior to then there had been a limit that superannuation was never intended to be a tool where people would minimise all their taxation. But we knew that Howard and Costello had gone too far. |
| So we said prospectively we need to make sure we rein that in and we put some markers down. To be fair the business community knew what we were doing and we could understand you have to make decisions which benefit the national interest not just some people. | So we said prospectively we need to make sure we rein that in and we put some markers down. To be fair the business community knew what we were doing and we could understand you have to make decisions which benefit the national interest not just some people. |
| On any fair assesment, current superannuation laws need reining in. Well known economist Saul Eslake calls them a “rort” and a “gift” to people who have the capacity to put away large lumps of cash into super to build wealth and avoid tax. | On any fair assesment, current superannuation laws need reining in. Well known economist Saul Eslake calls them a “rort” and a “gift” to people who have the capacity to put away large lumps of cash into super to build wealth and avoid tax. |
| The argument between the two parties is on how to best close that door. | The argument between the two parties is on how to best close that door. |
| And just a point on the Coalition unrest. I have been calling around the Coalition backbenchers for the past two days on this. They say people are confused and concerned but once the policy is explained, they realise they are usually not effected. One MP said he had the case of someone who had sold their house to downsize and wanted to put a lump into his super. That was no longer possible so he was cranky. | And just a point on the Coalition unrest. I have been calling around the Coalition backbenchers for the past two days on this. They say people are confused and concerned but once the policy is explained, they realise they are usually not effected. One MP said he had the case of someone who had sold their house to downsize and wanted to put a lump into his super. That was no longer possible so he was cranky. |
| I have also not found anyone worried about donations. Which is not to say there are not worries. I would like to hear someone say it out loud. | I have also not found anyone worried about donations. Which is not to say there are not worries. I would like to hear someone say it out loud. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.20am BST | at 3.20am BST |
| 2.42am BST | 2.42am BST |
| 02:42 | 02:42 |
| Paul Karp | Paul Karp |
| Bill Shorten has given a doorstop at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. He criticised Arthur Sinodinos’s comments the government might review superannuation changes after the election. | Bill Shorten has given a doorstop at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. He criticised Arthur Sinodinos’s comments the government might review superannuation changes after the election. |
| Shorten: | Shorten: |
| People don’t want surprises in superannuation. Furthermore, if they make changes to superannuation under pressure from their backbench after the election, which we’re not guaranteed of, what other cuts will they have to implement to make up for the hole in their expenditure which they do by reversing superannuation changes.” | People don’t want surprises in superannuation. Furthermore, if they make changes to superannuation under pressure from their backbench after the election, which we’re not guaranteed of, what other cuts will they have to implement to make up for the hole in their expenditure which they do by reversing superannuation changes.” |
| He took up the fight again on whether changes in the 2016 budget were retrospective: | He took up the fight again on whether changes in the 2016 budget were retrospective: |
| Now Mr Turnbull wasn’t straight on Sunday night when he said the changes aren’t retrospective. Now everyone right from the conservative thinktank, the IPA, right through to the CPA, the peak body representing accountants say these changes are retrospective. | Now Mr Turnbull wasn’t straight on Sunday night when he said the changes aren’t retrospective. Now everyone right from the conservative thinktank, the IPA, right through to the CPA, the peak body representing accountants say these changes are retrospective. |
| Shorten raised a new practical problem about people accounting for what they’ve put into super from 2007: | Shorten raised a new practical problem about people accounting for what they’ve put into super from 2007: |
| Australians aren’t required to keep their tax records for longer than five years, nor are superannuation funds as a general rule, but Mr Turnbull’s changes mean people have to go back and calculate what they’ve done over nine years. The tax office is getting flooded. These people don’t know the superannuation system. | Australians aren’t required to keep their tax records for longer than five years, nor are superannuation funds as a general rule, but Mr Turnbull’s changes mean people have to go back and calculate what they’ve done over nine years. The tax office is getting flooded. These people don’t know the superannuation system. |
| And clearly senator Sinodinos is picking up the jungle drums of angry conservatives and now’s saying they may change the policy. The truth of the matter is this government is saying one thing before an election, but they’re already flagging they’ll do something else after the election. If you can’t trust them on superannuation, what can we trust them on any aspect of their economic plan when it comes to keeping their promises? | And clearly senator Sinodinos is picking up the jungle drums of angry conservatives and now’s saying they may change the policy. The truth of the matter is this government is saying one thing before an election, but they’re already flagging they’ll do something else after the election. If you can’t trust them on superannuation, what can we trust them on any aspect of their economic plan when it comes to keeping their promises? |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.04am BST | at 3.04am BST |
| 2.39am BST | 2.39am BST |
| 02:39 | 02:39 |
| Gabrielle Chan | Gabrielle Chan |
| I will have more from the Bill Shorten campaign in the minute. Let me return to a personal obsession. | I will have more from the Bill Shorten campaign in the minute. Let me return to a personal obsession. |
| The John Cain Foundation has released a report into political donations. The former Labor frontbencher Maxine McKew is the chairwoman of the foundation. She spoke to Fran Kelly this morning and you can hear the full interview here. | The John Cain Foundation has released a report into political donations. The former Labor frontbencher Maxine McKew is the chairwoman of the foundation. She spoke to Fran Kelly this morning and you can hear the full interview here. |
| The report calls for a “comprehensive clean-up of the shambolic and inadequate” donation disclosure system in Australia. | The report calls for a “comprehensive clean-up of the shambolic and inadequate” donation disclosure system in Australia. |
| Transparency is the key here. If we could see real-time donations through the whole political cycle it would enlighten us, no end. Imagine if you could see an industry/union donating to a political party while they are publicly advocating policy in the media. Remember the Kevin Andrews donation from Clubs NSW? Whatever the decision-making process, it improves the view for voters into the political process. | Transparency is the key here. If we could see real-time donations through the whole political cycle it would enlighten us, no end. Imagine if you could see an industry/union donating to a political party while they are publicly advocating policy in the media. Remember the Kevin Andrews donation from Clubs NSW? Whatever the decision-making process, it improves the view for voters into the political process. |
| NSW opposition leader Luke Foley has pledged real-time disclosures in place for NSW Labor next year. He will be on the panel tonight at NSW parliament house discussing the Cain report. | NSW opposition leader Luke Foley has pledged real-time disclosures in place for NSW Labor next year. He will be on the panel tonight at NSW parliament house discussing the Cain report. |
| It is worth noting Indi independent Cathy McGowan has been disclosing her donations in real time on her campaign website. It is the first I have seen but let me know if I have missed something. | It is worth noting Indi independent Cathy McGowan has been disclosing her donations in real time on her campaign website. It is the first I have seen but let me know if I have missed something. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.21am BST | at 3.21am BST |
| 2.23am BST | 2.23am BST |
| 02:23 | 02:23 |
| Gabrielle Chan | Gabrielle Chan |
| Bringing some mussel to the Labor campaign. | Bringing some mussel to the Labor campaign. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 3.22am BST | at 3.22am BST |