Politicians paid price for super tinkering
Tinkering with superannuation policies has proved detrimental for both major parties, with the election outcome illustrating that many in the electorate were unhappy, the SMSF Association said.
As the post-Federal election fallout continued, the SMSF Association joined Express Super and SuperGuardian head, Olivia Long, in pointing to super tinkering as one reason for the election outcome on 2 July.
The SMSF Association criticised both sides of politics for refusing to take a long-term view on superannuation.
Chief executive and managing director, Andrea Slattery, called for political bipartisanship in setting the superannuation framework, adding it should be removed from budgetary and political cycles for the long-term.
"Both major political parties were seen as moving the goal posts for ordinary Australians to build their savings to ensure a dignified retirement. This is despite the repeated calls from the public and superannuation industry for the ongoing tinkering with superannuation to stop," Slattery said.
"It has been the Association's long-term policy that the objective and underlying principles of superannuation should be enshrined in legislation, and what has happened over the course of this election campaign has simply reinforced our position."
Slattery said the Association was prepared to work "constructively" with the new Government, opposition and cross-benchers in the House of Representatives and the Senate to tackle the super policy issues raised in the Federal budget.
"We are on the record in saying we believed the reduction in the concessional contribution caps were detrimental to the goal of encouraging people to be self-sufficient in retirement and that other budget changes were complex and disrupted many people's long-term plans," Slattery said.
"We look forward to working with all parliamentarians to either change or ameliorate the impact of these changes."
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