Former Liberal PM Malcom Turnbull today rebuked Liberal backbenches in their push to cut the long-promised, legislated, and overdue Superannuation Guarantee increases.
 
In an interview with Patricia Karvelas on ABC24 Afternoon Briefing, Mr Turnbull labelled the Liberals arguments against the rise as ‘patronising’, stating the Government would be better off sticking with the legislated increase.
 
“I think that the compulsory superannuation system has been a great achievement in Australia and I think we should support it.”
 
“Super is there to fund people’s retirement, I think when you start chipping away at it, that is unfortunate. I don’t agree with the measure for $40,000 to be taken out of peoples super.”
 
When asked about the Government’s fraught early access superannuation scheme, Mr Turnbull stated: “With the benefit of hindsight, that will be seen to have been a poor quality decision”.
 
“The reality is if you are a 25 year old or a 30 year old and you clean out your super, because of the way that compound interest works, that’s going to result in you having a lot less when you retire.”
 
The former Prime Minister’s key criticism is that the Government is not accounting for compound interest. He pushed back against backbench supporters of the program, saying:
 
“They overlook this point about compound interest. Say you have $40 000 in your super that will compound over time as your investments grow. If you spend it all now and then you have to start from scratch, it will take you a long time to catch up. I mean, it’s not rocket science. “
 
A 25 year who withdraws $25 000 from their super account with be $95 000 worse off in retirement.
 
If Scott Morrison goes back on his commitment to the super increase, it will be an attack on workers and their standard of living in retirement.
 
The last time the Liberals and Nationals froze the Superannuation Guarantee, wages growth didn’t pick up. We got record low wage growth instead.
 
Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg have repeatedly and emphatically ruled out any changes to the legislated Superannuation Guarantee.
 
They should stick with their election promise. Every Australian deserves to retire with dignity.
 
It’s not rocket science.