Subjects: Superannuation, foreign interference
PETER STEFANOVIC: Okay, let’s go live to the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, Karen Andrews. Karen, good morning to you. Thanks for your time, so, we’ll start with super, before we get onto Mike Burgess. Jim Chalmers, he looks to have his sight set on reigning in tax breaks for super balancers above $3 million. That seems to be the figure, not locked on that, but it seems to be the figure in your view, is that a major change and would therefore qualify as breaking an election promise? Or is it a minor tweak?
KAREN ANDREWS: Well, good morning, and I think you’ve hit the nail right on the head with a discussion now about what is a ‘major’ change, because that is a very subjective assessment. So I think what we’ll see from labor is that they’ve been out there, they’ve been testing the waters in the process, frightening a lot of people, including those who have already retired and those that are facing retirement, but they’ve been out there testing the waters. There’s a range of possible changes that are out there. And now we are hearing, ‘well, there won’t be any major changes’, but it’s unclear how they’re going to define ‘major’. So in any case, I think clearly what they’ve been doing is breaking an election promise about the fact that there is consideration now of changes to superannuation that will affect people, but potentially it will undermine people’s confidence in the superannuation system. And that is particularly concerning. Cause what we’ll see is that people will become increasingly reluctant to make additional contributions into their superannuation. They will look at other potential investment opportunities. So there are significant consequences of the actions that this government may well take.
PETER STEFANOVIC: So it does seem to be that’s the only figure that they’re looking at, at the moment, which will only involve 36,000 Australians who’ve got super, that totals above $3 million. You think that they’ll just go and reinvest the money elsewhere?
KAREN ANDREWS: Well, who knows, quite frankly what the Labor government is going to do. They’ve raised the discussion about superannuation. They may well be trying to contain that now, given the considerable pushback that they’ve got from the community. But people are already starting to distrust this Labor government, they’re starting to second guess now, what might well be happening with superannuation. And that goes to what I said before, which is undermining people’s confidence in the superannuation system. And that is actually a huge issue.
PETER STEFANOVIC: No, for sure, for sure. Naw, just on that point though, just on that $3 million figure, is it fair that folks who have more than $3 million in super can also benefit from those generous tax breaks?
KAREN ANDREWS: Look, I think the superannuation system is one that has held our economy and individuals in very good stead for a long period of time. And I know that the point that you are making there, ‘well, it’s only going to be a relatively small number of people that might be impacted’, but this is the thin edge of the wedge. This is Labor government going about making changes to superannuation and they will do it step by step. And people are concerned about that.
PETER STEFANOVIC: So, creep, this, I mean, Hollie Hughes just talked about this as well, and in the last hour, you think it’s a creep and it leads to something else?
KAREN ANDREWS: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. There’s been a range of issues that have been openly discussed in the media. The government has not shut it down. You know, they have let that discussion go. So they were clearly testing what the market thought, what consumers thought, what the media thought of this. And now they’ve started to wind it back a little bit and they’re hiding behind the terminology ‘major’. So I think that they’ve actually given a pretty good view of how they’re going to operate to the Australian people and it’s unacceptable.
PETER STEFANOVIC: Okay, just a quick one here, Karen on the ASIO boss, quite a stunning speech this week. He warned of spy networks being the worst in Australia’s history. How sobering was that message for you?
KAREN ANDREWS: Well, I was there when Mike Burgess delivered his speech. It was an excellent speech and I have a lot of confidence in Mike Burgess. There are a number of things in his speech that are concerning and no one should just take for granted what we have here in Australia. Now, he talked about interference in our systems here. He actually spoke particularly about views that had been put to him by individuals in business, universities, in the bureaucracy, which is particularly alarming, saying that ASIO should wind back its operational responses so that it effectively doesn’t upset foreign regimes. Now, the parts that concerned me were universities because we need to make sure our universities fully understand the implications of foreign interference. They are our major research organizations. But it was very interesting what he said about the bureaucracy because the bureaucracy always acts on behalf of the government of the day. So it raises so many more questions about what advice was being given to bureaucrats, what the bureaucrats have been out there saying. So I think that there’s a lot to unpack in that speech.
PETER STEFANOVIC: Okay. Karen Andrews, we are outta time, but thank you for your time. As always. We’ll talk to you soon.
ENDS