Government forecasts super doom under Labor

The Federal Government has sought to use statements on the use of superannuation funds made by the Federal Opposition leader, Mark Latham up to six years' ago to suggest a Labor Government would undermine the safety of superannuation savings in Australia.

The Liberal Party relaunched its superannuation policy on Wednesday and, in doing so, referred to statements made by Latham and other Labor Party frontbenchers as long ago as 1996 to suggest the ALP could not be trusted in managing superannuation policy.

Claiming the ALP wants to use superannuation to fund pet projects, the Liberal Party policy document claims a statement by Latham in 1996 suggests using superannuation for Labor market retraining, while another statement dating back to 1996 suggests the now Opposition leader wanted superannuation funds to be used to cover economic adjustment costs.

The policy document asserts that while Labor wants to use superannuation for pet projects, “Mr Latham's colleagues and trade unions have other ideas” and points to statements made by Labor's Treasury spokesman, Simon Crean in 2002 regarding the use of superannuation for health care, and statements made by another Labor front-bencher, Craig Emerson regarding the use of superannuation for regional investment vehicles.

“Labor has a long record of squandering taxpayers' money but, ominously, they now want to squander taxpayers' savings,” the Liberal Party policy document says.