SG rise tied to MRRT: Shorten

superannuation-guarantee/assistant-treasurer/government/

29 March 2011
| By Mike Taylor |
image
image
expand image

The Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Bill Shorten (pictured), has made clear that delivering an increase in the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent is inexorably tied to the delivery of a Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT).

Addressing the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds (CMSF) on the Gold Coast, Shorten asked superannuation fund trustees to drive home the message that passage of the MRRT legislation was directly linked to ensuring Australians did not grow old in poverty.

He described the MRRT as “a really good tax” based on the special prosperity of the mining boom.

“They [the mining companies] can afford it, but Australians can’t afford to grow old poor,” Shorten said.

In doing so, Shorten and the Government appear to have stepped away from the promise of the Hawke and Keating Governments that the superannuation guarantee always needed to be viewed as a non-wage benefit rather than as a tax.

Shorten, referring to the policies of the “Gillard/Swan Government” said he did not believe that a decent retirement issue should be a partisan political issue.

“It is not a partisan issue, it is an Australian issue,” he said.

The minister exhorted CMSF delegates to direct some of their time and attention to prosecuting the benefits of the MRRT as a means of underwriting the increase in the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent.

He said that to do so would be to ensure that they would not regret in the future that they had not done enough.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

So we are now underwriting criminal scams?...

2 months 3 weeks ago

Glad to see the back of you Steve. You made financial more expensive, not more affordable as you claim, and presided ...

2 months 4 weeks ago

Completely agree Peter. The definition of 'significant change is circumstances relevant to the scope of the advice' is s...

5 months ago

ASIC has suspended the Australian Financial Services Licence of a Melbourne-based financial advice firm....

2 weeks 1 day ago

The corporate regulator has issued infringement notices to three AFSLs whose financial advisers provided personal advice to a retail client while unregistered....

2 weeks 6 days ago

ASIC has released the results of its first adviser exam to be held in 2025, with 241 candidates attempting the test....

3 weeks 4 days ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS

ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND