Peter Dutton claims Anthony Albanese superannuation changes ‘socialist’
Peter Dutton claims Labor is pursuing a ‘socialist’ agenda with its pension changes and is leading Australia into a ‘dark place’.
The opposition leader accused Anthony Albanese’s government of money laundering against “ambitious Australians who have worked all their lives”.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers dismissed Dutton’s “ridiculous scare campaign” as “hyperventilating exaggeration” that made him worse than disgraced former Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Mr Dutton used his speech on Wednesday to renew his attack on the government’s plan to cut tax breaks for Australians with superfunds of more than $3 million.
A poll showed two-thirds of voters support the changes, which would tax super contributions at 30 per cent for some 80,000 Australians instead of 15 per cent.
Peter Dutton claims Labor is pursuing a ‘socialist’ agenda with its pension changes and is leading Australia into a ‘dark place’
Treasurer Jim Chalmers dismissed Mr Dutton’s ‘ridiculous scare campaign’ as ‘hyperventilating exaggeration’ that made him worse than disgraced ex-Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Mr Dutton’s speech to the AFR Business Summit claimed that these policies showed Labor ‘beating the drums of class war’.
“Whether you have $30,000, $300,000, or $3 million in your super fund… The super you contributed to is yours, not the toy of an industry super fund or a retail fund or anyone else,” he said. .
“The government super tax is an attack on ambitious Australians who have worked hard all their lives.
‘Hard-working Australians put their money into super – from savings, legacies and windfalls – to support their retirement. They do this on the basis of certainty about fiscal stability.’
Mr Dutton claimed the adjustment to concessions, after Mr Albanese said on May 2: “We are not going to make super changes”, showed no super tax cap was “set in stone” and young people would feel uncomfortable to put their money in super.
He said Dr Chalmers’s essay in The Monthly proposing to “build better capitalism” and “reshape and redesign markets” was cause for concern.
“This administration wants to experiment with the same system of socialism that has devastated nations, wherever and whenever it has been implemented,” he said.
Labor ignores the lessons of history and arrogantly thinks it can succeed where others have failed.
“With no economic plan, but with an ideological agenda, Labor is steering our nation into a dark place.”
Mr Dutton’s speech at the AFR business summit claimed that this policy showed Labor ‘beating the drums of class war’
Mr Dutton claimed the government was trying to ‘enforce’ behavior rather than encourage it, as his Liberal party preferred.
He said it would be “betrayal” by Australians to scrap the third stage tax cuts, which come into effect next year, and that workers “earned” more of their money.
“If the Albanian government lets them down, it’s tantamount to economic incompetence,” he said.
The phase three tax cuts will benefit the highest income classes almost entirely and provide little or no extra money for most lower-income Australians.
Dr. Chalmers said most Australians opposed Mr Dutton’s policies and ideology, which is why the Labor government was elected last year.
“We finally found someone who is more negative than Tony Abbott, more divisive than Scott Morrison and getting more ridiculous by the day,” he told ABC radio.
“He is the figurehead of the kind of politics that Australians rejected in May, and he seems to have learned nothing from it.
“Those ridiculous scare campaigns, and that hyperventilating exaggeration every day [show he has] learned nothing from the last wasted decade of needless conflict.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also mocked Mr Dutton’s attacks on his pension policy in parliament on Tuesday.
In question time, he was asked if he was sticking to his ‘we don’t intend to make super changes’ of May 2 last year.
Mr. Albanese barely began to answer when Mr. Dutton interjected angrily that he was not answering the question.
“Again, more angry tirades. What happened to the smile? You would smile more, Peter! You would smile more!’ replied the prime minister.
‘What happened to Happy Peter?! Where did it go?! Where did it go? So much anger, so much vitriol.’
Once he was able to continue, the Prime Minister sarcastically challenged Mr Dutton to reduce NSW Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet’s re-election chances by campaigning against the pension changes.
“We are a government for all Australians. They form a government for half of one percent of Australians. And I encourage them to go to the wall for that one-half of a percent,” he said, referring to the 80,000 richest Australians.
“I encourage the Leader of the Opposition to go to the Liberal Party launch on Sunday and stand up and introduce Dominic Perrottet as the Prime Minister of NSW and say this is the hill they will die on .’
Mr Albanese ended Question Time with another comment on Mr Dutton on the NSW election on 25 March.
“It is no wonder that the Leader of the Opposition has not appeared with the NSW Prime Minister since October last year,” he said.
“There is a force field around the Prime Minister of NSW, he is very happy to appear with me, as is the Liberal Prime Minister of Tasmania, to get constructive action.”