Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Analysis
Tony Abbott has been able to tick off a key pre-election promise, just in time to buoy his backbench on the eve of the government's first anniversary of taking power.
But will the electorate reward the long-promised demise of the mining tax, or be unimpressed that a lower-profile commitment with a potentially bigger bearing on their retirement income has had radical surgery?
Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann made no real attempt to defend the putting-off of the promised boost to workers' superannuation, which could force more people on to the pension before 2025.
"Blame Labor!" they thundered, for thwarting the Coalition's Plan A: to deliver on the election promise to kill the mining tax, along with the voter-friendly policies it was meant to fund but never did.
"Thank Clive!" they could just have easily said, after the PUP leader made possible an inferior Plan B at the 11th hour.
Palmer clearly doesn't see the promise to boost superannuation to 12 per cent of a worker's wage by 2019 as a vote winner. "We know as a fact that over 50 per cent of Australians will be dead by the time they get access to their super," he told reporters.
The boost to Abbott's confidence was clear in the Parliament when he jumped at the chance to allow debate on a Labor motion condemning the PM for "violating the trust of the Australian people" by "raiding the hard-earned retirement incomes of working Australians".
After attacking Labor leader Bill Shorten, Abbott turned it into a motion congratulating the government that was carried on party lines.
In truth, Abbott's confidence was evident even earlier when he predicted no adverse consequences from the move to defer the super increase. "By delaying the increase in the Superannuation Guarantee Levy, we are keeping more money in workers' pockets," he declared.
Labor's difficulty in prosecuting the issue was heightened by the other topic competing for attention: the government's response to the shooting down of MH17 and the threat posed by Islamic State militants.
It was highlighted when Shorten felt compelled to punctuate Labor's attack on super with a plaudit for the government's response to MH17. "The manner in which this has been conducted has made me proud to be Australian and I congratulate the government," he said.
