OPINION: If the retirement income system shifts from a well-defined objective like delivering returns for members to a vague notion of nation-building, almost any politically convenient boondoggle can be justified.
One of the great legacies of the Hawke-Keating government is our superannuation system. We have a system where individuals save for their own retirement, with the age pension as a safety net. This reduces the fiscal burden felt by other countries with similar demographic profiles to Australia.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, right, with Paul Keating at the Superannuation Lending Roundtable hosted by The Australian Financial Review and Visy on Monday.But an even more pressing concern is emerging: how best to invest the $3.4 trillion of Australian workers’ retirement savings. We should not use the superannuation system as a kind of off-balance-sheet slush fund to pursue political objectives with members’ money.
If Australian taxpayers want to fund social housing, we should fund social housing. If we want to subsidise strategic industries, we should subsidise strategic industries. We should not use the superannuation system as a kind of off-balance-sheet slush fund to pursue political objectives with members’ money – money that they have saved for their retirement.
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