MEMBER for Mallee Andrew Broad has criticised Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s controversial superannuation reforms as Mr Turnbull begins to tone down his rhetoric on the proposed changes.
There has been a strong backlash from conservative elements within the Coalition party room over a suite of changes to superannuation proposed in the May budget, which were flagged as a major concern to retiree voters during the election.
The changes included a $1.6 million limit on the amount of super that can be transferred into tax-free “retirement phase” accounts and a $500,000 lifetime cap on non-concessional contributions.
What made the changes even more controversial among retirees, however, was that they weren’t planned on being implemented retrospectively – meaning they’d apply to people who’d already commenced their superannuation strategies based on pre-existing rules.
Mr Turnbull defended the reforms immediately after claiming an election victory, saying the Liberals had received a “mandate” to deliver all the policies they took into the election.
However, yesterday the Prime Minister seemed to back down on that rhetoric, insisting he was listening “very keenly” to the concerns inside his party in relation to “technical details”.
For more on this story, grab a copy of Monday’s Guardian (July 18).
