Furious Today Show blow-up as Jim Chalmers backs AWAY from radical superannuation shake-up

Former Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan has angrily defended Treasurer Jim Chalmers against accusations that he backtracked on big retirement changes.

Dr Chalmers, who was Swan’s chief of staff when he was Labor treasurer a decade ago, seemed to suggest on Wednesday that the changes would hardly be radical.

“We are not contemplating major changes in retirement,” he told Sydney radio 2GB.

Chris O’Keefe, the 2GB drive presenter who interviewed Dr Chalmers, told the Today Show that the treasurer was now backing off because “this whole thing was blowing up in his face.”

It’s typical Labor politics. She flew the kite, saw which way the wind was blowing, noticed that the kite was flying towards him, and said, “I better dilute it with water,” she said.

That is exactly what happened.

Swan, who is now the national chairman of the Australian Labor Party, was furious.

“With all due respect, that’s bullshit,” he said.

“This is a simple proposition, a very sensible cleanup, but it’s very modest.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Chalmers played down suggestions that the federal government would increase the tax rate on additional retirement contributions.

Extraordinary contributions of up to $27,500 a year incur a favorable tax rate of 15 percent for those earning up to $250,000.

The Treasurer denied that he would lower the income threshold to $200,000 for a 30 percent tax rate to apply, telling 2GB that a change is “not on the table.”

Mr. Swan defended Dr. Chalmers for exploring ways to tighten the rules on early access to cap and super tax breaks for those with more than $3 million in retirement savings.

This grant costs $53 billion a year, with the richest Australians investing money in super paying a favorable rate that is well below the marginal tax rate of 45 per cent for those earning more than $180,000.

Mr Swan, himself a former Labor staffer before being elected to parliament, also denied it was “personal” given that Dr Chalmers was his senior adviser, adding lies and distortions on the subject of supers “they don’t reflect well on the people who make them.” .

O’Keefe backed down, citing his 6,000-word essay in The Monthly on reforming capitalism as a “wide-ranging op-ed… meant nothing.”

“It means a lot,” replied Mr. Swan.

‘If we legislate the purpose of the super, which is for retirement, we will protect the retirement savings of millions and millions of Australians, a very important thing to do.

People like you beat it up. It gets out of proportion.

Not backing down despite repeated interjections from host Sarah Abo, O’Keefe said Dr. Chalmers’ messages this week had been everywhere and scared people worried about their retirement savings.

Abo asked everyone to “cool down a bit”.

“This feels like the leader’s debate, I can’t get a word out,” Abo lamented.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton appeared on the show soon after and attacked Dr Chalmers’ plan again.

He warned that while the switch to tax breaks could affect the 36,000 people with more than $3m in their super accounts to begin with, “with Labor it never stops there.”

“If Labor is left without sources of income, then they have to move to the next rung,” Dutton said.

‘There are many Australians who are very aspirational, hard working, and for many will have withdrawn from retirement to pay their mortgage so they don’t have those payments in retirement as well.

“People have pumped money into retirement, and I think the uncertainty the prime minister is creating shows they can’t manage the budget or the economy.”

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has accused the government of backtracking on its election pledge not to make “major changes” to retirement.

‘This is Australians’ money, not government money to play with. I know Australians feel that very strongly, particularly at a time like this when there is real pressure on Australian households,” he told Channel 7.

“The money in supermarkets should be invested in their interests, not for the government to impose taxes and spend because they have a hole in their budget.”