Addressing the Queensland Media Club, Albanese reaffirmed Labor’s commitment to increase the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent while accusing an “unholy coalition” – a coalition that includes the Australian Council of Social Service, a traditional Labor ally – of working against it.
“The prescriptions of ACOSS and others play into the hands of the Liberal and National parties,” Mr Albanese said.
“The parties of trickle-down economics, lower wage growth and less security. Having established the universal superannuation system, we will not stand by and see it chipped away.”
ACOSS wants to see people receive more of their wages rather than increasing super in an attempt to avoid a “poverty trap” – but Mr Albanese said with “economic growth and productivity”, the guarantee could be increased while preserving wage growth.
Mr Albanese used the opportunity to highlight imbalances in the super system, noting that women often retire with just half the average super of men.
“Superannuation was never designed to be a mere safety net,” Mr Albanese said.
“We established superannuation to give working people a fuller and richer retirement.
Mr Albanese also said that it was vital to harness the experience of older Australians while blasting Mr Frydenberg’s comments that older Australians were “an economic time bomb”.
“After long lives of working and providing for their families and contributing to their nation, older Australians deserve a fulfilling and secure retirement,” Mr Albanese said.
“If we acknowledge the importance of our older Australians, we need to make sure that their later years are good years… Current policy settings are simply inadequate.”
