It would be nice to think that the election of Scott Morrison would mean a fair deal for those who have worked hard and saved for their retirement in order to avoid being a burden on the welfare system. Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen.
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In January 2017, changes to the Centrelink assets test thresholds and taper rate by Scott Morrison as Treasurer impacted adversely on some 88,000 people who lost their pension entirely, and some 225,000 who saw their pensions reduced.
For a retired couple, the practical effect of the changes was that you received more total retirement income (including age pension) with $400,000 in super, than you did with $800,000 in super, or even $1 million in super. Couples were effectively taxed at 150 per cent for lifetime super savings between $400,000 and $800,000. Brilliant!
Nevertheless independent retirees battled on, investing in the share market in order to try and obtain a return to live on. Now Labor wants to inflict a second blow. The impact on individual investors from Labor’s proposal to withdraw the refundability of franking credits will be significant.
The after-tax returns for individuals with a $500,000 share portfolio will fall 132 basis points under the scheme (assuming fully franked dividends and a net yield of 4 per cent). Self-managed super funds not in pension mode will take a bigger hit. No franking refunds above their tax payment could shave 171 basis points off their annual returns. The Opposition's move should be seen as part of a stream of soak those “a little bit better off than pensioners” from both parties.
At the next election, senior voters will be stuck with a choice between two parties who both want to shaft them. There are other choices, renovate your house, go on a holiday, spend your money and go on the pension. Trouble is, most seniors care too much about their country to do that. Pity the politicians didn’t think the same way.
Len Shefford Thurgoona
Fascists flushed out
Malcolm Turnbull’s exit from the political stage is likely to bring down the curtain on his party, signaling the end of socially progressive leadership that was the last link between the Coalition and the electorate.
His parting gift has also flushed the fascists out of hiding, exposing the mean underbelly of the Liberal party consistently at odds with contemporary Australia.
Turnbull appeared like a prophet promising leadership connecting modern inclusive Australian values but found himself betrayed not by adversaries on the other side but by the right wing of his own party. He has been shorn, blinded and bound by the “corpse bride” of Tony Abbott and his Liberal party cortègel.
Morrison’s human rights record, opposition to marriage equality, muscular corked Christianity (gagging and binding the Good Samaritan while riding the Trojan horse of religious freedom in the race for proscriptive social conservatism) reads like apolitical epitaph rather than a mission statement.
The announcement of a new champion, climate change denial, support for Peter Dutton, sabotage of Julie Bishop and the noisy puppeteering of Abbott and Howard pale into insignificance beside the fear that has conquered the navigation of the Liberals and destroyed so promising a leader and, with him, the only real hope for a Liberal future beyond the looming ballot box.
