The Coalition is joining Labor as a ''soak the rich'' party with super policy

The Coalition's 2013 election policy on superannuation makes for uncomfortable reading.

"We encourage as many Australians as possible to actively plan and save for their retirement, to take full advantage of the benefits the superannuation system provides and to work toward a self-funded retirement ... Labor's raids on superannuation have made it difficult for Australians to plan for their future.  Restoring stability and certainty to superannuation is a key part of the Coalition's plan to build a strong and prosperous economy ... The Coalition makes this pledge:  we will not make any unexpected detrimental changes to superannuation.  We will deliver greater stability and certainty on superannuation — we won't move the goalposts.  We will ensure that no more negative, unexpected changes occur in the superannuation system so that Australians planning for their retirement can do so with confidence."

Up until two weeks ago this was still the Coalition's policy.  And then at 7.30pm on May 3 as the Treasurer rose to his feet and delivered his budget speech, it became clear everything had changed.  Without warning or notice the Turnbull government announced a series of draconian and retrospective changes to superannuation policy that did much more than just break the Coalition's absolutely clear and unequivocal election promises.

What the government announced on budget night threw into turmoil the financial plans of potentially hundreds of thousands of Australians.  And when an individual's financial plans are thrown into turmoil so are their lives.  People had planned how they would pay for the healthcare of their elderly spouse, where they would live to be close to their children, and how they would afford the school fees for their grandchildren.

That's why the Coalition's superannuation changes have provoked such a response.  Lives have been turned upside down in an effort to raise taxes.  And what is so galling to so many people is that in 2013 the Coalition explicitly recognised just how important the security and stability of the superannuation system was.  This was precisely why, three years ago, the Coalition made such a big deal about "we won't move the goalposts".

SUIT YOURSELF CHANGES

Now, not unreasonably, people are asking what's the point of attempting to plan anything when government, regardless of who is in power, is just going to keep on changing the rules to suit themselves — it would all just be easier to take pension that's paid for by someone else.

For government ministers to claim that there's nothing for most of the public to worry about because only "1 per cent" or "4 per cent" of "rich" people are affected by these measures, reveals a disdain for anyone who has worked hard, made sacrifices, and become successful.

The language the government uses to justify its changes basically implies that anyone with more than $1.6 million in superannuation is somehow engaged in a rort or a tax dodge.  But what the Coalition doesn't acknowledge is that up until a fortnight ago it was deliberately encouraging to do exactly what people are now being blamed for.  In any case, anyone with $1.6 million in superannuation has most likely spent the majority of their working life paying nearly half of their income to the government in taxes.

Some of those most worried by what the government has done are not affected by these changes to superannuation.  Those not immediately targeted by the government in this budget don't know what's going to happen next.  Now that the Coalition has opened the door to blatant and retrospective changes to superannuation, there's the potential for a future Labor/Greens government to do what the Coalition is attempting — but only worse.

People are not stupid.  They know that if today the government is going after the "top 1 per cent", tomorrow government will go after the top "5 per cent" and so on and so on.

The debate about superannuation is starting to serve as a proxy for a large debate about the long-term future of Australia.

There's a concern that what's been done to superannuation represents a tipping point in our history.

There's a real fear of the consequences for Australia if the Coalition follows the lead of the ALP down the path of imposing ever-higher taxes on the ever-shrinking proportion of the population who don't work for the government and who don't receive welfare.  To put it bluntly, the Coalition risks becoming just another "soak the rich" party.

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