Scott Morrison: We won’t be intimidated over super review

Scott Morrison condemns attack on Deborah Ralston over her review appointment.

Deborah Ralston is head of the Alliance for a Fairer Retirement System. Picture: Stuart McEvoy.

Scott Morrison has condemned Industry Super Australia’s attack on Deborah Ralston after it questioned her appointment to the retirement income inquiry review, declaring the government won’t be “intimidated” by the unions.

The Prime Minister on Monday defended Dr Ralston’s appointment to the panel, which is conducting the first major review of Australia’s retirement income system in 30 years, saying she had the “right experience” in the area and the government’s full support.

Mr Morrison’s comments came as a political stoush erupted over Dr Ralston’s appointment with ISA chairman Greg Combet slamming her involvement and Labor accusing the government of “needlessly compromising” the review.

When asked whether Dr Ralston would be asked to step down from the panel, Mr Morrison said “absolutely not.”

“Some suggestion that we can only have people doing this review that the union industry bosses actually agree with is quite absurd,” Mr Morrison said. “I mean, what sort of country do we live in where the union funds say we’ll pick and choose how much money flows into our funds? I mean, that’s just ridiculous.

“We’re not going to be intimidated by that at all. She has right experience in this area and we welcome her participation in the review.”

Mr Morrison said the Coalition wasn’t going to “run the show” by only working with people they agreed with.

“I mean you’re not just going to have people you agree with doing your reviews, is that how Labor does it? They only put people on that they agree with? We’re not going to run the show like that,” he said.

Frydenberg lashes Combet over review attack

Earlier, Josh Frydenberg attacked Industry Super Australia chairman Greg Combet for questioning the appointment of Deborah Ralston to the retirement income inquiry after she lobbied for “voluntary” superannuation for low-income earners.

The Treasurer defended Dr Ralston’s appointment to the panel conducting the first major review of Australia’s retirement income system in 30 years, saying she was “deeply experienced” in the area and had the government’s full support.

The stoush erupted as Labor accused the government of “needlessly compromising” the review.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers on Monday lashed Dr Ralston’s involvement in the first major review of Australia’s retirement income system in 30 years, declaring the inquiry was merely a “stalking horse” for cuts to super and the pension.

The Labor frontbencher’s attack came after the Australian Financial Review on Monday reported Mr Combet had slammed Dr Ralston’s appointment as “a dangerous proposal that will see vulnerable workers slugged more in taxes only to end up with less money in retirement”.

MORE: Ralston interview; Franking credits ‘off the agenda’

The review will cover the age pension, voluntary savings including the family home, aged-care funding, franking credits and the role of the $2.9 trillion superannuation industry.

“It’s becoming clearer with every passing day that this retirement incomes review is a stalking horse for more cuts to super, and more cuts to the pension, by a government which has form on both,” Mr Chalmers said.

Dr Ralston campaigned against Labor’s election pledge to scrap franking credits and wrote to the Treasurer in July to propose the inquiry consider allowing lower-income earners to receive super in wages.

“Clearly the review has been compromised by the appointment of the well-known critic of Labor and a campaigner against former Labor policies,” Mr Chalmers said. “And so this person shouldn’t have been appointed to the panel in the first place, it’s the government’s review and we don’t have a say in who they put on the panel, but it’s very clear the government intends to play partisan games.

“As always, they play politics with important issues in the economy to distract from the fact they have no plan and they’ve failed on the economy, and that’s what we’ve seen again today.”

Josh Frydenberg defended Dr Ralston’s appointment to the panel on Monday, telling Sky News she was “deeply experienced” in the area and had the government’s full support.

The Treasurer said Mr Combet “should know better.”

“He’s a former minister in a Labor government, it’s the elected government of the day that decides who goes on these panels and Professor Ralston is very deeply experienced in this particular area,” Mr Frydenberg said.

Mr Frydenberg added that Dr Ralston had the full support of government.

“What we have seen is a pattern of behaviour from the superannuation industry that any time ideas are raised that goes against their vested interests, they seem to complain very loudly about it,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“They should just make a submission to this inquiry like everyone else and stop lecturing the government as to who we should appoint to these panels.” Mr Frydenberg refused to be drawn on whether the Reserve Bank would reduce rates for the third time this year at its monthly board meeting on Tuesday.

“Obviously we’ve seen our interest rates come down quite substantially, so too the interest rates right around the world,” he said. “The impact of that has been to help stabilise the housing market, where clearance rates are now above 70 per cent in the major markets of Sydney and Melbourne, whereas they were around 50 per cent this time last year. “We’ve also seen prices rise after a period of consecutive months where they fell.” The Treasurer was keen to maintain a “wait and see” approach.

“As a government, we’re responsible for fiscal policy, and they’re responsible for monetary policy,” he said. He said he would wait to see whether the Reserve Bank cut the cash rate from 1 to 0.75 per cent.

The long-awaited review of the nation’s retirement income system, which was recommended by the Productivity Commission, will be led by former senior Treasury economist and International Monetary Fund executive Michael Callaghan.

Alongside Mr Callaghan, Dr Ralston and Future Fund board member Carolyn Kay will round out the three-person panel, which has been tasked with establishing “a fact base” of the current system. The final report is to be delivered by June 2020.