Mediscare-style ad blitz in war on super changes

The peak industry superannuation body will launch a ‘war footing’ advertising blitz against proposed changes to the retirement savings system.

Industry Super Australia chief executive Bernie Dean.

The peak industry superannuation body will launch a “war footing” advertising blitz against proposed changes to the retirement savings system in a political shot at the Morrison government ahead of the May federal budget.

Industry Super Australia will warn more than a million voters they could be forced to sell their homes or work longer if the ­government freezes the super­annuation guarantee increase, as proposed by backbench MPs and under active consideration by Scott Morrison.

The ads will claim an average couple could lose about $170,000 by the time they retire if the super rate is frozen. They will also highlight the discrepancy of the system between average workers and politicians, whose super rate is already 15.4 per cent.

The Mediscare-style campaign will be locally targeted using animations and “real pre-retirees” sharing their concerns on ads deployed via Facebook, ­Instagram and YouTube. The main age groups that will be targeted include 50-64 year olds and the under-35s.

The Australian understands the body is aiming to mirror the success of the campaign against Bill Shorten’s franking credits crackdown by fund managers ahead of the last election.

Industry Super Australia chief executive Bernie Dean accused Morrison government MPs of wanting to “cut super and then tell older Australians that they should sell the family home to fund a reasonable standard of ­living in retirement”.

“Or tell younger Australians they must sacrifice their retirement savings to buy a home,” Mr Dean said. “Some federal politicians want the Prime Minister to break his election promise and cut the super rate. If they get their way, millions of Australians would be forced to work longer or retire with less.

“It’s time for the government to leave people’s super alone. The franking credits issue has demonstrated how suspicious Australians are of policies that will cut their retirement savings.”

The campaign will be supported by the leavemysuperalone.com.au website, which shows people how much money they will lose in retirement if the superannuation guarantee remains at 9.5 per cent of a workers’ income.

The rate of the superannuation guarantee is legislated to ­increase to 10 per cent in July and 12 per cent by 2025.

Mr Morrison has said he will make a final decision on the ­matter ahead of the May budget.