Federal election 2016: Sam Kennard betting on super fallout

Self-storage businessman Sam Kennard has said he hopes voter dismay over changes to superannuation will garner him votes on July 2.

Self-storage businessman Sam Kennard, who has announced a tilt at the Senate for the Liberal Democrats in NSW, has said he hopes voter dismay over changes to superannuation will garner him votes on July 2.

Mr Kennard yesterday also placed criticism over government spending at the heart of his campaign, warning that a “deterioration of our fiscal circumstances is on a Greek-like trajectory”.

“It’s going to hit the poor people the hardest,” he said. “That’s a big issue. I have been drawn to the Liberal Democrats because the established parties are determined to take Australia toward more government spending, big deficits and high taxes.”

Mr Kennard, who inherited the self-storage empire founded by his father in 1972, said he brought “real-world experience” to politics and slammed the Coalition’s changes to superannuation, which limit thresholds for tax-free super payments as “retrospective”, adding the measures would dissuade workers from investing their savings for retirement.

“People won’t want to contribute to super when it’s at risk,” he said. “Over the years in my career with my business, my team … didn’t really trust super as income they would ever see. They are just everyday working people. Every time the government fiddles with it, it adds distrust.”

Based in North Sydney, Mr Kennard unsuccessfully challenged Liberal Trent Zimmerman for the lower house seat vacated by Joe Hockey.

Mr Kennard faces an uphill battle on July 2 too, with the No 2 spot on the upper house ticket, ­behind outspoken senator David Leyonhjelm, who described Mr Kennard as his “running mate”.

However, Mr Kennard said a win was “achievable”.

Senator Leyonhjelm last week used the split to appeal directly to Liberal voters to put their party second and protest against the super changes.

Since taking over the Kennards Self Storage business from his ­father in 1991, Mr Kennard has overseen its expansion from 14 centres to 80.

Praising Senator Leyonhjelm’s campaign, he criticised the Turnbull campaign as “conservative, narrow and slow-paced”.

And he said he was not concerned by the recent Senate voting changes designed to reduce the number of independents.

“It’s very achievable that we will win. We are very optimistic … We are getting a lot of support from people who are disenchanted,” he said.