Now, I’d like to be able to concentrate on the actual government. I’d like to be inspired enough to make mention of all the things they’ve done that don’t go quite far enough. However, most of what they’re doing seems like a step in the right direction and – after the years of the Liberals saying “Hold my beer,” when somebody says that it can’t be worse than this – Labor seems like a small step in the right direction.
And every time I think I should write something about how they should be taking big bold steps, along come the Liberals with something that I just can’t ignore.
I want to be very clear here. I’m making a comment on the politics of this and not whether it’s right or wrong.
The politics of the Liberals on the proposed changes to superannuation make me wonder if they are actually enjoying being the Opposition because they can just complain and nobody blames them for anything.
I just can’t believe that they were jumping up and down and saying, “See, while the proposed super changes only affect 0.5% of people now, in thirty years time they’ll affect ten percent!”
Let me just repeat that in case you weren’t paying attention.
“See, while the proposed super changes only affect 0.5% of people now, in thirty years time they’ll affect ten per cent!“
Now the first point I’d make is that most people don’t think that they’ll be in that ten per cent so it’s hardly likely to cause them to join a protest where they demand that the three million is raised to four million so that they won’t be affected. I doubt that few would be moved to even write to their MP demanding action.
The second point is that nobody in their thirties is thinking thirty years ahead…
Actually, I don’t think anybody thinks thirty years ahead because it’s generally just too depressing. I mean, getting there is a great triumph and we all feel pleased and we don’t go, “I’m 43 and I’ve had a long and fruitful life but I’m too old now and I hope that I’m given a merciful release before I turn 44.” Of course, if you’d asked the same person as a 13-year-old what life would be like for them in thirty years, they’d have said: “All over!”
When it comes to superannuation, I remember organising a guest speaker for the staff once. I’d heard the man speak and, as well as being informative, he was entertaining and managed to actually make people laugh. Do you think I could convince anyone under forty to give up their lunchtime to hear him speak?
Nah, they said that they didn’t believe that super would still be around by then or that they’d worry about when they were older or what’s superannuation…
So the idea that in thirty years’ time, the number will have increased so that it’s more but probably still not them, do you think that anyone… I mean, anyone, is going to feel so deeply concerned that they actually take action. It was hard enough to convince people to do something about climate change and that has the potential to wipe out humanity as well as several other more usual species. “Climate change? Look, ok, we’ll agree to net zero providing we can wait until somebody invents something that means that we can get there by starting in 2045. There, you can’t accuse us of not taking it seriously just because we don’t agree with The Greens who seem to think that action is urgent and we need to actually do something now and not just promise to act long after we’re no longer the government…”
Yes, while the media chatters away and complains – particularly those who actually have super balances of $3 million plus – the rest of us are more concerned about interest rates and the future prospects for our children.
Still, I guess it takes the media’s attention away from Robodebt and the slim chance that they’d report the obfuscation, the inability of people to recall basic information and the obvious fact that it wasn’t incompetence that led to legal advice not being attached or passed on: it was a design feature of the standover merchant tactics that were employed by almost everyone involved.
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