Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

Actually, I will take up Senator Kemp’s challenge, although it is disorderly and via interjection, in a moment. I also want to point out that, when we had this grand declaration from Senator Minchin about getting rid of the 15 per cent contributions tax in one hit, not only was he subject to abuse and criticism from his own then Assistant Treasurer, Mr Brough, which I found incredible—but it highlights the degree of disunity in the government on this issue—but also the following Wednesday the Treasurer himself, Mr Costello, did not think much of this idea, and went on talkback radio on a number of programs and comprehensively bagged his own Minister for Finance and Administration by attempting to argue that Senator Minchin had not in fact argued that the 15 per cent superannuation contributions tax was to be abolished. I think Mr Costello said words to the effect of, ‘I don’t think he said that,’ in reference to Senator Minchin’s tax proposals. But, if you look at the transcript of Senator Minchin’s speech and, indeed, his press release of Sunday, 22 January, you will see that the finance minister made it very clear that he wants the 15 per cent superannuation tax abolished in one hit.

The Prime Minister did not think much of that either. He was out there in the media, in the week following that speech, rapidly trying to water down the position of Senator Minchin, the finance minister. I must say I was disappointed because the day after giving that speech on the 22nd—and it was not just a speech but also a press release arguing for the abolition of the 15 per cent tax on contributions to superannuation—the finance minister himself, Senator Minchin, in what must have been one of his most embarrassing backdowns since he has been in the ministry, put out a clarifying press release explaining that it was only aspirational, only a goal and could only occur over the long term. There was no mention of aspiration or goal or getting rid of the super tax over the long term in the speech he had given the day before. The reality is that he had been stomped on by the Treasurer, Mr Costello; the Prime Minister, Mr Howard; and, indeed, then Assistant Treasurer Mr Brough.

I actually thought that the comments by Senator Watson, a Liberal senator from Tasmania, were spot-on. The esteemed Senator Watson—I do not know why the government does not take more notice of him as a political opponent—was spot-on when he said in the Financial Review on I think the Wednesday that Senator Minchin had effectively been stomped on, although they were not his words, or countermanded and overruled by Mr Costello. That is the truth of the matter. We had a week of utter chaos in the government on the issue of the 15 per cent contributions tax on superannuation.