The newGreens leader, Larissa Waters, has warned Labor against any special treatment for politicians under plans to increase taxes on superannuation accounts worth more than $3m, suggesting separate arrangements would be “a joke”.
Labor will need the support of the Greens to pass legislation through the Senate after 1 July, with the minor party holding the balance of power in the upper house after the federal election.
Before the election, the Greens signalled they supported the Albanese government’s plans to double the earnings tax on superannuation balances above $3m – from 15% to 30%.
But the minor party called for the threshold to be lowered to $2m so more retirement account holders would be covered by the changes.
In an interview with Guardian Australia, Waters warned the treasurer,Jim Chalmers, not to pursue separate arrangements for politicians and other public officials whose retirement savings were held in defined benefit pension schemes.
Defined benefit rules are based on a formula for retirement savings – usually using an individual’s salary level at retirement – rather than contributions made throughout their working life. Public servants, politicians and judges are defined benefit recipients.
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“What a joke,” Waters said.
“I think that that’s a ridiculous suggestion … I think that would look very, very self interested of the government to propose everybody else has to pay more whilst they get an exemption.”
She said the Greens party room was yet to settle on a final position on the tax hike and encouraged Labor to come forward with their revised plans.
Waters spoke to Guardian Australia prior to Western Australia senator Dorinda Cox announcing on Monday afternoon that she had quit the party and was joining Labor.
Waters said a meeting between her and Albanese was being organised. The prime minister sent her a message of congratulations after she replaced Adam Bandt as party leader, after the shock loss of his Melbourne seat.
“Clearly they have a bit of work to do to sort out that detail, and then we will consider it.”
Labor introduced the proposed super tax changes in late 2023 – which included provisions for defined benefits schemes – but struggled to find support in the Senate.
Key crossbenchers including David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie were opposed to the most controversial aspect of the plan – taxing unrealised capital gains.
But treatment of defined benefits schemes has also been difficult.
Treasury has been consulting about how the rules should work, given the difficulty of not having a total cash balance to assess, such as in a typical superannuation savings account.
The industrial relations minister, Amanda Rishworth, on Sunday confirmed beneficiaries of defined benefits rules, including Albanese, would be able to defer payments on the higher super tax amounts until they retire and access their money.
Asked about Rishworth’s comments, Albanese said: “Look, it applies to us as it applies across the board, but the legislation, of course, has yet to be carried by the parliament.”
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The plan affects only an estimated 80,000 people, and still leaves in place highly favourable tax treatment for those people.
The Greens have said they plan to use their balance of power position to push for full cancellation of higher education debt, for mental health care and dental services to be covered by Medicare and for an end to government approvals for fossil fuel projects.
“The government really does have a very clear pathway if they want to do genuine reform that helps people and that can tackle the problems that the community and the planet are facing,” she said.
“They really do have an open invitation from the Greens to get stuff done.”
Waters slammed the Coalition for having a renewed debate about policies designed to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, calling for the newly appointed opposition leader, Sussan Ley, to resist a push from Nationals MPs to ditch climate policies.
“They say they want the Liberal party to be a modern party. Well, modern Australia accepts the science and wants that transition to be smoothly managed,” Waters said.
She warned Labor it needed to reconcile plans for net zero by 2050 with the environment minister, Murray Watt’s, approval of an extension toWoodside’s massive North West Shelf gas field out to 2070, announced last week.
“I’m afraid I draw into question both parties’ commitment to net zero by 2050 when the Liberals can’t bring themselves to say the words and the Labor party just approved fossil fuels out to 2070.”
Waters said she would not reflect on Bandt’s leadership or the Greens tough stance on housing legislation before the election. In a shock result, Bandt lost his seat of Melbourne to Labor on 3 May, while the party’s former housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather lost the Brisbane seat of Griffith after just one term.
Critics say voters were angry about the Greens’ lengthy blockade of bills on housing supply and affordability in the last parliament.
Waters said the housing crisis was getting worse in Australia.
“People are finding it harder and harder to live anywhere near where they work, and I think there’s a huge role still for the federal government to address those inequitable tax settings that are making it cheaper for someone to buy their 15th home, where some people can’t even afford to buy their first home,” she said.