Jane Hume swerves on Coalition super tax silence during election campaign

Jane Hume has swerved on why the Coalition did not criticise Labor’s proposed super tax harder during the federal election campaign.

The Liberal senator, who served as opposition finance spokeswoman, has in recent weeks dished out scathing takes on the Albanese government’s proposal to roll back concessions on ultra-high super balances.

Senator Hume has even accused Labor of breaking an election promise despite Labor announcing the plan two years ago and taking it to voters on May 3.

She said on Monday the Coalition had always opposed it.

“Well, in fact, two years ago … we said that we’d, not only would we oppose that policy when it was put forward with the legislation, but that we would repeal it when we were in government,” Senator Hume told Sky News.

She said Labor “had the opportunity to pass this legislation before parliament rose” but chose not to “because they were held to ransom over indexation”.

Only half a per cent of Australians – some 80,000 – have super balances north of $3m.

Under the changes, they would pay an additional 15 per cent on yields.

It would pump about $2.7bn into Commonwealth coffers, according to Treasury estimates.

But without indexation, critics, including Senator Hume, have warned that younger generations could be penalised.

“This is not a simple, modest proposal where only 80,000 retirees are affected — more and more will be affected every year,” she said.

“Moreover, this is a tax on unrealised capital gains, something that has never been tried before and has never worked before.

“We don’t think that this is a good precedent to set.

“It’s a brand new tax, it’s essentially a wealth tax, it’s a retirement tax, and we think that this is a terrible mistake.”

She added that “Labor are now learning just the extent of the opposition towards it”.

On Sunday, the man vying for treasurer in Sussan Ley’s shadow cabinet accused Jim Chalmers of plotting a super tax carve out for Anthony Albanese without offering any evidence.

It was revealed earlier this month that a handful of judges and former state-level officials would be exempt from the tax.

But the exemptions would be restricted to “those earnings in superannuation funds that the constitution prevents being taxed by the government will be excluded”, according to a government summary document.

Even though the Prime Minister did not fall into the category, Liberal senator Andrew Bragg claimed the Treasurer was planning “a tax on everyone except for Mr Albanese, where he will set special arrangements for the Prime Minister”.