‘They’ll lie again’: Barnaby Joyce hits back in superannuation fight with Labor

Barnaby Joyce has pointed to the prime minister’s past broken promises to suggest Labor wants to hike taxes on retirement savings, embracing the superannuation fight the government has taken to One Nation.

“We know that the Labor government, just like they lied about the changes to the capital gains tax, are looking greedily at super,” Joyce, One Nation’s treasury spokesman, told Radio National on Tuesday. “With $4.5 trillion in super, we have to reaffirm: don’t look there.”

Asked what evidence he had for the claim, Joyce said Labor had a track record of lying and pointed to Anthony Albanese’s broken election promise not to touch negative gearing, his claim he did not fall off a stage, and his insistence that his Japanese melon comments were a non-issue.

“Whether it’s the big things or the little things … they’re lies. You have to be cautious of liars, because if they lie once, they’ll lie again,” Joyce said.

Labor is eager for a fight on superannuation, using One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s call to allow more people to dip into their retirement savings – and Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg’s declaration that compulsory super was a failed policy – to paint its political opponents as anti-worker.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers used media appearances on Tuesday morning to hammer home the attack after Labor used question time on Monday to keep the subject at the forefront of debate.

“One of the most important features of our superannuation system is this idea of preservation,” Chalmers told Channel Seven’s Sunrise. “This idea that with compounding investments over time, Australian workers can access the decent retirement incomes that they need and deserve after a lifetime of work.

“That’s at risk now because all three of those parties have made it clear that they don’t support the system which delivers that economic security.”

Joyce seized on comments from Labor frontbencher Andrew Charlton, who targeted One Nation in a preceding interview on Radio National, saying “we had … Pauline Hanson saying it’s people’s money, and they should have access to it”.

Joyce said: “Well, Mr Charlton, it actually is their money. It’s actually people’s assets,” adding he was concerned when government ministers described super as a national asset.

Joyce argued the provisions for early access to super because of financial hardship were too strict and should be loosened.

“There is a form of access, and it requires, I think, 26 weeks of social security to get access. There is a really convoluted process to show stress on house payments … you need letters from banks.”

Joyce said even when granted, funds were limited.

“I believe it’s 25 per cent of the year that you can get access for payments. What we’re saying [is] it should be simpler than that.”

Labor last year introduced a 15 per cent tax increase on super balance returns over $3 million, with an expected boost to federal coffers of $2.7 billion over 12 months. Less than 1 per cent of Australians have $3 million in super.

The government had originally planned to tax unrealised gains and had not indexed the $3 million threshold in its super tax changes, meaning more Australians’ savings would have been pushed into the higher bracket over time. But Labor backed down after concerted public and political backlash.

Bragg, who kicked off the debate last week by likening super for teens to super for cats and dogs in a freewheeling press club speech, said Labor had failed to deliver its promise to improve the super system, and made the case for using retirement savings to buy property.

“The most secure form of retirement is owning a home. Using your own money to guarantee home ownership is a sensible and measured policy, which is why the Coalition regularly considers the crossover between super and housing,” he said in a post on X.

“Making the retirement system work better is what we are paid to do. Labor’s only ideas here are personal attacks and running cover for their crooked mates at the super funds.”

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