Working Australians should not have to sacrifice their retirement security to cover rising living costs, the Mining and Energy Union said today.
MEU General President Grahame Kelly said workers and their unions had fought hard for universal superannuation to provide dignity in retirement – and One Nation’s proposal to pay rent from super would make workers pay today’s rent with tomorrow’s retirement.
“Housing and other cost-of-living pressures must be tackled by policies to lift real wages and bring down rising costs – not by asking workers to raid their future retirement nest eggs,” said Mr Kelly.
“We don’t want an Australia where workers are expected to self-fund their own pay rises and housing costs out of their super entitlements.
“For mining and energy workers, the superannuation guarantee provides some security in a world where the work is physically tough and industries are rapidly changing.
“This proposal would rob workers of thousands in compounded savings by the time they retire. It’s another backwards step towards US-style inequality from a party that has opposed every real pay rise for workers from minimum wage increases to Same Job Same Pay for miners.”
