Up to 200,000 jobs would be at risk under Labor's plan to lift the superannuation guarantee charge from 9 per cent to 15 per cent. This increase, revealed as Labor policy in Saturday's Weekend Australian by the Deputy Opposition Leader Simon Crean, would increase sharply the labour costs of all businesses. It would cripple many small firms.
Increases in labour costs mean fewer jobs. Broadly speaking a 1 per cent increase in labour costs can reduce jobs growth by 0.5 per cent. Incredibly enough, during the same interview with the Weekend Australian Mr Crean committed a future Labor Government to an unemployment level of 5 per cent.
The superannuation guarantee charge, introduced by the Keating Government, is a direct levy on the salary bills of employers.
When elected in 1996 the Coalition honoured the legislation put in place by the previous government, which provides for a maximum levy of 9 per cent.
A Coalition Government will not increase the levy payable by employers beyond the 9 per cent provided for in current legislation.
In making that commitment the Coalition is quite different from Labor which will, if elected, increase the levy to 15 per cent.
This is another Labor impost on small business.
It comes on top of the promised removal of the Coalition's workplace reforms which have helped small businesses. Labor also threatens to take away secondary boycott protection for small firms under the Trade Practices Act, and continues to obstruct the Government's unfair dismissals legislation.
These positions have all been adopted by the Labor Opposition at the behest of the trade union movement which now represents only 25 per cent of the Australian workforce.
8 April 2001