Tony Abbott with wife Margie at a campaign rally. The Opposition Leader has worked at improving his image with female voters, but many of those will lose money under his super cuts. Picture: Nikki Short Source: News Limited
Julia Gillard is reaching out to blue collar workers with a billion dollar package to protect local manufacturing jobs
Tony Abbott with wife Margie at a campaign rally. The Opposition Leader has worked at improving his image with female voters, but many of those will lose money under his super cuts. Picture: Nikki Short Source: News Limited
A KEY Coalition savings measure to axe the $500 superannuation benefit for low-income workers will hit more than two million women, including 11,000 female voters in Tony Abbott's own electorate.
As a Galaxy poll shows 62 per cent of women harbour concerns over the Opposition leader, Australia's peak welfare body and Labor are targeting Mr Abbott over the $800 million savings measure.
The Coalition plans to scrap the $500 co-contribution for workers earning less than $37,000, a move that will affect thousands of women in some of the country's most marginal seats.
In western Sydney, around 25,000 women will lose the benefit in the Labor-held seats of Lindsay and Greenway, while nearly 13,000 low-paid women in the Victorian regional seat of Corangamite, held by Labor's Darren Cheesman, will also miss out.
Brisbane, one of the Liberals' most marginal electorates, also has a high number of working women, around 15,000, who stand to lose the $500 payment.
The Gillard Government hopes that Mr Abbott's negative standing with many women will allow it to "sandbag" crucial marginal seats at the September 14 poll.
Around 60 per cent, or 2.1 million, of the 3.6 million workers hit by the Coalition super policy are women, and female workers generally hold around 50 per cent of the total super savings held by men.
Treasurer Wayne Swan slammed the Coalition's "raid" on low and middle income superannuation.
"I've rarely seen such a nasty policy, ripping up to $500 a year from the superannuation accounts of one in every three workers," Mr Swan said.
"It says a lot about Tony Abbotts view of the world that he thinks hard working women should be hit hardest to fill his $70 billion budget crater."
Status of Women Minister Julie Collins, said that "winding back the superannuation benefits of low-income workers will hit women the hardest".
"Two thirds of these workers are women," she said.
"On top of that, the average superannuation balance for Australian women is already 40 per cent below that of men and average payouts are almost half that of men."
Richard Dennis, head of the Canberra-based Australia Institute, warned the Opposition leader that his status with female voters would suffer.
"You would think that in an election year where Tony Abbott needs to show women voters that he's serious about representing their interests, that he would have thought more deeply about the consequences of such a big change," he said.
The Australian Council of Social Services, which has been lobbying the Gillard Government to make super fairer for low income workers, called on Mr Abbott to "rethink" the savings measure.
ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie said: "We know that women are clearly more vulnerable to hardship and poverty in later life because they have much less overall savings. The recent introduction of the Government Contribution will make a significant difference in the gender disparity of retirement savings, ensuring that people on low incomes are now at least not penalised by paying more tax on their super than they would ordinarily pay."
The Coalition's superannuation spokesman, Mathias Cormann, said Labor could not be trusted on superannuation and predicted it would be "forced to scrap the low income super tax offset because they can't afford it".
"That's because they've linked that promise to their failed mining tax, which hasn't raised any meaningful revenue," he said.
