Heather du Plessis-Allan: Consensus Politics can take a hike

You know what's more boring than talking about a capital gains tax? It’s talking about superannuation, and yet here we are again.  

We're talking about it again, and how we need to take the Super off the 65 year olds because of what happened yesterday.  

Now what happened yesterday was that for a brief minute, the two major political parties almost found consensus on the Super, but it only lasted a few hours.  

So Nicola from National said to Barbara from Labour, we should have a chat, and Barbara said okay we should have a chat. Then Barbara thought about it over the next few hours and she's like, nah, we'll have a chat, but I actually don't really agree with that idea.  

Which I think is a wise move from Barbara to be honest, because taking super off 65 year olds is unpopular. And it's probably always going to be unpopular as long as we keep running a welfare system that's so generous in this country that people are pretty much expected to spend an average of 13 years on the dole.  

It is very, very hard to convince hard working taxpayers that when they get to their golden years, they should give up that little bonus that they get at the end of their lives. They should give that up because we need to save money, and then they look down the road and they see some of them taking the Mickey in the sunshine forever on the dole.  

I think it's a hard one to push.  

And by the way, while we're on consensus politics, I do not rate this idea. I don't care whether it's in Super, or housing, or transport, I hate it.  

I think voters deserve choices. I think you should be able to decide if you want a cycle lane or if you want a road. You might want a cycle lane, you should have that choice. I might want a road, I should have that choice.  

I think we should decide if we want to have three storey houses pop up next to us on the property next door without any consent. I think we should decide if we want Super taken away from us or not.  

I don't want the politicians getting between themselves, stitching up a little deal and then leaving us no choice. Saying deals made, we've reached a consensus, just going to have to have it this way. That's not what I want.  

It's counter to the very idea of democracy, which is that you have ideas running against each other and you, as the voter, get to choose which one of the ideas you like. So frankly, good call from Babs.  

Consensus Politics can take a hike, and good luck pushing that stupid Super debate again. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you know what do you know what's more boring
than talking about a capital gains tax is talking about superannuation,
isn't it? And yet here we are again, we're talking
about it again and how we need to take the
super off the sixty five year olds again because of
what happened yesterday. Now, what happened yesterday was that for
a brief minute, the two major political parties almost found

(00:21):
consensus on super but it only lasted a few hours.
So Nicola from National said to Barbara from Labor, we
should have a chat, and Barbara said, okay, we should
have a chat. And then Barbara thought about it over
the next few hours and then she's like, sh nah,
don't really We'll have a chat by sh nah, don't
really agree with that idea, which I think is a
wise move from Barbara actually, to be honest, because taking

(00:41):
super off sixty five year olds is unpopular and it's
probably always going to be unpopular as long as we
keep running a welfare system that's so generous in this
country that people are now pretty much expected to spend
an average of thirteen years on the doll It is very,
very hard to convince hard working tax payers that when
they get to their golden years, they should give up
that little bone that they get at the end of
their lives. They should give that up because we need

(01:03):
to save money. And then they look down the road
and they see some of them taking the mickey in
the sunshine forever on the doll. I think it's a
hard one to push that one. And by the way,
while we're on the consensus politics, I do not rate
this idea. I don't care whether it's in super or
housing or transport. I hate it. I think voters deserve choices.
I think you should be able to decide if you

(01:23):
want to cycle lane or if you want to road.
You might want to cycle lane. You should have that choice.
I might want to road. I should have that choice.
I think we should decide if we want to have
three story houses pop up next to us on the
property next door without any consent. I think we should
decide if we want super taking them away from us
or not. I don't want the politicians actually getting between
themselves and stitching up a little deal and then leaving
us no choice and saying deal's mate. We've reached a consensus,

(01:45):
just going to have to have it this way. That's
not what I want. It's counter to the very idea
of democracy, which is that you have ideas running against
each other and you as the vote to get to
choose which one of the ideas you like. So, frankly,
good call from BABS. Consensus politics can frankly take a hike,
and good luck pushing that stupid super debate again. For
more from The Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to News

(02:06):
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