ELECTION COUNTDOWN

On Tuesday as the FiftyUp Club launched in South Australia. Malcolm Turnbull, via the phone, proceeded us on Radio 5AA.

He got to discuss matters which have dominated the election: jobs, the banks etc plus a few which haven’t got much airplay but do concern voters: foreign investment in farms for example.

Right at the end host Leon Byner asked him about electricity prices, already high in the state and due for another hike, and what he could do about it.

It might come as no surprise the answer concerned what the government had achieved on climate change and how much more power would cost under a Shorten government.

While not very helpful to the consumer, and particularly older ones who are suffering to meet their bills, it highlighted the limits to what politicians can actually do.

In this case not very much except to say the opposition would make whatever the policy is : far more costly/do more badly or take too long.

However in a bid to summarise the positions of the two major parties in relation to a few areas which arguably affect older Australians more here’s a digest.

Digital literacy

Just this week the Coalition committed to spend $50 million to improve the digital literacy and security of senior Australians.

It will involve smart device training, delivered in partnership with existing organisations, and the development of a digital inclusion strategy.

It’s about supporting older Australians who already have smart devices to make the most of them and participate more in the digital economy.

Superannuation—your number two issue according to FiftyUp polls

It’s been the hot button topic since the Budget and the confusions about what is or isn’t retrospective, continue to be debated.

Both sides agree on increasing the tax on super contributions from 15% to 30% for those on more than $250,000 a year.

Labor proposes taxing the super earnings on retirees at 15% when their annual amount exceeds $75,000.

The Coalition want to cap the amount you can have tax-free in super on retirement at $1.6 million and replace the current annual $180,000 limit on after-tax contributions with a lifetime cap of $500,000.

Healthcare costs- the number one concern for our members

There’s been a lot of heat around Medicare and it’s alleged privatisation even though that only involved bringing some business smarts into the sometimes creaky payments part of the system. Now even that is off the table.

The freeze on the rebate paid to GPs would be ended by Labor amidst competing claims about just how much this policy, once supported by both sides, had led to great co-payments and a lower rate of bulk billing.

This week Labor announced it would end the private health insurance rebate (itself currently ‘frozen’ to save funds) from the so-called ‘junk’ policies, which only cover public hospital treatment.

But there are warnings the policy could increase the cost of cover to families by $500 a year and see 300,000 drop out of the system in the next decade.

Negative Gearing

Again highly contested with various reports either claiming house prices will collapse or Labor’s policy will return some affordability to the housing market.

Labor wants to end all negative gearing on existing homes from July next year but continue the practice on new homes. It also wants to half the Capital Gains Tax discount on new housing investments to 25%.

D-Day tomorrow – over to you dear voter…..

Click here  to read Christopher Zinn's comments through out the campaign in our Election Distiller