There are around 41,000 workers in Andrew Robb’s Goldstein electorate who currently only receive 9 percent superannuation. They deserve some black and white clarity from the Shadow Minister for Finance on what he intends to do with his constituents scheduled superannuation increases from 9 to 12 percent should the Coalition come to office.

The Coalition now appears to have back-flipped on their original back-flip. The Shadow Finance Minister has hinted the Coalition will not support the Gillard Government’s policy of increasing the universal superannuation guarantee from 9 to 12 percent, which will benefit 8.4 million Australians.

He told Business Spectator, published online today:

Robb: We are not going to support the programs that the mining tax is supposed to support in the financial sense.

Gottliebsen: That’d include superannuation and things like that.

Robb: Well, we went to the last election with a mining tax proposition and with all of those spending commitments and we accepted the political odium that might attach to not supporting those programs.

If the Liberals have walked away from their previous position on maintaining 12 percent universal superannuation, Andrew Robb has today reached into the pocket of a 35 year old plumber on average weekly earnings in his electorate who stands to earn around $75,000 more by the time they retire thanks to increasing superannuation to 12 per cent.

He will have also walked away from a 22 year old hairdresser in his electorate who, thanks to increasing superannuation to 12 percent, will have earned an additional $99,500 by the time she retires.

And whilst he is confirming the Liberal’s position on increasing universal superannuation, Mr Robb ought to tell the 3.6 million Australians who earn less than $37,000 whether he will jack up their tax on superannuation by up to $500 a year by abolishing the Low Income Superannuation Contribution should the Coalition come to office. There are 19,900 low income earners in his electorate, and 929,000 in his home state of Victoria, who deserve to know the Coalition policy.

Given his comments today, Mr Robb appears to have confirmed the Coalition believes it is more important to give a tax cut to billionaires than to help these average Australians build their retirement savings.