The meeting was organised by the Treasurer’s office with his staff on hand, and a spokesman for Chalmers downplayed the discussion.
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“As the officials made clear, when stakeholders inside and outside the parliament put views to us, it’s not unusual for the treasurer to seek Treasury advice on them, and nor is it unusual to facilitate joint briefings with other offices from time to time,” he said.
Brown said the department had looked at some of the claimed impacts of the bill, including on venture capital.
Asked by Liberal senator James Paterson whether Treasury had been requested by the government to model alternative versions of the super tax, Brown said she was unsure, but that Treasury had modelled the impact of excluding certain groups from the change, to better understand the impact of suggestions put forward by stakeholders in its consultations.
Pressed by Greens senator Nick McKim on whether the department was looking at amendments to the proposal, Brown said there “has been no decision to amend the bill”.
On Thursday, the government also introduced laws that will require employers to pay their employees’ superannuation contributions at the same time as their salary rather than every quarter. The government estimates a 25-year-old worker will be $6000 better off in retirement due to the change.
However, accounting body CPA Australia’s superannuation lead, Richard Webb, warned it could put pressure on small businesses as they adjusted to the new regime.
“This may be another compliance headache that many small businesses will struggle to cope with in such a short space of time,” he said.
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