Barnaby was right.
From the Australian today (emphasis added):
Labor is planning to withdraw hundreds of millions of dollars from the Future Fund in an unprecedented move that will help the government meet its promise of returning the budget to surplus in 2012-13.
A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Penny Wong confirmed to The Australian that more than $250 million worth of assets were due to be withdrawn from the Future Fund in the 2012-13 financial year, despite the fund having been created, by Peter Costello, under the condition it was not to be touched before 2020.
The government, which has forecast a surplus of $3.5 billion in 2012-13 after several years of heavy deficits, claims that the assets will be returned to the fund at a future date.
But the opposition has slammed the move as “reckless and fiscally irresponsible”.
“The fact is that the government is planning to raid the Future Fund, including the revenue from the expected sale of Future Fund assets in its revenue forecasts, yet they haven’t been able to point us to where in the budget that money is supposed to be going back into the Future Fund,” opposition assistant Treasury spokesman Mathias Cormann said yesterday.
Mr Costello, the then treasurer, established the Future Fund in 2005 to cover the costs of future public servant superannuation liabilities. At the time, he told parliament: “The fund will only be drawn upon at the earliest in 2020 or a time when an independent actuary determines that the fund’s assets are sufficient to offset the unfunded part of the government’s accrued superannuation liabilities.”
The Future Fund’s own website sets out that “withdrawals from the Future Fund may only occur once the superannuation liability is fully offset or from 1 July 2020″.
…
A spokesman for the Future Fund confirmed the anticipated withdrawal was known to the fund and that this was the first time a withdrawal had been included in the budget bottom line.
Senator Cormann said the “real concern is that, if they get away with their plans to raid the Future Fund now they will do it again and again, every time they need more cash to fund their wasteful spending”.
“The Future Fund was set up by the Coalition after we paid off the Hawke-Keating debt and it shouldn’t be touched until the public service superannuation liability is under control,” he said.
Remember Barnaby Joyce’s forewarnings before this year’s May budget?
Before the budget (5th May):
In response to a question I put in Senate estimates, Treasury revealed that $64 billion of the difference between our gross debt and our net debt is made up of the cash and non-equity investments of the Future Fund. The Future Fund is there to cover the otherwise unfunded costs of public servants’ superannuation.
That is a little fact that the people of Canberra might be interested in. When Wayne mentions net debt translate that to, I am going to pay his debt off with my retirement savings.
And right after the budget (13th May):
Barnaby was right when he forewarned of the US debt crisis.
And he is right again, about your super being stolen by our government.
Think it is only public servants’ super that is at risk of being stolen by our government?
Think again.
For quite some time now, your humble blogger has been covering the wave of government confiscations of private citizens’ retirement funds that has been sweeping the over-indebted Western World, and warning readers that it is going to happen here too.
The reason this has been happening in so many countries abroad, including the USA, UK, France, Ireland, Poland, and more?
Exactly the same reason as cited by our own government now.
To help meet the government’s budget targets. With the vague promise that the “borrowed” monies will be returned at some unspecified future date.
And we all know what most politicians’ promises are worth.
Barnaby Joyce is the only politician in our nation with the wisdom, foresight, integrity, and courage, to publicly confirm what this blogger has been repeatedly forewarning.
That government theft of private super savings, is a real and present danger here in Australia too.
And don’t kid yourself that a Coalition victory at the next election will save us.
The Liberal Party quietly announced a new policy on June 3 this year, that should have every citizen deeply concerned. It represents an even more blatant move to have the government get their hands on not only public servants’ super, but everyone’s super.
Learn more, in this most recent of my many previous blog articles on the topic:
UPDATE:
Senator Wong denies that their plan is to steal public servants’ super.
Are you convinced?
I’m not.
Wong’s very opaque counterclaim is that they are “simply making a small change to the types of assets it holds”. The key here is having a very clear definition of exactly what is meant by “a small change”, and “types of assets”.
This denial in no way convinces me that Labor are not shuffling/stealing money (and/or figures) to meet their objective – a media headline of return to surplus in 2012-13. After all, this government has form for fiddling the books, as documented numerous times on this blog … and openly conceded by former Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner in his book after retiring.
And not just form for fiddling the books … there’s also this:
(March 2007) Peter Costello: Rudd will mortgage future, leaving kids to foot
(April 2009) Kevin Rudd raids Future Funds
Barnaby Is Right 
I also heard on the radio this morning that the Federal government guarantee on bank deposits up to $250000 was being made permanent.
Might have something to do with this;
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-11/europe-banks-at-post-lehman-lows-show-sovereign-risks-escalating.html
Selling ‘assets’ from the future fund would be a way of ‘shoring’ up the governments balance sheet. I am dubious of these so called assets though, they didn’t perform well in 2007-08.
Yes JMD, it has everything to do with banking systemic risk. While headline issue is systemic risk flowing on from Europe’s woes, we both know that AU’s banks are just as bad, and without continued Gov-guaranteed support they’d get downgraded, and domino effect begin.
And this;
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-11/australia-bond-risk-rises-to-highest-since-2009-on-greece-default-concerns.html
Banks are the market makers in bond markets.
And then there is this;
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-11/aussie-resilience-spurs-biggest-rally-in-bonds-since-08-australia-credit.html
When they say rally in bonds they mean government bonds, not corporate, which means rising spreads, which means recession.
It also means a government bond bubble but hey, who cares when your investment has returned 10.2% just this year!
Correct. Sadly.
Hi, you state that Sen.Wong confirmed this? I read in the media, she denied this? I’ll look for the link and post it. I might be wrong of course. But you can’t trust this government in anything they say.
Cheers
Bush bunny
Yes David Crowe – Wong denies Future fund withdrawal. In the Financial review. I am not very conversant with finance. But even so $250 million is a drop in the ocean isn’t it.
I hope they don’t intend to invest in carbon trading? Like the BBC in UK did with a lot of their superannuation in the failing EU carbon trading scheme.
Here’s a link to a SkyNews article on the denial, bushbunny.
I suggest what is important to consider here, is the very opaque counter-claim that they are “simply making a small change to the types of assets it holds”. The key there is having a very clear definition of what is meant by “a small change”, “types”, and “assets”.
For my part, this denial in no way convinces that they are not shuffling/stealing money (and/or figures) to meet their objective – a headline of return to surplus in 2012-13. After all, this government has form for fiddling the books, as documented numerous times on this blog … and openly conceded by former Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner in his book after retiring.
Speaking of having “form”, these two old articles regarding Rudd and the Future Fund are well worth a look too –
(March 2007) Peter Costello: Rudd will mortgage future, leaving kids to foot
(April 2009) Kevin Rudd raids Future Funds
Yes Blissful I see what you mean. What exactly are non-financial assets? Don’t all assets
have some form of financial basis otherwise they wouldn’t be an asset? Maybe they own a house and want to sell that? I think a sharp eye and a full explanation of what are
‘non-financial assets’ exactly. A strange situation has developed in America. The FBI
raided a bankrupt solar panel company, they had been given 500 million plus by the government to build a facility and promised 3,000 jobs as a result. The Americans on WUWT are wondering what the FBI hopes to find or cover up. ‘The Missing Heat’?
I don’t trust Gillardia (sounds like a bacteria) or her cohorts. Do you remember when Peter Garrett was caught with a throw away quip, ‘When we are in power we will change policies” that was during the 2007 election if I remember rightly, seems like he wasn’t joking either, especially with this Malaysian affair that the government wants to turn around to suit them and go against the high court judgement.