Efforts to register an SMSF-related political party still hinge on it being able to secure 500 names as eligible members, with the party’s founder issuing a further call for supporters to back its establishment.
I Love SMSF founder and SMSF Party leader Grant Abbott has written to supporters seeking 200 further names to be added to a list to be submitted to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), whose registration guidelines require a prospective party to have 500 members who are eligible to vote and not a member of another political party.
In the note to supporters, Abbott said the AEC had asked it to provide the 500 names of the party’s members and he requested supporters who had previously joined the party to complete a survey indicating their eligibility to be a member.
The party had previously sought registration prior to the May federal election, but was unsuccessful in doing so after it was unable to supply the required quota of names of eligible members.
In September, Abbott said he would re-establish the party and sent an initial survey seeking party members, and in the most recent email he said: “We are preparing the information for the AEC and are currently 200 survey responses short – to be on the safe side we want 600 by the end of next week.”
Speaking with selfmanagedsuper today, he confirmed the party currently had 400 names, but wanted 600 names to avoid any registration errors.
“We are getting adviser and trustee interest and aim to be registered before the release of the report from the retirement income review so we can respond to it as the SMSF Party,” he said.
In calling for additional members, he said the superannuation changes that took effect in 2017 were the “first body blow to the accrued wealth of existing and prospective retirees”.
“Neither the coalition nor Labor will protect the wealth of boomers into the future, as well as generation X after it,” he said.
He also claimed the SMSF Party would counter the influence of industry funds within the superannuation sector and said a single-issue, self-interest party was not unique.
“Australian politics is a bastion of self-interest parties and, more importantly, parties to look after the needs of their members and fight both Labor and the coalition for the benefit of their members,” he noted.
“The SMSF Party is there to promote and grow self-funding of retirement, whether through a SMSF, a collection of investment properties or a portfolio of shares, for those Australians who do not want to rely solely on the public purse.”
