(July-2002) Cherry – in season on super

There’s a new face at the public hearings held by the Senate Select Committee on Superannuation as it moves around the country this month: Senator John Cherry, 37, the Democrats’ new spokesperson on superannuation.

He has taken over from Senator Lyn Allison, following a reshuffle of the party’s portfolios, brought about by a drop in the number of Democrat senators after the defeat of NSW Senator Vicki Bourne in last year’s federal election.

But Cherry is no stranger to superannuation. In addition to writing many reports on the issues covered by the Senate Select Committee, he has also been intimately involved in formulating the Democrats’ superannuation policy during the seven years he spent as economic policy adviser to Democrat leaders, Cheryl Kernot and Meg Lees. He also worked with Senator Lyn Allison, drafting the Democrats’ response to choice-of-fund and other super legislation.

“There’s probably not much involving super funds over the past seven years that I haven’t been involved in,” Cherry says.

He does, however, find the complexity of his new portfolio daunting.

“I have been involved in super for a long time and if there’s anything that I’ve learnt, it is that the devil is always in the enormous detail,” he says.

But while there’s a new face, the Democrats will not be changing their policy on superannuation. This is especially so when it comes to choice-of-fund, for which the party put up an amendment in the Senate last year to grant same sex couples equal rights. However, rather than pass the superannuation legislation with the amendment, the Government dumped the whole bill.

Cherry isn’t sure why the Federal Government took this stand when the Liberal Party has chosen to give same sex couples equal rights in several states. But he stands steadfast in his drive to bring equality to gays and lesbians, who he says have been “comprehensively screwed on super for years”.

He notes too that the Democrats were only ever lukewarm towards choice-of-funds and only decided to support it after the Government made certain concessions to them.

Cherry hopes the new Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer, Senator Helen Coonan, will breathe some fresh air into this debate, but notes: “She has some tough issues to deal with and these will be a strong test of her courage.”

But while no major changes in Democrat policy can be expected, Cherry does have his own areas he would like to push in the superannuation debate. In addition to promoting ethical investments and the adequate provision of super savings for all Australians, he also plans to campaign for improved consumer protection.

“I’d like to see a situation where people can make decent investment decisions without reading through dozens of pages in a prospectus,” he says.

Just as important to him, especially as he is also the Democrats’ spokesperson on rural and regional development, will be to promote more investment by super funds in Australia, particularly in rural and regional Australia, and less overseas investment.

It particularly irks him, he says, that “super funds are concessionally taxed on their offshore investments when regional Australia is starved of investment funds”.

If he could, he would also change the tax treatment of super.

“I’d tax all contributions at the marginal tax rate and then introduce a flat rebate to replace the surcharge. Both high and low income earners would receive the same tax treatment,” he says.

Cherry looks forward to his role on the Senate Select Committee, which he says has been one of the most influential committees in the past and has improved the policy making of super. He believes the committee is likely to be the only place for debate on super in this term of government.

He says the committee last did a review of adequacy about 10 years ago, which was ground breaking at the time.

“I think that it’s a good time, a decade later, to take up this issue again and see where we are up to and where we want to go,” he says.

What he enjoys most about his job, he says, is the soapbox it gives him to speak to the Australian people.

“I am an ideas person and it gives me the opportunity to put my ideas forward,” he says.

That said, Cherry, one of two Australian Democrat Senators for Queensland, faces major limitations — that of time and resources — in achieving his goals. This is because he is actually responsible for six major portfolios, including Employment and Employment Services, Family and Community Services, Regional Development and Rural Affairs, Communications and Broadcasting, Social Security and Income Support, and Superannuation.

This means he is constantly prioritising his time and effort, as are the researchers who assist him.

“One thing that the industry will find with me is that if it doesn’t fit with Democrat principles and if it is not coming up immediately in the Senate, I won’t be able to give it the priority I would like,” he says.

The hardest part of his job, he says, is the extensive travel required, with constant distractions making it hard to do any quality work on the road or in the air. It’s not always easy on personal relationships either. Cherry lives in Annerley with his partner, Nicky Jones, a doctoral student, but says she is happy to get stuck into her studies while he’s away.

He does, however, particularly enjoy travelling in Queensland.

“I’m a country boy and I love getting out and about in the country, meeting people,” says Cherry, the fifth of seven children born and raised in Queensland country towns.

When he does have a chance to relax, his first priority is to get rid of the “senatorial spread across the girth” by doing anything physical. He particularly likes hiking in the rainforests around Brisbane, but says he’s a lousy squash player and is currently considering whether to cancel his gym membership because of a lack of attendance.

After some exercise, he enjoys getting into a good book and at present, has a passion for medieval murder mysteries, which help get his mind off work.

He also enjoys Irish music, political history and movies, and getting out to his mother’s farm. His family has been farming in the Albert River valley for four generations, but he says: “I have no farming skills even though I like to pretend that I do.”

Asked where he sees himself in five years time, he says: “I would like to have a body of work behind me which shows that I have made a difference in the Senate and that I have been out there leading a number of important public policy debates.”