It’s a timely comment by John Daley of the Grattan Institute that unless we can do something about winding back superannuation tax breaks our government is in deep trouble.

Malcolm Turnbull has a golden opportunity to show leadership on budget repair.

His proposed superannuation changes have been tossed from pillar to post by discontented back-benchers led by Tony Abbott. The latter apparently warned Scott Morrison in a private meeting of Liberal and National MPs not to raid the piggy banks of those who are, in reality, the top-end 4% of superannuants.

Yet he was quite adamant in his opposition to reinstating the super concessions he removed from 3.6 million low-income earners when he headed the government.

Turnbull might well be haunted by his support for an ETS in 2009, that led to Abbott replacing him as leader. But if he stands up to Abbott’s obvious support for the privileged, and flagrant disregard for the vulnerable in our community, he may well find that enough of the parliamentary “sensible centre” will support him this time around.

Frank Carroll