Treasurer Joe Hockey wants to take upon himself the power to set superannuation contributions, introducing a bill that would give him control over the rate rather than Parliament.
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Superannuation contributions at present are set to climb from 9.5 per cent of salary to 12 per cent over the next five years. The Coalition wants to delay the next scheduled 0.5 percentage point increase for three years to ease pressure on the budget.
Rushed through the House of Representatives on Monday as part of the mining tax repeal bill, a new provision would give the Treasurer the power to adjust or delay adjustments to the rate without further reference to Parliament.
A spokeswoman for Mr Hockey said the measure would give businesses "certainty" about what would happen to contribution rates, making them no longer subject to votes in the Senate.
The new provision, yet to be considered by the Senate, includes safeguards requiring the Treasurer to only adjust the rate up and not to delay any previously scheduled for more than four years.
Labor treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said it would enable the Treasurer and his successors to delay 12 per cent super until 2034 if they wanted to. The present law delivers 12 per cent in 2019.
"We know that the Liberal and National parties hate compulsory super. Tony Abbott called it a con job," Mr Bowen said. "The government will take any excuse to delay further the moves from 9 per cent.
"The move to lift super to 12 per cent was carefully calibrated, gradual, and was carefully thought through in consultation with all involved. What's going on here is that the government really doesn't want to see super get to 12 despite their promise of no adverse changes."
Although super contributions are made by employers in lieu of wage rises, increases in the contribution rate hurt the budget because of the heavy tax concessions associated with super.
The legislation also allows the Treasurer to delay or not proceed with certain parts of the mining tax repeal bill, making it easier to strike a deal with independents in the Senate.
The mining tax repeal bill abolishes the low-income super contribution, the low-income bonus, the schoolkids bonus and a number of concessions for business on the ground that they were to be funded from mining revenue.
After the bill passed the House, the leader of the Palmer United Party, Clive Palmer, tweeted that it would not pass the Senate if it abolished the low-income super contribution and schoolkids bonus.
