Congratulations Australian Labor! As directionless as they are, and notwithstanding only managing to earn the vote of fewer than 3.5 people out of every 10, Labor emerged victorious with a thumping majority. Even though this highlights a broken voting system and the own-goal scoring of the Liberals in abandoning their beliefs, it still amounts to quite an achievement.

To date, with the exception of their promise to control immigration numbers, Labor have been almost statesmanlike in delivering on their election commitments.

Labor went to the election promising to forgive student debt and are doing just that. And, remarkably, they went into the election having disclosed the full details of their controversial new superannuation tax, and won. Convincingly.

So, naturally, Labor has a clear mandate to follow through with these election promises despite both being deeply flawed.

The superannuation tax will hit its stated objective as reliably as a blindfolded archer aiming for a moving target in a snowstorm. In the decades ahead, the lack of indexation will ultimately mean everyone will be paying 30 per cent tax on some of their superannuation earnings. And the taxation of paper profits (unrealised gains) is a recipe for disaster, and a policy which may eventually be replicated outside of superannuation. How would you like to pay tax on the $100,000 your investment property went up last year? And where would you find the money to pay it when you haven’t sold the asset yet?

I tried to raise awareness of how egregiously bad this tax grab is more than two years ago both in the publication, Super betrayal: it’s not a tax on the rich, it’s a tax on the young and several times in other media since.

It’s such a pity the Liberal Party were nowhere to be seen or heard on this issue; and it’s too late for them to pop up now. The details were well known well before the election, and the Liberals were derelict in not addressing the issue. They were either too scared of the ABC suggesting they are only interested in wealthy individuals, or were simply incapable of detailing why the proposed tax is so bad – or both.

As regards Labor’s 20 per cent student debt reduction, it is a shocker of a policy devoid of all rational thought. The policy is a perfect illustration of how our politicians, reckless in their spending, treat public funds like confetti to be tossed at voters during elections. The Australian Financial Review’s headline that ‘more that 50 per cent of voters now rely on government for their main income’ underscores how this strategy will be used for years to come. The Liberals tried the tactic too in the last election and were on track to outspend Labor – but this proved to be as effective as the aforementioned blindfolded archer aiming for a moving target in a snowstorm, but this time with only one arm.

Labor has effectively nationalised private debt. It disproportionately benefits those with the highest earning potential – doctors, dentists, engineers, and academics – who often accumulate the largest debts due to extended university studies. It also rewards students who racked up debt through indecision, switching degrees and generally making poor choices, while offering little to first-year students with minimal debt, and providing no benefit to Year 12 students and those younger.

This policy devalues the sacrifices of parents who scrimped and saved to pay for their children’s education upfront and the diligence of graduates who repaid their loans swiftly. Instead, the policy favours those who delayed repayment, undermining fairness and devaluing those who acted responsibly.

A serious debate about fully publicly funded tertiary education might be worth having, but ad-hoc, poorly thought-out policies like this should never have seen the light of day. That they did is a sad reflection on the political class.

Labor won the election convincingly, so they have earned the right to deliver on the promises they openly took to the election. But we shall all pay the price. And as our federal debt continues its climb toward $1 trillion ($1,000,000,000,000 – count the zeroes), we have never needed serious politicians as keenly as we do now.