Malcolm Turnbull is sticking with his blunt appraisal that using superannuation for home deposits is a bad idea, but says he’s not contradicting his colleagues.

Treasurer Joe Hockey has floated the idea of superannuation acting as a “shock absorber” at various stage of life, including possibly helping first-home buyers to get a deposit together.

• ‘Thoroughly bad idea’: Turnbull contradicts Hockey
• Politicians, super industry at odds over house deposits

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Abbott welcomed debate on the idea, which has been roundly knocked by Labor, economists and former politicians Paul Keating and Peter Costello.

The Communications Minister dismissed the idea as “thoroughly bad”, but denied his blunt assessment was a sign of a split with his cabinet colleagues.

“This is an idea that gets kicked around from time to time,” he said in Brisbane on Thursday.
 “People express views on it – my view is that it is not a good idea.”

He said his comments were part of a wider debate.
 Mr Turnbull also stood by remarks he made on Wednesday in which he conceded the government hadn’t done enough to sell the budget.
 He denied his comments were a criticism of the treasurer.

“Some people had said last year’s budget had been a failure – I made the point that it wasn’t,” he said. 
”While a lot of our measures have not been able to get through the senate, there’s been $16 billion of savings over the forward estimates that have gone through.”

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop today dodged questions about whether she supports Mr Hockey’s proposal. When asked directly whether she supported the proposal, she said, “I think there should be more debate about super generally.”

Mr Hockey has said ideas around superannuation tax breaks, capital gains tax and negative gearing would be up for further debate when a tax discussion paper is released in April.
 That paper will look at Australia’s taxation system compared with other countries.