Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to be speaking tonight on the Temporary Residents’ Superannuation Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 and the Superannuation (Departing Australia Superannuation Payments Tax) Amendment Bill 2008. I will start my contribution by briefly talking about the importance of superannuation and how important it has been not only to individuals in this country but to the country as a whole. I do not think anyone doubts today the seriousness and importance of the superannuation policy first put forward by the Hawke and Keating governments and the substantial changes that we made to superannuation through guarantees to make sure that in tough times we provided security for people’s retirement incomes. I want to begin with that because I think any debate and any legislation on superannuation should acknowledge the great contribution that Labor governments throughout history have made in this sense. Those superannuation and retirement savings have been instrumental in providing the platform by which the Australian economy has managed so well over many years. We see that particularly today when we look at the global financial crisis and see the position that people are in. Luckily, there are more people today who have decent national superannuation savings than there would have been under any other scheme, particularly under anything that the opposition or a conservative government would have provided. It is always a pleasure to be speaking on these issues. While we are on that matter, I will talk about just how significant Australia’s national savings are. They are around $1 trillion.

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