Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I am very happy to engage in further praise of the member for Rankin, because the last thing I would want—from a political point of view, anyway—is to see the Rudd government attending to the better angels of its nature rather than to those who mostly seem to rule amongst members opposite. This is bad legislation, it is dishonest legislation and it damages the very instincts and elements in our society which a decent government should encourage. It is bad legislation. This opposition will certainly be opposing the legislation both in this House and elsewhere.

I say in wrapping up that the principle of this legislation is bad but that the application of it is going to be quite uncertain. Many self-funded retirees need to take lump sums out of the capital of their superannuation because, for argument’s sake, they have an unexpected major expense. There has been some talk from the government that in that situation the money that they take out will not count towards this new means test, but I have to say that all of the inquiries that the various seniors organisations have been directing to this government have not elicited clear, precise, certain responses, so I think not only that this is bad legislation but that it could provide for a whole lot of very inconsistent and erratic treatment of people who are caught up in it. It did not take long for the Rudd government to revert to Labor type. We had the Prime Minister throughout 2007 claiming to be an economic conservative and saying that there was not the thickness of a cigarette paper between the economic policies of the then Howard government and those of the then opposition. I have to say that the longer the Rudd government lasts the less like the Howard government it looks, the less responsible it looks and the more like the Whitlam government it looks. This is certainly in keeping with that not especially honourable tradition. This bill should be opposed.

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