David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

When you think about the great structural reforms of the last 30 years, few compare with the great Australian compulsory superannuation miracle. While superannuation has existed in this country for well over a century, for much of that time it remained the preserve of a privileged few: those holding down white collar jobs in the corporate sector, public servants, those in Defence or in the finance sector. It was not until the 1980s that the union movement led the charge of trying to ensure that retirement savings in the form of superannuation were extended to a larger group of Australians. It was a Labor government in 1992 that introduced the first compulsory system of superannuation in this country. Those on the conservative side of politics opposed superannuation back then and they oppose superannuation today.

What has happened in the years since the introduction of the compulsory superannuation guarantee? We have seen the emergence of a thriving industry, a $1.1 trillion industry. This is a massive industry which provides a pool of capital that has funded much of the investment that has occurred in this country and which drives economic growth by boosting national savings. It is helping to prepare Australia for the increasing demands of an ageing population and assisting Australians to make provision for adequate retirement savings to ensure that they can retire with some dignity.

A recent report commissioned by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia by Allen Consulting Group suggested that without superannuation in 2008 households would have been $2,400 a year worse off. Compulsory superannuation has increased the household saving rate by 1.5 to two per cent of GDP. Without superannuation, investment would have been $14 billion lower in 2008. Without superannuation, capital stock would have been almost $144 billion lower in 2008. Low- and middle-income families are more than $100,000 better off as a result of compulsory superannuation. Pauline Vamos of ASFA, when handing down this report, observed:

The Australian economy would not have weathered the global financial crisis nearly as well, without the influence of superannuation.

All Australians who hold balanced funds in a superannuation account are concerned about the health of that account and the funds that they have under management. Many people in my community have raised those concerns with me, particularly through the global financial crisis and more recently with the turmoil in Europe. A great threat is being posed at present to superannuation in this country, and that is the Leader of the Opposition and the conservative side of politics. I note that back on 25 September 1995 Tony Abbott, as the member for Warringah, stated in this House:

Compulsory superannuation is one of the biggest con jobs ever foisted by government on the Australian people.

He opposed superannuation back then and he continues to oppose superannuation today. In 2009, in his book Battlelines, he said:

At some point, saving money by keeping people off the pension while forgoing revenue to encourage them to make alternative provisions becomes counter-productive.

It could be simpler and fairer for the revenue forgone in superannuation concessions to be provided as a pension instead.

We all know that there are two Tonys. There is phoney Tony, who says things in the heat of battle, and there is carefully scripted, gospel truth Tony. I would have thought that his contribution in Battlelines had to constitute a carefully crafted contribution. I think what he said back in 1995 and what he wrote again in 2009 was not in the heat of battle. They were carefully crafted scripted comments that reflect the ongoing determination of the Leader of the Opposition to strike a blow into this great Australian miracle that is compulsory superannuation. That is why the opposition continues to oppose the many benefits that this government is proposing to hand down in the area of superannuation. (Time expired)

See this speech in context