Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

Please explain why the South African, Brazilian and American mining indices have all fallen. He says it is because those countries invest in Australia. Well, maybe that would explain why the Nikkei index has fallen by 12.1 per cent, why the Standard and Poor’s 500 has fallen by 8.2 per cent and why the UK FTSE has fallen by 6.6 per cent, compared, in Australia, to the ASX 200 falling by 8.6 per cent.

So let us have less of the scare campaigns from the opposition. I welcome the opposition debating superannuation in Australia. I would welcome their response to our plans for superannuation. I welcome the member for Goldstein, who rolled the shadow minister for superannuation and discontinued his policy to support people over 50. But why don’t they start by saying what their plan is? They could start by disavowing the Leader of Opposition’s plan in Battlelines. In the Leader of the Opposition’s book—carefully written, scripted, gospel truth—he laid out his plans for superannuation. He wants fewer self-funded retirees. He wants fewer superannuants. He wants to abolish the tax concessions on superannuation. Now, a 30-year-old in the workforce today, under current arrangements, would have a retirement lump sum of $456,000.

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