Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Materiel) Share this | Hansard source

What happened—did compulsory superannuation destroy the Australian economy? No, people did not get sacked. New businesses and new jobs were created and it proved to be one of the most important economic reforms of the last century. It created new industries, and it now funds more than a trillion dollars worth of funds under management, making Australia’s superannuation savings the fourth-largest capital pool in the world. It created new jobs and more jobs. A report that was released in 2009 by the Association of Superannuation Funds estimated that 60,000 people are now directly employed in the superannuation industry. That is structural reform of the economy, creating new jobs.

The same scare campaign that we heard then, in the early nineties, is back and running again on climate change. The member for Indi, in her contribution to the debate, started with, ‘1,000 Australian jobs exposed overseas’. Then she ramped up the tempo and said that there would be no manufacturing left. But that was not good enough; as she got towards the end of her contribution she said that 10,000 Australians would be unemployed. Then, just before the end—

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