Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation) Share this | Hansard source

No, it is not class warfare. It is just a recognition that not everyone has a thousand bucks in their bank account if they earn less than $37,000. Get out and doorknock in The Pines and I will tell you there are a lot of people out there who do not have $1,000. So we improved upon their penny-farthing bicycle of a scheme and have given something much better, which goes a lot faster and goes a lot better.

Opposition members interjecting—

I have already spoken about our support for older people. We are proposing a scheme where if you earn less than $37,000 you do not pay tax. You get the money put into your super. That is what it is.

But I do like the consistency of the opposition. Only two nights ago they had a look at one million people who were on allowances such as Newstart, Abstudy and other allowances such as the farm household help allowance, and they said: should we give those single people $210 or couples $350? Should we? No, sorry, thumbs down. There are one million people that the coalition could give a hand to. No, sorry, they are not going to do that but they will give money back to mining companies because geez they like mining companies. We on this side like mining companies too but we also happen to like the one million people on allowances.

We keep giving those opposite the chance to not go ahead with reintroducing a tax on the superannuation concessions of people earning less than $37,000. We are waiting for the light bulb to go off but it is not happening. What we on this side stand for is making sure that people have superannuation. We on this side stand for making sure it is universal. We on this side stand for lifting it from nine to 12 per cent.

Mr Van Manen interjecting—

I would not go there, Bert. Think wisely. In this group of 3.6 million beneficiaries who will not pay tax there are 2.1 million women. We recognise that women have broken periods of service. We recognise that sometimes women are not paid what men are paid. We recognise that it is harder for them to save money for their retirement. That is why we are looking after 2.1 million women.

When you think about it, what have we seen from the coalition this week when they say they love superannuation? They have never seen a multimillionaire they will not go into bat for. So far this week, they have not met anyone who earns less than $37,000 that they will even make a fist for. What we need to do is have superannuation certainty.

It is not going to win you the election, which is all you care about, by slapping a tax on 3.6 million people. It is just not worth it; $1 billion in tax concessions to 3.2 million of Australia's low-paid working people. That is a group of people you should get behind. We understand that superannuation requires fairness and sustainability. We understand people are living longer—we only have to look at those opposite to see that. We understand the need to have a good system but we want to start looking after the punters at the bottom, not just the punters at the top.

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