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

Let me reassure the member for Reid, who is rightly concerned by what the mob opposite would do because they cannot keep their hands off the workers' superannuation. There are four things that come to mind instantaneously of what Labor is doing to look after working women. We want to make sure that low-paid women workers in Australia—there are 2.2 million of them who earn less than $37,000—do not pay a great big new tax on superannuation.

But it gets better than that. We all know that Australians do not have enough money for their retirement. That is why we want to raise it from nine to 12 per cent, but that mob opposite would rip off the average worker 8½ million. They have never seen an employee they did not want to kick! But we are doing more than that. We have paid parental leave. It is not the Rolls Royce scheme for 'women of calibre', which I know some in the opposition like. And what is more, when you look at everything we are doing for working women—paid parental leave; we have lifted the tax-free threshold to $18,000—I tell you what: if you are a working woman in Australia and you are not rolling in income, the best bet on 14 September is vote Labor to look after your conditions if you are a working woman in Australia.

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