Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The former speaker from the opposition claims that this bill is no more than good housekeeping. Could I just suggest to him that, if his self-titled modern Labor had kept their own house in order during the chaotic years of the Labor-Greens-Labor alliance for the last six years, we would not need to be here today cleaning up the mess that they left. I rise today to speak on the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Repeal Day) Bill 2014. Yet again, the coalition government is presenting a bill that seeks to reduce the amount of duplication between various pieces of legislation and reduce the compliance load on business and, at the same time, ensure businesses are not, by omission, breaking the law.

Under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 employers are required to report on pay slips the amount of superannuation contributions earned and the date on which the employer is expected to pay them. Of course, this is quite unreasonable since cash flows within businesses change on a near-daily basis. But, of course, those opposite have no idea about running a business. They might have had a hand in running a few into the ground but not in successfully employing people and keeping a business prosperous, which is why they think this minor amendment is about trying to hide superannuation contributions from employees.

This again demonstrates to those of us on the government side how little faith the ALP have in themselves and their ability to craft good laws. The Fair Work Act 2009 and Fair Work Regulations 2009, both written and passed by those opposite, require employers to report on pay slips the superannuation entitlements earned or actually paid. Is their own legislation so dodgy that they have no faith in it?

What we have is three separate acts of parliament that each require employers to report superannuation entitlements. How do you suppose that should appear on a pay slip? Should it be just once, because that fulfils the requirement of all three acts, or as separate line items? Would that make an employee believe they are actually receiving three times as much superannuation? Common sense must prevail, and the system has to be made easier for both employees and employers.

But in order to do that some tough decisions need to be made by those opposite. Do they want to be part of the solution, or are they content with continuing to be the problem? Stop being negative for the sake of it and support this bill that simplifies the reporting of superannuation contributions on pay slips, as well as deleting some spent provisions and continuing the rewrite of tax legislation begun under the Keating government. Short-term opportunism is no substitute for long-term thinking and planning. Labor has no plan for the future, no plan beyond the next electoral cycle and probably no plans after lunch but sniping from the sidelines and suffering relevance deprivation. But, of course, I am exaggerating, because, as we know, Labor does have one plan. Indeed, they have a plan to re-introduce the world's biggest economy-wide carbon tax, which was not effective in lowering carbon emissions by one single gram.

The government is not trying to hide workers' superannuation entitlements. We are just trying to make it as simple to understand as possible. Surely, simplicity in understanding how your retirement nest egg is working is something all workers want. When I look at my pay slip I want to easily see what my contribution to my superannuation is. This allows you to plan for your future and your family's future, and an easy to understand single number is the best way to do that.

Those opposite continue to grasp at straws in trying to discredit this government because they know they have no real ammunition. This is a government of responsible fiscal management. This is the government Australia needs after the years of poor and reckless financial management by the Labor-Greens alliance. The coalition government will lead Australia back to financial prosperity, although Labor did send businesses to the wall and hurt consumers.

The other important measure this bill takes is to define 'Australia' for taxation purposes. While this may seem self-evident, the standard definition of Australia does not cover seabeds or any oil, gas or other precious and semi-precious material under the sea. This bill defines those areas above and below sea which fall under the provisions of the Australian Taxation Act. When you consider the vast potential of the Joint Petroleum Development Area in the Timor Sea, this is an important measure to get right. So I again ask those opposite whether they are part of the solution or remain the problem. I call on them to show genuine bipartisanship in the interests of Australia and vote this bill through. I commend this bill to the House.

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