Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure also to speak on this particular bill, the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2014 Measures No. 7) Bill 2014, because it goes to some very important issues around taxation and superannuation and continues the good work that Labor did in repairing some inadvertent clauses that meant that some people were being taxed at a higher rate than otherwise they should have been. It is good to see that work continued. While I will not deal with every schedule in the bill, there are a number that are very important. But it also gives me an opportunity to talk about the importance of superannuation and not only the government's record on superannuation but also Labor's record on superannuation.

It is curious for me and, I suspect, for many other people to see that the Abbott government is so concerned, as you might hear in some speeches, about fairness in superannuation and how unfair some elements might have been for certain individuals. But the reality is starkly different. The reality is that the Abbott government, in opposition, has always fought against superannuation and any increases for ordinary people to see their life savings grow larger and to become more independent in retirement. It also has taken a number of measures in government to ensure that that is the case—that people suffer direct, positive disadvantage.

You could not go beyond the superannuation guarantee to see that more starkly. The superannuation guarantee is currently at 9.5 per cent, albeit the government has opposed this at every step. The Abbott government, I have to say, has worked very hard in this particular area to make sure that the increase from nine to 12 per cent, which Labor started, is delayed for as long as possible. This is a great shame, because if we are going to talk about fairness and equity, and if we are going to talk about sustainability and ensuring that people are as independent as possible in retirement, then the superannuation guarantee is the best method that we have for ensuring that that happens, and an increase from nine per cent to 12 per cent is the way that we can continue to make sure that that actually happens. While we talk about sustainability, we should also consider sustainability in terms of people's independence in retirement. The Liberals announced their first delay of that increase from nine to 12 per cent as part of the original MRRT repeal bill, which means now that, as part of a deal with the Palmer United Party, the Liberals have made a third delay, meaning the full 12 per cent will not be reached until 1 July 2025—a long, long way away. Any good person looking at the superannuation system would look at the cost to individual people and what that means to their retirement savings and retirement future.

I have to say that of all the election promises broken—there are not really many that have been kept—the con job on superannuation would have to be one of the largest. The Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, has form in this area, and I dare say he has not changed his views even today. In 1995, this is what Tony Abbott said in Hansard:

Compulsory superannuation is one of the biggest con jobs ever foisted by government on the Australian people.

I would love to ask the Prime Minister whether he still believes that is the case—whether compulsory superannuation is one of the biggest con jobs ever foisted by government on the Australian people. But that was a long time ago, 1995. But as recently as March 2012 the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, also said this at a press conference:

We have always as a Coalition been against compulsory superannuation increases …

So there you have it: the Prime Minister of Australia on the record. He does not support superannuation. He does not support the super guarantee. He does not support the increase of superannuation.

The litany of violence against this really great system, and people in retirement, continues, and it particularly continues through the low-income superannuation contribution, which has been axed as part of this government's cost-cutting measures. The low-income superannuation contribution is simply a contribution made on behalf of individuals with an adjusted taxable income of $37,000 per year or less—a very low or modest income by any measure. This represents an enormous number of Australians' working annual salary. In fact, it represents about 3.6 million Australians, two-thirds of whom are women. In this place, we often talk about the inequity of our superannuation system and the average balances. There is an enormous gap between what men retire on and what women retire on. One of the best ways to redress that gap—not to close it but to start to redress that gap—was the low-income superannuation contribution. Rather than being a gift or some sort of extra contribution on the part of government, it was really to return to those individuals tax paid on their behalf out of their fund, to redress the amount of tax that they had already paid. It is a small amount of money—the amount payable was up to $500—but it made a big, big difference. In fact, that difference is significant for people on very low incomes as a proportion of what they may retire on.

In fact, if you take it together with the pause in the superannuation guarantee, delayed till 2025, industry estimates that the combined negative impact on our national savings pool by 2025 will be $150 billion. That is the sort of money that is being ripped out of the system and ripped out of the retirement savings of so many low-income working Australians, who are doing their bit for the country but not being supported by their government.

I could not possibly speak on these bills about taxation and superannuation without looking at the impact that they have specifically on business. Despite all of the rhetoric and all of the words that you will hear from government—because that is all they are: their, 'Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, we're on your side,' with small business—this is an anti-business government. The Liberals are anti business. They are anti business not through their words but through their actions. They are anti business; they are anti superannuation; in fact, they are anti worker. I would like to see what they are pro. Pro-something would be really good, but they are just not. I know that is the held belief, the myth or what they tell people, but, 'Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, we're on your side,' just does not cut it for me.

I have a look at the record. What is the actual record of the government? What have they actually done, as opposed to what they say they either will do or might do? In 2014, just last year, the government budget made some very significant cuts to industry, to small business programs, to small business taxation assistance, to the CSIRO, to CRCs and also to a number of regulators. This is anti business. This is anti small business. It is anti big business. It is anti everybody. It is anti our economy. It is anti superannuation and it is anti workers. These are significant cuts; they are not trivial little things. These include various industry and small business programs totalling more than $845 million cut out.

The Liberals might say, 'We're cutting waste and we're putting in place efficiency cuts and all the rest of it,' but they are not just cutting; they are completely eliminating from the face of the Australian workplace and our economy organisations such as Commercialisation Australia—really important organisations that help innovate, grow our economy and create jobs. Commercialisation Australia has a very important role to play and is good value for money. How can you talk about on one hand growing the economy and being pro business but at the same time take from them one of the very instruments and vehicles that is used to create jobs and innovation. Commercialisation Australia—gone. The Innovation Investment Fund—gone. Australian Industry Participation—trying to make sure that in a globalised, competitive world with competitive markets Australian industry and business get a hand up, not a handout, and have an opportunity to participate on that global level—gone. Enterprise solutions; industry innovation councils that were doing fantastic jobs; Enterprise Connect—connecting small business with employment and business and growth opportunities—industry innovation precincts that help our young innovators to succeed and grow; textile, clothing and footwear small businesses that need our help to compete, innovate and stay competitive at a global level; and the building innovative capability organisation as well.

These are enormous cuts. There were $1 billion in cuts in investment, skills and training programs, including a litany of programs that have been cut. If there is one thing in particular that small business talked to me about—and I am sure they talked to government about it as well—it is that they actually want investment and assistance with skills and training programs not only for themselves but for their workforce, for people who need that assistance. If we are to believe the rhetoric from government about innovation, economic growth and the path to creating jobs and all of those things, hoorah, that is great, but how do you get there? You do it through investing in people, skills and training. You cannot talk about it and then just take all the money away and say, 'Do it yourself.' That is just not going to work.

So what have they cu? The national Workforce Development Fund. They have cut things like the National Partnership agreement on training places, alternative pathways programs, the Accelerated Australian Apprenticeships program, trade tools for apprentices—a whole heap of things that actually did deliver and work. This government does not see value for money. They know the price of everything but the value of nothing. They do not understand the value of people or of innovation. They talk the words; they just do not understand what they mean. They do not understand that, if you invest in someone or a business early, they grow and help the economy to grow, they employ people and in turn government is better off with better revenue and being better able to compete with our neighbours. But the government does not understand that. It cuts all that at every opportunity and says: 'Aren't we goo? We're saving money.' It is saving so much money that no-one will have a job soon. That is how far this government is going.

This government made a promise that it would create a million jobs. That was just a figure plucked out of the air; who knows how you get to a million? They just grabbed a figure from the air and said, 'A million sounds good, so we'll create a million jobs.' But, in reality, every single day the Tony Abbott government has been in office, jobs have gone backward. In fact, now unemployment, sadly, has reached 6.4 per cent. That is a really high rate. I think—I cannot recall exactly—that the last time it was that high Tony Abbott was employment minister or something like that.

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