Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

There you go: 'Where is the money coming from?' That is exactly it. That was the argument when we introduced superannuation. Those opposite say: 'We were always there for economic reform. We worked with the Hawke and Keating governments.' Way back when, to oppose superannuation, they used the argument that the member for Hume uses. When we were arguing that instead of having pensions to rely upon for retirement incomes we would have a pool of national savings that would be good for the economy and would generate income for people in retirement, they opposed it. They opposed superannuation, they cut pensions and they made sure that, when people retire, they have less to live on. That is what the argument was. They cut superannuation. They had a chance to fix it and they did not. Now they have again stopped the increase to superannuation; they have refused to support it. If you do not have super and you rely on the pension, you are looking at a cut. If you have super and you want to ensure that you have a good retirement income, that is cut. And what is the other prescription? All those people sitting on the backbench argue that we have to cut penalty rates and that we have to see lower wages. Wages are at their lowest growth level since the RBA started collecting the stats, and those opposite are going around arguing for a cut in penalty rates.

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