Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move amendments (1) and (2) as circulated in my name together:

(1) Clause 2, page 2 (table items 2 and 3), omit the table items.

(2) Schedule 1, page 3 (line 1) to page 8 (line 29), omit the Schedule.

These amendments remove from the bill the outrageous schedule which provides an amnesty for nonpayment of superannuation guarantee, an outrageous schedule which should be removed and should not be the law of the land. What is the law of the land is that employers should pay superannuation to their employees. It's part of their conditions, it is part of their wages and it should be paid. To provide an amnesty for the nonpayment of superannuation guarantee covering a period of not less than 25 years is nothing short of an outrage. There was no consultation from the government before they implemented this policy. It was not announced in the budget. There was no consultation with the sector, no consultation with the employees; in fact, on the contrary, the Senate inquiry looking at the very significant issue of under payment and nonpayment of superannuation guarantee did not recommend this. The government's own joint working party did not recommend this. We don't know who recommended it to the government. What we do know is that the government has adopted it with no consultation at all.

The minister at the table said in her summing-up that the government will take a very dim view of nonpayment of superannuation guarantee after the amnesty. I tell you what, the government should take a very dim view of nonpayment of superannuation guarantee at every point. No amnesty should apply to the law of the land. It is the law of the land, passed by this parliament that the superannuation guarantee should be paid. I know the Liberals and National Party oppose that—they didn't want universal compulsory superannuation—but it did pass this parliament. It has been the law of the land for 25 years.

We on this side happen to think that nonpayment of superannuation guarantee is a serious breach of the law, should be dealt with accordingly, and providing an amnesty to the nonpayment of superannuation guarantee is exactly the wrong move. I don't think this government's going to provide an amnesty for over-claims of payments of welfare. I don't think the government is going to provide an amnesty for things that they don't like but they are going provide an amnesty for things they don't mind about so much, and they don't mind the nonpayment of the superannuation guarantee. They don't think that's a big problem. What they think is that there should be an amnesty to let them off, to not only provide a holiday of penalties but also provide a tax deduction for the superannuation guarantee charge—a double amnesty for the nonpayment of superannuation guarantee! Employers should pay their superannuation guarantee. It is a fundamental right of employees of Australia, and this government should be ashamed of itself for providing this amnesty. We seek to remove it from the bill.

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