Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Over the break I've had many of my constituents express their concern over Labor's proposed retirees' tax. Make no mistake: this proposed new tax of Labor's is unfair, regressive, discriminatory and, most of all, it's un-Australian. It is unfair because it moves the goalposts, cutting the earnings of hundreds of thousands of low-income earners by up to 25 per cent. It discriminates against retirees with a self-managed super fund but not against those with an industry-controlled union fund. Fancy that. It's regressive because the change in franking credits only affects low-income earners. The lower a person's income, the greater the cut they'll be punished with under this proposed new Labor tax. It's anti-Australian because it makes investment in Australian companies—that create jobs here in Australia—less attractive than investments overseas.

Ultimately, this is an attack by the Labor Party on those Australians who have worked hard all their lives, then sacrificed and saved so they can have a modest lifestyle in retirement, self-reliant from government. It shows the difference between the two sides. We believe the money a company earns belongs to the people who earn it, not the government.

See this speech in context