Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Goldstein for his question. I want to say what a fantastic job he has done chairing a parliamentary committee. What a fantastic job he has done. The member for Goldstein has given a voice to the deep concerns of the over one million Australians that the Labor Party want to silence with their great big retirees tax. It's a $55 billion retirees tax. He is giving a voice and an opportunity to be heard to one million-plus Australians across the country and to the over 11,000 in his own electorate who will be affected.

Mr Speaker, when you read the stories and hear the stories of the people who are being affected by Labor's dreaded retirees tax it actually brings home how callous the Labor Party is and how the Labor Party is ignoring the concerns of hardworking Australians who have done nothing wrong except diligently plan and save for their own retirement. These are Australians like Adrian, who said the following: 'My wife and I are both retired teachers from the Victorian state government school system. We live in a regional Victorian city in a modest home. We are self-funded retirees. During our working lives we were both members of the Australian Education Union. The effect of not allowing us a cash refund of franking credits would result in approximately a one-third reduction of income from our Australian shares, effectively a combined $8,000 per year loss of personal income. The ALP's proposal to remove a cash refund of franking credits from self-funded retirees is unfair.'

They're the words of former members of the Australian Education Union. They're the words of people of whom the member for McMahon said, 'If you don't like our policy, don't vote for us.' They're the words of people that the Labor Party is ignoring and dismissing and no longer caring about. These are hardworking Australians who have done nothing wrong except save for their own retirement. There's only one side of politics that stands on their side, and it's the coalition under this Prime Minister.

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