Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

Superannuation provides Australian workers with a dignified retirement. It's a worker savings scheme that allows Australians to own their own home and to live comfortably in retirement without having to rely on a government pension to get by. It is really about the government saying thank you to Australian workers for your hard work in building the economic wealth of our nation. It's the government saying, 'You worked hard for our nation and we'll support you through a savings tax concession so that you can save for your own retirement and have a good life in your elderly years.'

The Australian superannuation system has been remarkably successful in achieving that goal, for which it was planned. That's evident in the fact that Australia has the 16th-largest economy in the world, but we have the fourth largest pool of retirement savings of any nation in the world. It's also evident in the fact that before universal superannuation 68 per cent of Australians—and 85 per cent of women—had no retirement savings whatsoever. Now, because of compulsory superannuation, the average superannuation balance at retirement is approximately $160,000 for a woman and $280,000 for a man.

But you don't need to worry about the stats, Deputy Speaker—just ask any Australian worker who's worked all of their working life with voluntary superannuation contributions and compulsory super contributions. Ask them about the benefits of a superannuation system allowing them to retire with dignity and respect and have that reward for their hard work over all of their working years. Labor built that superannuation system that I'm referring to.

For all of those reasons we're justifiably proud of the system that we put in place, in providing that support for workers to retire with dignity. We will defend it to the hilt, because of the fact that it provides Australian workers with retirement savings so that they can live with dignity and respect in their retirement years. The Australian superannuation system—that dignity and respect that I've spoken of—is now under attack by this government, and the future dignity of Australian retirees is at risk.

We've known for a long time that the Liberal and National parties don't support compulsory superannuation. They didn't vote for it when it was established. When they were last in government they put a stop to increases in the compulsory rate of savings under superannuation. They've always attacked superannuation when they've had the opportunity in government, and they're attacking it again. But this is no ordinary attack. This is a full-on double-barrelled attack on superannuation in this country, through the early-release scheme, encouraging people to raid their superannuation savings. Again, those on the back bench—and some of the ministers now—are out there freelancing and saying that we should be increasing the compulsory rate of superannuation savings in this country.

Labor will fight this double-barrelled attack on superannuation. We'll fight to defend Australian workers' rights to retire with dignity under our superannuation scheme. We'll fight to ensure that Australian workers retire with a decent balance in their superannuation balances, particularly those disadvantaged workers who we know, under the current scheme, will not retire with adequate savings. I'm speaking, of course, of low-paid workers and women in Australia.

The early release scheme has been a disaster. We've seen it subject to fraud. It had to be shut down because of fraud and the AFP investigations that were undertaken. We've seen that 40 per cent of people who've accessed their super and raided it early have had no drop in their income, and, of those who did, 10 per cent spent it on gambling! Those opposite will say, 'This is their money; they can do with it what they like.' It is their money, but it was established to provide them with dignity in retirement not to whizz up against the wall on gambling and alcohol under an early release scheme that's been poorly designed and allows people to raid their superannuation.

Labor will fight to ensure the integrity of our superannuation system. We'll fight to ensure that these legislated increases, these guaranteed increases, are met by this government.

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