Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Of course it's not a position that Senator Bragg has always taken. Senator Bragg once argued that we needed to increase universal superannuation contributions as quickly as possible, but he has now changed his tune and joined with those on the other side of the House who want to keep the universal superannuation contribution for workers low but who themselves enjoy the benefit of 15 per cent superannuation. That holds true with the Prime Minister, whose 15 per cent superannuation contribution ends up being higher than the salary for many regular workers. The fact is that Australia's pool of superannuation has meant that we have greater stability in the economy.

I'll finish where I started. When I was studying in the United States in 2000, we saw the election of President George W Bush, and the Republicans at that time were campaigning hard for private social security accounts. As an Australian, it took me a bit of time to get my head around this—that the Democrats were opposing private accounts and the Republicans were supporting them. But here we have the strange situation where it was a party of the Left that introduced universal private accounts and that saw the benefits for workers in getting those strong share market and property gains and those strong gains in the value of infrastructure assets. Yet, it's a party of the Right that is trying to white-ant superannuation and that attacks superannuation at every possible turn, whether it's attacking ISA or attacking proxy advisers, who do nothing more than provide independent advice to superannuation funds and, indeed, to other share market investors.

Those opposite won't stop at any turn to attack our effective superannuation policy, which has ensured that our pension is more sustainable than almost any in the world and will deliver dignity in retirement to millions of Australians.

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