Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

You've just heard all the arguments in favour of this legislation! There it is, from this minister. To be fair, there are some on the other side who are honest about what their view of superannuation is. The Liberal Party's Senator Rennick said in the debate about this legislation across on the other side:

… if we want to be serious about protecting the battlers in this country, it's time to kill superannuation stone, cold dead.

That's the view of the Liberal and National parties when it comes to workers having decent retirements and having dignity in their later years. They're not content to trash the aged-care system. They want people to also, before they get to aged care, have a pretty bad retirement. They can't stand the idea that anyone other than their mates can own capital. They can't stand the idea that Australia can have, in our economic system as one of our ballasts, $3 trillion in superannuation funds. The fact is that that is in our national interest, and it's also in the interests of working people. That is why we on this side of the House will always defend superannuation, and why those opposite will always take every opportunity to undermine it. Remember the royal commission aimed at industry funds? What did it find? It found that industry funds were the most effective form of superannuation. It found that self-managed funds and the retail funds just don't stack up in terms of returns and in terms of the costs to superannuants.

The flaws in this bill are multiple. One is that it staples members to dud funds. What we can see will happen is that some people will have an advantage—the retailers, the banks and the mates of those opposite selling their products rather than industry super funds. That's really what it's aimed at here. That has real implications, because workers could be stapled to their first fund. Those opposite mightn't have this experience, but certainly I did: the first job that I had was in retail. And many people will do that. I worked at Maccas, I worked at Grace Brothers, I worked at Pancakes On The Rocks and I worked at various other jobs.

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