Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This motion is yet another example of the 'no-alition' paying politics while we get on with the business of governing for Australia's future. The government has been completely upfront about these proposed changes. We're making a modest adjustment to superannuation tax breaks for those with balances over $3 million. That means 99.5 per cent of Australians with super accounts will keep on receiving the same generous tax breaks that are currently in place. That means that just 0.5 per cent of people with balances above $3 million will be impacted by this measure. Let's be clear about that. They will still receive tax breaks, just less generous tax breaks.

It is completely wrong for those opposite to claim that these modest super changes will unfairly impact younger Australians. The simple scenario raised today illustrates that a young person earning $90,000 right now and increasing their earnings throughout their life would be very unlikely to exceed a balance of $3 million during their working life. So the $3 million threshold strikes a balance, and it strikes the right balance between the incentive to save for retirement and protecting the future of superannuation.

When it comes to super, the Liberals have no ground to stand on. Let's not forget the fact that their proposed changes to super in 2017 would have affected twice as many Australians with a super account. On top of that, this is the same group of people who allowed more than $30 billion to be drained out of Australian superannuation accounts during the pandemic. Most of that money was taken out by young Australians. In most cases people took out their entire superannuation balance, and in many cases those people remained employed or on JobKeeper. It was reckless policy on the run that did great damage to the superannuation system. It also did great damage to those individuals affected by that same policy. It didn't reduce their vulnerability, and it didn't reduce their hardship. It moved that hardship from one point in their life to another point in their life—that point being when they retire and find that they have, in some cases, up to $60,000 less in their superannuation accounts than they would otherwise have had. The policy was vandalism of Australia's superannuation system, and it will have a pernicious effect on many Australians who will now be retiring with much less in their superannuation accounts than they otherwise would. That's the damage that those opposite inflicted on Australia's superannuation system.

This modest measure strengthens our superannuation system and strengthens the government's budget. Let's not forget that this government inherited $1 trillion of debt, so it is quite ironic that we have on that side of the House a political party that now wants not only to maintain that trillion dollars of debt but also exacerbate that debt by maintaining tax breaks for extremely wealthy people with superannuation balances well above what is needed to provide for a comfortable retirement, which is the purpose of superannuation. In fact, these are people who, as a result of their super balances, are getting very generous tax breaks that are not available to most Australians who don't have that same balance in their superannuation. We've been very clear about why these changes are needed with the challenges facing the economy.

Today marks one year since the election of the Albanese Labor government. It is one year since we inherited a trillion dollars of debt resulting from reckless coalition spending. That trillion dollars of debt included rorts and colour coded spreadsheets and programs like JobKeeper, which massively oversubsidised businesses and workers who remained employed, with that JobKeeper money going in its billions to businesses that had no reduction in their profits. Now it falls to us to fix the budget, and this type of measure is exactly the type of measure you would want to be fixing the budget with: a measure that is tailored, a measure that is targeted, a measure that doesn't affect the vast majority of Australians who are currently doing it tough.

It's this type of measure that is a hallmark of the disciplined economic management of the Albanese Labor government—economic management that has enabled this government to provide a surplus in its first full budget, a surplus that all Australians should be very proud of.

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