Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions and Other Measures) Bill 2023. This bill is a terrible bill. It's a terrible bill for many reasons, but I want to touch on three. First, it's another broken promise. Just add it to the list of other broken promises: electricity bills would be $275 cheaper under Labor, mortgages would be lower under Labor, inflation would be lower under Labor, franking credits would not be touched under Labor, taxes would not go up under Labor, the cost of consultants and contractors would be cut under Labor and there would be no changes to superannuation under Labor. All of this was summarised by the big, overarching call that Australians would be better off under Labor. Instead of being a list of election promises, it is a list of broken promises and the failures of Labor to keep their word. I'm yet to find anyone in the community that I serve, in Longman, that is better off under this Labor government than they were two years ago under the former coalition government.

This bill breaks one of the promises I mentioned previously, as there will now be changes to super. We know that Labor sees super in a different way from the coalition. For Labor, it's all about getting people into industry funds, who then fund the unions, who then, in turn, fund the Labor Party. So it is in their best interests to make it as uncomfortable and costly as possible for those Australians who choose to put their money into a self-managed super fund, rather than an industry fund that funds unions and, ultimately, the Labor Party. Put simply: they see hardworking Australians' superannuation as their personal election campaign fund. In contrast, the coalition recognises that this is the Australian workers' money. It does not belong to any political party or any government of any political persuasion. It is there to help Australians fund their retirement and nothing else. Many of those with self-managed super funds have used these funds to purchase property that they may run their own business out of. Farmers may use these funds to purchase land. Both these cases are examples of people using their own super money to invest in property that frees up capital, which helps them run businesses that inject more into the Australian economy by employing more people, who, in turn, pay taxes and purchase equipment from other businesses that also pay taxes and employ people that pay taxes.

But this legislation threatens this system. By taxing these funds with assets over $3 million on unrealised gains, many of these businesses will be forced to sell these assets to pay the tax bill on money they've never even earned. This means some employees will lose their jobs, and the purchasing of new equipment will slow dramatically to assist in paying this tax bill—not to mention what happens if that business is sold. Say a business was taxed for something being worth $3,200,000 and then sold it for $2½ million. What happens then? There's a $700,000 shortfall which has not been explained, but only Labor could not see this.

When speaking to people who are in this situation, most tell me they are not over the moon to pay extra tax, but they'd live with it if it happened when they actually sold the asset and made the gain. It makes sense, as you'll actually have the money from the sale. Let's put this in perspective for the laypeople out there. Quite simply, if a panel shop or a hairdresser bought a shed or a shop 20 years ago in their self-managed super fund's name for $500,000, and the premises are now valued at $3,200,000, the self-managed super fund would have to pay tax on the paper gain of $2.7 million, even though they have not actually sold the asset and received the money. Hence the reason that, in many cases, they would need to sell this asset, as I just outlined. How would you feel if the government said your annual salary next year will be $80,000 and they need you to pay the tax before you earn it? Of course you'd be angry, and rightly so.

Labor are again using the old Robin Hood MO, of taking from the rich and giving to the poor. It's a great headline but a misleading one that, as usual, leaves out the details and the true consequences of their policy, which is simply a vote grab. The problem is that this possibly affects a low- to middle-income worker even more than the so-called rich. It is these people who will lose their job and then have their home repossessed when they can't pay their mortgage. It will be these people who will be evicted when they can't pay the rent, because they've lost their job so their employer can pay this unfair tax bill. It hurts the very people they're supposed to be helping but are in fact deceiving, which is reprehensible.

It also hurts future generations of workers, many of whom will have more than $3 million in super, as wages and super contributions continue to grow. The second crazy part of this legislation is that it's not indexed. Labor are saying that $3 million in 2064 will have the same value in real terms as $3 million in 2024. Analysts at the ATO and census data tell us that more than two million working Australians under the age of 25 today will be subject to this unfair tax, as in the future they will have over $3 million in super.

Research has revealed that, when it comes to super, Australians trust themselves first, super funds second and government last. We must empower Australians to make decisions about their own financial future first, not governments. We need economic policies that support small-business aspiration and entrepreneurship; that reward work, not more welfare; that contain growth in government spending and government overreach; that deliver an incentive based tax system that returns bracket creep and supports lower, fairer taxes; and that exemplify the coalition's long-held mantra of allowing Australians to keep more of what they earn—which I note has been stolen in the last six months by the Labor party, which, of course, is the highest form of flattery. Australians need a government and policies that support aspiration and back business to create jobs, and this bill and this Labor government do the opposite. I will not be supporting this bill.

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