Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

It's sad that we have to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions and Other Measures) Bill 2023, because it is a broken election promise from the government. The Albanese Labor government said that they would not be changing super; there would be no major changes. This is a major change with what they're proposing. We will be moving amendments when the time is appropriate. We will be moving amendments to make sure that we hold the government to account. To everyone that's going to be affected by these changes: the amendments that we move will be supporting you.

The big issue here is that this is a broken promise. It's a doubling of taxation on some Australians' retirement savings. It is a tax on hardworking Australians. Labor's division 296 tax is an unindexed wealth tax affecting countless Australians. It is a tax on unrealised capital gains, which is completely unheard of. This has never been done before. For those lucky enough to have a superannuation balance of a certain amount, they will be hit with a tax on unrealised capital gains. For everyone else, they face unindexed annual tax on unrealised capital gains. It is a tax on aspiration. Superannuation belongs to Australians. It is not the Albanese government's money, it is not the Prime Minister's money and it is certainly not the Treasurer's money. Superannuation is Australians' money, and the Albanese Labor government are not respecting that—that it belongs to Australians, not the government.

We've seen when they are irresponsible with spending. We've seen, since they were elected just two years ago, some $315 billion over the forward estimates in increased spending—and they wonder why inflation's through the roof and why Australians are paying more rent and higher mortgages and paying more at the checkout when they buy their groceries. The purpose of superannuation is to take pressure off the budget; not prop it up by filling revenue gaps. Even with their super guarantee bill, they've changed that. They're saying, 'Well, superannuation is there, along with government support.' That's not the purpose of super. When superannuation was brought in—which they so proudly talk about and which the opposition has always supported—it was meant to make Australians able to support themselves and actually lower the costs on the budget—to make sure that the budget wasn't hit up in the future for more support payments and to actually lower the welfare budget. Now we see the government saying, 'We need to tax some people with super more,' despite the fact that they said they wouldn't do that before the last election.

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