Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Groom for putting forward this very important motion in response to yet another one of the Albanese Labor government's harebrained ideas. Let me set the scene for you: the year is 2024, and, instead of living the Australian dream, we're stuck in a Labor created nightmare. Every Australian is struggling through this Labor created cost-of-living crisis. Inflation has skyrocketed. Groceries and fuel are becoming increasingly impossible to afford. The energy future of this country is in jeopardy, and those opposite won't even have a mature conversation about it. Our rural and regional roads are in disrepair. Our primary industries are warding off attack after attack. Hardworking young Australians everywhere are barely able to afford the necessities, let alone save for a house deposit or make any real plan to safeguard their future, because under Labor their future looks bleak.

In times of hardship, a reasonable person might start thinking about how they can help a person who's struggling, but we know that the Labor government is not reasonable. Instead, while Australians everywhere are doing it tough, they have decided to bring in legislation that would take more money away from them. Because those on the other side of the House can't manage their own money, they come after yours.

So what have they done? By introducing the Treasury laws amendment bill 2024, the Albanese Labor government has broken yet another one of their promises. Despite making promises of no changes to superannuation before the election, the Albanese Labor government are doubling the amount of tax that Australians will have to pay on their superannuation, which now takes that tax that they will collect from the Australian public's hard-earned superannuation from 15 per cent to 30 per cent. But don't worry; they're only doubling the tax for people who have $3 million in their super accounts. 'It won't impact that many people,' said the Prime Minister.

The single biggest issue I have with this bill is that there is no indexation. According to comments by the Grattan Institute, within 30 years about one in 10 workers will begin to retire with super balances that will be subject to the Labor government's higher taxes on superannuation. That is 200 times more people that will be impacted by this bill than the government is claiming. Who are the people who are retiring in 30 years time? Those young Aussies who are barely making ends meet because of this Labor created cost-of-living crisis—the very same Australians struggling to pay their bills, struggling to put fuel in their cars and struggling to put food on the table, who have no money left over by the end of the week to put into savings, let alone being able to top up their super from time to time so they don't have to rely on the government as they get older and can't work anymore.

Just doubling the tax wasn't enough, though, because those opposite want to impose this tax on unrealised capital gains as well. So, even if the younger generations can afford to break into the investment market through a self-managed super fund, they might be asset rich but cash poor, and if their land valuation increases they have to pay tax on it. They will be paying tax on paper gains, and that is absolutely ridiculous. This does not happen anywhere else in the world—nowhere. But that's exactly what the Albanese Labor government's going to do.

This bill is a blatant cash grab from those opposite, and that is why I need to be on the record supporting the member for Groom's motion today. Those of us on this side of the House get out of bed every day and try to make lasting and positive change for the people of Australia, and that's why we're calling on the government to abolish their plans to introduce higher taxes on superannuation. We're calling on the government to enable young Australians to use their tax advantaged superannuation contributions to buy their first home, which at present is so far out of reach, and we're calling on the government to protect all Australians from a bleak future as a result their economic mismanagement. We need to lower taxes, cut the wasteful, inflationary spending and end this current Labor created costs-of-living crisis.

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