Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Above all else in this country, we believe that all of those who call Australia home deserve a fair go. This idea of fairness and egalitarianism should be so ingrained in us as a people that it is part of our national identity. Superannuation was founded on this idea. We believe that those who've worked all their life to build this country for the better deserve to be well looked after in their retirement. Labor established the universal superannuation system, and, like Medicare and the NDIS, this nation-building policy continues to improve Australian lives. The superannuation system now has a capital pool of nearly $4 trillion, which represents one of the world's largest pension funds, despite us being only the 13th-largest economy. The average Australian now receives around $200,000 from their superannuation fund to support their dignified and comfortable retirement. I'm sure the member for Dawson would realise that not many battlers have got $3 million in their superannuation fund.

However, the superannuation system could be even fairer, and that's exactly what the Labor government is focused on delivering. Superannuation rightly gives generous tax concessions to Australians building up their retirement savings, and it encourages the magic of compound interest. Our proposed changes would impact the 0.5 per cent of people with a superannuation account balance over $3 million. These changes do not remove tax concessions for the 0.5 per cent of people with over $3 million in superannuation but would reform them to ensure that it's fairer and more sustainable. If you've got $3,000,0001 in super, that dollar over $3 million would be taxed at 30 per cent and the dollar below $3 million would be taxed at 15 per cent. Our changes do not alter the amount of money that can be invested in super funds, and they only apply to future earnings.

As the super system is dedicated to the principles of fairness, I'm not surprised that those opposite are completely incapable of understanding the purpose of superannuation: a dignified retirement. But the utter contempt that we've seen from those opposite for the idea of working people having a dignified retirement is quite amazing. I do know that those opposite allowed Australians to withdraw super during the pandemic, and that cost Australians nearly $40 billion in savings—savings that were meant to last them a lifetime. It was private stimulus that was good for the economy, and it certainly helped a lot of sectors during the pandemic, but it wasn't without great private cost. A young person could be as much as $120,000 worse off in retirement because of the financial recklessness of the coalition. We heard about ending the weekend and we've heard that the member for Dickson now wants to end your retirement.

Make no mistake, the coalition is engaged in an all-out attack on the rights of Australians to access a good, healthy retirement. They did this while in government, and now in opposition they're vowing to do it again by facilitating Australians to dig into their retirement savings and use their super to buy their first home. Let's be clear: there is no aspect of the member for Groom's plan that is good for Australians. Firstly, the coalition's housing plan would not actually build any new houses, when we know that supply is the issue. Secondly, the Super Members Council has shown that the coalition's plan would drive up the cost of housing by around $75,000—nice work, geniuses! Thirdly, it would have a devastating impact on the retirement savings of millions of Australians, as I said, by demolishing the magic of compound interest. No new homes, increasing the cost of existing housing and destroying a comfortable retirement. It sounds like this policy was cooked up in one of their nuclear reactors!

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12 : 25 to 12 : 35

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