Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I will be brief. In terms of additional comments to the committee report, coalition members of the committee raised some concerns we had with respect to two schedules of the bill. In broad brushstrokes—and with emphasis on the word 'broad'—coalition members would agree with a number of the assertions made by the committee chair but, specifically with respect to schedule 1, coalition members felt it necessary to highlight that it was very clear there had been for all intents and purposes no consultation with industry with respect to the proposed changes as outlined in this schedule 1. Whether it was SPAA, the Screen Producers Association of Australia, or others that appeared on the day, it was clear that the first they really knew about it, the first opportunity that industry had with respect to the proposed changes, was when the draft bill itself had been put into the public domain. It would appear they took the view that it was, for all intents and purposes, a foregone conclusion. Coalition members highlight the fact that this is hardly the way to conduct good public policy and on that basis made some comments in our additional comments.

Schedule 6 is the super co-contributions. The reality is—and coalition members believe Australians recognise this but we want to highlight the fact—that the Gillard Labor government is again seeking to cut government super co-contribution benefits for low-income earners. As much as the Labor Party like to make out that they are a friend of low-income earners, the simple reality is that there have been so many changes on so many occasions that now it is clear that they are far from being a friend.

After promising not to make any changes to superannuation in the lead-up to the 2007 election there have been, in fact, numerous changes invariably designed to undermine incentives for people to voluntarily save more toward their retirement. As well as reducing the concessional contribution caps, the government has cut super co-contribution benefits for low-income earners and imposed additional taxes of more than $8 billion on people's retirement. They have reduced concessional contribution caps from $50,000 and $100,000 per year, depending on your age, under the previous coalition government down to $25,000 per year across the board—a substantial reduction. This means anyone wanting to save more super per year than that low threshold has to pay the top marginal tax rate.

Targeting low-income earners saving for their retirement, Labor has also already reduced super co-contribution benefits for low-income earners from a maximum of $1,500 down to $1,000, while also reducing the matching rate from 1.5 down to one to one. This legislation proposes to cut the maximum super co-contribution benefit for low-income earners again, this time in half, down to just $500,with a similarly reduced matching rate halved from one to one down to 0.5 to one. Overall, the Labor government has cut super co-contribution benefits for low-income earners by more than $3.3 billion by far.

In summary, coalition members want to highlight and make very quickly on the record that this is not a government that is committed to low-income earners, despite all the rhetoric to the contrary. The simple and inescapable conclusion to reach is that, beyond the headlines, this legislation is going to make it tougher for low-income earners, not easier.