Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister, and I refer to his previous answer, in which he claimed a mandate for delaying the superannuation guarantee rise by six years. Prime Minister, isn't it the case that your superannuation policy at the last election admitted only a two-year delay in increasing the superannuation guarantee? Prime Minister, isn't it the case that, far from having a mandate, your government has broken a commitment to almost nine million Australians?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is passing strange that members opposite should complain, given that they have frustrated every promise that this government made. They have sought to frustrate this government keeping every promise that it made. There is not a single major policy promise that we made at the election that the opposition has not opposed. So this opposition can hardly complain when every promise that we made pre election has been monumentally frustrated at every turn, and they have made themselves completely and utterly irrelevant by refusing to accept the mandate that the government won.

We took a superannuation guarantee levy pause to the election. That pause has now been implemented. And I remind the Leader of the Opposition of his statement, that the superannuation guarantee levy comes out of wages. So by pausing the operation of the levy, we have helped the workers of this country. And we have got rid of the mining tax. We have seen the back of the mining tax—

Mr Watts interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gellibrand!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

possibly the most foolish tax in the history of our country—a tax that destroyed jobs, a tax that damaged investment, a tax which cost money and a tax which did not raise any revenue. Well, it is gone, thanks to this government—no thanks to the opposition.