Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Yesterday, your current Treasurer described concessions for people who have superannuation accounts of $10 million as 'extraordinary and ridiculous'. So why will the government not have a go and fix it up?

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

This is from the Leader of the Opposition, who once described superannuation accounts as 'legalised tax havens'. The Leader of the Opposition who effectively called people who were saving through superannuation 'people who were rorting the tax system'—that is, effectively, what he did. By Labor's logic, if you make a policy pronouncement about something—a tough-minded policy pronouncement about something—you are somehow guilty of blackguarding the people who take advantage of government policy as it stands.

I have been asked about superannuation, and I want to say to the Leader of the Opposition and to the people of Australia that this government supports people's right—indeed, their duty—to save for their retirement. We absolutely support peoples' rights and duty to save for their retirement and we want them to be appropriately incentivised to save for their retirement. We have given a very clear commitment that there will be no adverse changes to superannuation in this term of parliament. Unlike the Leader of the Opposition, we have no plans to slug retirees with future taxes, because, I tell you what, we do not regard people's retirement savings as a piggy bank for governments in trouble. We do not regard people's retirement savings as a cash cow to be raided by government when government is in trouble. That is the Labor way.

Labor regards people's superannuation savings as a cash box for government. That is what it is: a cash box that the government can raid whenever it is short of money. If I am wrong, I call on the Leader of the Opposition to explain tonight in his budget reply exactly what superannuation taxes he has in store for people, because with a $52 billion budget black hole he certainly has to fill it somehow. The Labor way is the taxing way whether it is the carbon tax, whether it is the mining tax, whether it is the piggy bank tax or whether it is the stealth tax on inactive savings accounts. We know that he has a $52 billion budget black hole, and tonight he has to tell us how to fill it. Come clean with the Australian people. Tell us what the year of ideas is actually going to entail. Come clean I say to the Leader of the Opposition. Tell the truth. What are your ideas? If you are an alternative Prime Minister, tell us what sort of polices the alternative government would pursue. On that note, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.