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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Before the election, the Prime Minister promised not to make any adverse changes to superannuation. Since the election, the Prime Minister has twice frozen the superannuation guarantee and has increased superannuation taxes on low-income earners. These measures that will cost Australians over $900 billion in retirement savings over the next 40 years. Why is the Prime Minister cutting to superannuation future of low- and middle-income Australians?

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

Methinks the Leader of the Opposition protests too much! We all know his plan to raid the superannuation savings of every Australian. We all know that this is a Leader of the Opposition who does not want low- and middle-income families to get $1,500 a year more in child care. He does not want that. He does not want the families of Australia to get $550 a year extra through the abolition of the carbon tax. He wants to put the carbon tax back on them. We know that he wants to hit people with a superannuation tax. We know what he plans because we know what he was like. When he was in government he instituted the piggybank tax on the kids and the old people of our country—

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

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I raise the point of relevance more in hope than experience, but will the Prime Minister please be relevant to this question and talk about his cuts to superannuation.

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

This government made a commitment prior to the election that there would be no adverse changes to superannuation in this term of parliament—and that is exactly the commitment that we are keeping. Let me go on, this government has no plans to change the taxation of superannuation in the future beyond this term of parliament and this government will never treat the savings of Australians as a piggybank to be raided by the government whenever the government is in trouble.

We understand that superannuation is not the government's money, it is the people's money—that is why we are not going to touch it. We respect the fact that the people of Australia work hard and when they put money away for their retirement it belongs to them—it is not an emergency fund for a government that was running out of money the way members opposite were when they were in government. We absolutely respect that there is a world of difference between the social security that the government provides to people and people's own savings. We understand that difference, members opposite do not. They just do not get it. They think that your money belongs to them when they are in trouble. This is a very clear distinction between the Labor Party and the coalition on this point. And I make it absolutely crystal clear what will happen if members opposite were re-elected—the carbon tax comes back, a superannuation tax comes on and the boats start again. That is what will happen. On that note, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.