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

In question time yesterday, the Treasurer said of the government's superannuation package: 'We continue to pursue those measures because those measures are essential.' Given the government abandoned those measures a few hours ago, can the Treasurer explain to the House why they were essential yesterday but not today?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. We continue to pursue the measures in the budget, because those measures as improved in the announcement we made today the measures we announced today which improve those measure—that is what it means: you work on the measures; you make them even better. Those opposite seem to think that is a problem. Those opposite when they work on measures, they get worse. They do not get better they get worse.

In April last year, the Leader of the Opposition—this was when they say they led the debate on this issue and they put their superannuation policy out there—said to the country: 'If we are elected these are the final and only changes Labor will make to the tax treatment of superannuation.' But as we know, as time went on it all started to drift away. The member for Rankin, who is no longer in the chamber, said in May, just after the budget: 'People will now know by the time they go to the polling booth where we stand on superannuation.' Apparently, we knew what that was back in 2015, but by just after the budget in May the position had changed.

Then we go forward to June, when the member for Rankin said, 'They will be in no doubt what our position on super is.' But on election day people were in doubt, because we heard from the shadow Treasurer just days before the election: We're committed to raising the same amount of money as the government, but we want to sit down with the sector and work out the best way to proceed.' That is what the people of Australia knew about their superannuation policy, that it had completely vanished by the time of the election. On the same day, the Leader of the Opposition, rounding it out from what he had said more than a year before, said, 'If we win the election we are going to have to revisit this measure.' They went into a complete roundabout on superannuation policy and ended up in the same place they started, which was nowhere.

They have an opportunity, because we have removed every single impediment that would prevent those opposite from joining with the government in a bipartisan commitment to ensuring that superannuation is more sustainable, more flexible, fairer and contributing to the task of budget repair, which is necessary to deal with the debt curse left by those opposite to those on this side of the House. They have the opportunity to do that, and I look forward to them doing that, because they know they are going to support it, we know going to support it and the Australian people just want them to get on with it.