Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Prime Minister. This government has cut penalty rates, presided over record low wages growth and is now coming after Australians' superannuation. Why is the Prime Minister planning to cut the retirement income of Australians?

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

The Leader of the Opposition has a problematic relationship with telling things as they are in this place. In response to the earlier question, I'm very happy to correct the record, as I demonstrated. The Leader of the Opposition is a serial offender on this but doesn't have the same honesty to correct himself when things are blatantly untrue. Under our government's policies, the Australian economy is coming back and Australians are getting themselves back into work. Around 80 per cent of the jobs that have been lost during the course of the COVID-19 recession are now coming back.

JobKeeper has enabled that to happen, and the ongoing plans in our budget ensure that more Australians are coming back into work, and the industrial relations changes that we'll be seeking to introduce are about removing those impracticalities that stop Australians getting into jobs. Right now, we need to get people into work. Our places we are designing and supporting to be places of cooperation and not conflict. We don't want the conflict; we want the cooperation and employers and employees working together, as we brought them together as a government, for the first time in a very long time, to ensure that we can fashion a package of changes that can get more Australians back into work.

When it comes to superannuation during the course of this crisis, we gave Australians a choice that they needed and a choice that they chose to exercise. In this country, what the Labor Party doesn't understand is that the earnings and savings of Australians belong to them. They do not belong to the industry fund managers. They do not respond and they do not answer to the bank fund managers. It's their money, and if they needed it during the crisis we were happy to give them that opportunity. Those opposite, the Labor Party, think that your savings are their money, just as they think that your earnings are their money, and that's why they always want to tax you more. At the last election, the Australian people said no to Labor's higher taxes. They said no to the large bill that would have been put on them that they could not afford, and the bill under this Leader of the Opposition would be just as great if he ever got the opportunity to lead this country.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've said a number of times, and it's obvious, that the level of interjections is unacceptable. I was about to warn the member for Kingston and the member for Brand, both of whom were constantly interjecting. I've already warned the member for Paterson and I was about to warn the member for Lyons, but I've decided, as I did yesterday, that it's just easier to be very straightforward with you and issue a general warning. That applies to all members. I'm making it very clear. I know it's the last week of the sittings, but, if you force me to set a record, I'm happy to set it.