Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Like Senator Watson, I rise to commend the government for this far-sighted and important step in securing the future of Australia’s fiscal and economic stability. Also—on a more personal level, in a sense—I commend the government for having the foresight to provide for the superannuation requirements of many of my constituents, who obviously will benefit more directly from provisions of this kind, which provide for the future retirement needs of Commonwealth public servants. Of course, these funds will also be available to secure the retirement incomes of members of the federal parliament, but that is a matter I note only as a small aside.

The fact is that a measure of this kind is extremely important and makes an important provision for the capacity of the next couple of generations of Australians to meet not only their obligations to their community but also those of the previous generation of public servants who reach retirement age. Why do we need to do this? Very simply, the Commonwealth’s unfunded superannuation liability at this moment stands at about $90 billion. That is an enormous amount of money, approaching half of the total annual expenditure of the Commonwealth in any given year. By 2020, less than 15 years from now, that figure will reach $140 billion, approximately two-thirds of today’s annual Commonwealth expenditure.

So to ignore the implications of these facts or to suggest that somehow those who are making public policy in 2020 will be able to cover that kind of liability is laissez-faire nonchalance. It is bad governance, it is foolish and it is grossly unfair to the next generation of Australian taxpayers. I am proud to say that the Australian government has seen that need and has seen that a fund of this kind is important to guarantee intergenerational equity and also to ensure that Australia is able to continue to project a strong sense of economic and fiscal responsibility in its management of its obligations to both public servants and, in particular, people such as members of the Australian Defence Force.

Financial security is an essential part of human security. I am happy to say that the government is taking steps to secure the retirement funds of young men and women who are serving Australia’s interests today in difficult and dangerous conditions around the world. It may be unsexy, it may be even a little boring, to put so much money away into a fund of this kind to cover the superannuation payments required for current public servants. But it is a responsibility that we all bear. If we do not make provision for that obligation we run the serious risk that, at that point in the future, either those liabilities will not be met or, perhaps slightly more likely, they will be met but at a great cost to the capacity of the next generation of Australian taxpayers to fund other important social objectives.

I mentioned a moment ago the issue of fairness. Australia is getting older. I read in the newspaper that we are getting a little bit fatter as well. Perhaps we are getting a little bit wiser. But, whatever the concomitant conditions, we are definitely getting older.