Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

To put it at its simplest, the government has announced policies that will ensure that the average Australian worker currently aged 30 can expect up to $40,000 more in retirement income from their superannuation. That is contained in the Gillard government’s Stronger Super package. It is a very comprehensive response to the Super System Review, more commonly known as the Cooper review. That was an election promise made by the Gillard Labor government. We will also be increasing the superannuation guarantee from nine to 12 per cent over eight years by 2020. Importantly, we will be refunding the 15 per cent contributions tax that is currently paid by low- and low-middle-income earners. This is particularly iniquitous and unfair. Low- and low-middle-income earners who have no effective marginal income tax paid, pay a 15 per cent contributions tax. Millions of low- and low-middle-income earners will effectively pay no tax on their superannuation contributions.

The Stronger Super package includes the introduction of new low-cost and simple default product called My Super. There will be heightened duties for superannuation trustees and financial planners and other advisors, and also support for the Cooper review’s SuperStream proposals. The average cost of a transaction—that is, the administration and movement of moneys in the system at the moment—is $35 per transaction. I think there are 100 million transactions in a year. So the system is clearly inefficient. Currently there are an average of three superannuation accounts for every working Australian—33 million accounts for almost 12 million Australians. (Time expired)