Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I have a few observations in relation to that. That was an extraordinary contribution by the government. Just to explain this: so the government is saying that an amendment which would provide that all MySuper default products—products which are in the process of being legislated by this government—which have in them all of the consumer protection mechanisms that this government judges are necessary, that giving the option for any such products to compete with each other, can somehow be contrary to the best interests of employees? If that is what the government is saying, then it should withdraw its MySuper bills immediately. What it is saying is that even though a super product can qualify for registration as a MySuper default product, consistent with its legislative requirements, that is not in itself a guarantee that that product is an appropriate default fund product. Quite frankly, if that is the government's position, then this whole process—going through three different bills in order to legislate the features of a super product that have to be there in order to ensure that those Australians who are not making active choices about their superannuation are properly protected and have a product that properly caters for their needs—is a complete waste of time.

Given the government is currently legislating to ensure that those Australians who do not make active choices in relation to their superannuation arrangements end up in a default product that has been designed by this Labor government—which is called the MySuper product—if the government is now saying that those products are inadequate and are not in the best interests of employees across Australia, then why bother with that at all? You are completely wasting your time.

The other thing the minister said is that the Productivity Commission recommended against us. That is only a half-truth. The Productivity Commission recommended genuine competition until Minister Shorten bullied them into changing their minds.