David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to make a contribution on this suite of bills, which include the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Service Providers and Other Governance Measures) Bill 2013, which is the fourth tranche of legislation implementing the MySuper proposals that followed the super system review, otherwise known as the Cooper review; the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (Increased Concessional Contributions Cap and Other Measures) Bill 2013; and the Superannuation (Sustaining the Superannuation Contribution Concession) Imposition Bill 2013, the purpose of which is to amend various taxation and superannuation laws to implement a number of budget related announcements.

Three separate measures to be implemented by the bills are set out in four schedules to the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (Increased Concessional Contributions Cap and Other Measures) Bill 2013. These three measures are a temporary increase in the superannuation concessional contributions cap for those aged 50 or more; amendments relating to the payment of the low income superannuation contribution; and an increase in tax paid on concessional contributions for certain taxpayers earning more than $300,000 per year.

The Superannuation (Sustaining the Superannuation Contribution Concession) Imposition Bill 2013 fulfils the requirements of section 55 of the Constitution that a separate bill is required to impose a tax. This highlights the fact that this suite of bills contains yet another new or increased tax by this government.

The other bill which we are debating tonight is the Superannuation Laws Amendment (MySuper Capital Gains Tax Relief and Other Measures) Bill 2013. The purpose of this bill is to amend the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 so that certain tax liabilities can be transferred between various superannuation and life insurance entities. The bill also amends the Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Act 1973 to allow for the payment of an additional superannuation contributions tax for some military personnel who are covered by the superannuation scheme established by the DFRDB Act.

Three years ago today the faceless men of the Labor Party installed Prime Minister Gillard and Australians woke up to a new leader of their country, one that they did not vote for. What was the reason for this? Labor had 'lost its way', Prime Minister Gillard then said—it was time to 'let the sun shine in' and allow transparency to reign. Yet here I am this evening, standing in this chamber to debate four government bills proposing significant changes to superannuation legislation in Australia. How much time have we been allowed to 'let the sun shine in'? A grand total of one hour and five minutes. One hour and five minutes to debate four bills, in my opinion—and, I am sure, the opinion of many Australians—does not constitute sunlight and transparency. It is utterly ridiculous and only serves to demonstrate the true arrogance of the Labor-Green alliance that rules this chamber.

The figures support my comments. In the three years of Liberal-National control of the Senate between 2004 and 2007, only 32 bills were guillotined—and, even then, only after much more reasonable opportunity for debate than what we are experiencing here this week and have experienced throughout the period of Labor-Greens control of the Senate. But it is worse than that. In the three years since the Greens-Labor alliance obtained their majority in the Senate, over 215 bills will have been guillotined—215 bills passed without due consideration and debate, with no opportunity for the chamber to properly analyse and consider the consequences of those bills, to test them and to find unintended consequences. For parties who claim to believe in openness and transparency in government, this is a complete abuse of power, and smells of desperation.

The fact is that the government, with the complicity of the Greens, are seeking to push as many of their poorly drafted pieces of legislation through this chamber, without any respect for parliamentary process or good governance, as they can. One wonders what price Labor have paid for the deal that they inevitably had to do with the Greens for their support in this regard. Interestingly, the facts on the use of the guillotine are not something that we ever hear when the Greens are scare-campaigning on the possibility of a coalition controlled Senate, despite the fact that they insisted that the Senate should be the house of review, providing proper scrutiny. With 65 minutes to debate these four bills in relation to superannuation, the Greens are just as bad as Labor, in not living up to their promises and not living up to the expectations of the Australian people.

The two concession cap bills that we are looking at today serve to demonstrate what we already know: Labor is clearly no friend of low-income earners saving for their retirement through superannuation. It is also clear that Labor's promises in relation to superannuation cannot be trusted. Superannuation is a key element of our retirement framework, and superannuation is extremely important to Australians. It is their nest egg and, to a large extent, it will determine the quality of the lifestyle they can enjoy in their retirement years. Many Australians are forced to sacrifice throughout their working life to make co-contributions to their superannuation to ensure their savings will adequately support them through their later years. But, under this Labor-Greens alliance, Australians have not been offered any certainties in relation to their superannuation. Policies have been chopped and changed. Ministers have come and gone and been reshuffled around Labor's revolving-door cabinet. Industry stakeholders have been left in the cold, with very little stakeholder liaison undertaken by this government when it comes to change in any sector, but particularly in financial services and superannuation.

The chronology of events tells the tale. In 2007, Labor promised there would be no change to superannuation—a promise which has been pathologically broken, over and over again. In the 2009-10 budget they reduced the concessional contributions cap to $25,000 per annum, indexed, with effect from the 2009-10 financial year from $50,000. They reduced to $50,000 per annum the transitional concessional contributions cap, applicable to individuals aged 50 and over, for the 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 financial years, from $100,000. On 1 July 2009 they reduced the transitional concessional contributions cap from $50, 000 per annum to $25, 000 per annum for 2009-10 and later years, but they promised that amount would be indexed to changes in AWOTE. On 2 May 2010, and in budget 2010-11, the concessional contributions cap for those over age 50 with less than $500,000 in total superannuation benefits was permanently raised from $25,000 to $50,000. This must all sound very confusing to anybody listening—and it is. On 29 November 2011, the indexation of concessional contributions caps were paused for one year—that being 2013-14. But, in the 2012-13 budget, we saw the deferral of the 2010-11 budget measure to increase the concessional contributions cap for individuals over 50 with a superannuation balance of less than $500,000 from 1 July 2012 to 1 July 2014.

Be that as it may—despite all of these changes and the broken promises—the coalition will not oppose these bills tonight, even though they contain a tax increase on superannuation. Unfortunately, Australia is not in a position to oppose these changes, due to the Labor created and fostered budget emergency—the unfortunate legacy of the Rudd and Gillard governments and the past two parliaments that they have overseen. However, all that Labor's cavalier attitude towards superannuation has done is to give Australians a clear choice at the next election. On the one hand, Australians can choose the coalition, led by Tony Abbott and offering stability and clarity in relation to superannuation policy. On the other hand, Australians can choose the high-taxing and erratic Labor Party that has failed to provide Australians with the certainty they deserve in relation to superannuation arrangements.

Mr Abbott has made a firm commitment to Australians that, if we are fortunate enough to obtain government after 14 September, we will restore certainty and stability to Australia's superannuation system, allowing Australians to plan and save for their retirement with both security and confidence. In almost no area of government is this as important as in superannuation, as people today will be making decisions that impact not over the next months or even over the next few years but over decades. Increasingly, I am hearing from Australians who have been fearing for their future since the current government came to power and set about tearing up certainty in our superannuation system.    Over the past five years, Labor has constantly and continuously targeted people saving for their retirement with significant tax increases and changes. They have targeted Australians doing the right thing—Australians saving to achieve a self-funded retirement, so as not to burden the public purse in future years—with a whopping $9 billion in increased taxes on super savings so far and with a clear threat of more to come.

Why are they attacking the superannuation system so savagely? It is because Labor simply cannot manage their own budget. They have had to penny-pinch and revenue-raise at every turn to compensate for their reckless waste and mismanagement over the last two terms of their government: the tragic pink batts scheme, the cash-for-clunkers scheme, the border-control budget blow-out, the Julia Gillard memorial school halls, the canteens you cannot even fit a pie oven in and the mining tax that has failed to raise them any revenue. That is right—they have wasted their opportunity.

They have not delivered good policy outcomes for Australians. They have wasted Australian taxpayers' money. And it is all at a time of record terms of trade, when they should have been delivering surpluses and saving for the nation's future, not dipping into the savings of individuals who have made those sorts of prudent decisions for their own benefit. I find it incredible that they now have the audacity to try to balance their books with the superannuation of the Australian people, money that Australians have worked hard for and money that rightly belongs to them.

The fundamental difference between the coalition and Labor is that the coalition believes governments, like families and businesses, have to live within their means. Our funded commitments stand in contrast to Labor's record of broken promises to Australian families. These bills contain a tax increase on superannuation that the coalition would not wish to see in place, but Labor leaves us with no alternative but to support that tonight. We understand the importance of a self-funded retirement and we understand how everyday Australians sacrifice now so that they may look after themselves in the future, without reliance on the taxpayers of Australia.

Unfortunately, after years of waste and mismanagement, we have no choice. These bills make technical changes to the low-income super contribution, a payment this government cannot afford because they have linked it to the failed mining tax that has not raised any meaningful revenue. These bills are largely just another attack on our superannuation system from a desperate and flailing government. But the coalition has a better way. Our focus in government would be on encouraging increased voluntary savings to complement compulsory superannuation, if and when the budget can afford it. We will work with—not against—the superannuation industry and all associated stakeholders to ensure our superannuation is the most efficient, transparent and competitive superannuation system. We will make sure our system has appropriately high standards of corporate governance to ensure all Australians get the best possible value and maximise their superannuation savings. We will target our efforts to improve transparency and efficiency.

Unlike the Labor Party, the coalition recognises the importance of integrity of the system. We will not just pay lip-service to these traits. We will work to improve our system by improving governance and implementing a series of corporate governance reforms recommended by the Cooper review but not progressed by Labor. In particular, we have said that we would ensure there is a more appropriate provision for independent directors on superannuation fund boards. This is primarily by ensuring that directors who want to sit on multiple superannuation boards must demonstrate to APRA that they do not have any conflicts of interest. The disclosure of conflicts of interest should be mandatory and directors of superannuation funds must disclose their remuneration in line with the provisions that apply for publicly listed companies and other APRA regulated sectors.

This industry is worth trillions of dollars. It is vitally important that we get it right. A coalition government would improve transparency in the information that is available to Australians when selecting their super fund so that they may easily compare the market options. Additionally, we would seek to address the issue of excess contributions to make sure that Australians are not unfairly penalised for genuine, unintended errors when contributing to their super, of which part is dealt with tonight.

We will also cut red tape in this area and streamline employers' superannuation reporting by implementing a superannuation clearing house through the Australian Taxation Office. We will review the regulatory barriers currently restricting the availability of relevant and appropriate income-stream products for Australian retirees. And we will also review the current mandated minimum-payment levels for account based pensions to assess the adequacy and appropriateness in light of current financial market conditions.

This is a very comprehensive set of initiatives from an opposition that has seen how damaging and destructive the last two terms of government have been on this vital sector of our economy. Most important is the promise from Tony Abbott earlier this year that a future coalition government will not make any unexpected detrimental changes to people's superannuation arrangements—because, as in so many other areas of government, Labor has failed to provide Australians with certainty in investing in superannuation.

On the third anniversary of the installation of this Prime Minister—who was installed in our country's highest office by the faceless men of the Labor Party amid a flurry of promises about sunlight and transparency—this chamber finds itself subject to the guillotine, yet again.    Just 16.25 minutes is available to each in this suite of four superannuation bills that represent more broken promises from this Labor government. Nothing has changed. It is still the faceless men in charge of the Labor Party and the Gillard government has failed to restore transparency and accountability to the parliament of Australia. The coalition applauds and supports Australians saving for a self-funded retirement and on 14 September we offer those Australians a real choice.