Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2013 Measures No. 1) Bill 2013 and on the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2013 Measures No. 2) Bill 2013. It is a pleasure to follow the contributions of Senator Bushby and Senator Cormann, who have made an outstanding case for the coalition's concerns about aspects of these bills, for our understanding of other parts of them and for our overall concern about the government's approach to its management of the nation's finances, especially its management of our taxation and superannuation regimes.

As I contemplate the tax and super laws proposed by this government I cannot help but think of that wonderful quote of PJ O'Rourke's—that giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. There is perhaps no finer example of PJ O'Rourke's quote than the Rudd and Gillard governments, who have been drunk on money and power and who have wasted it to an extent never before seen in Australia and hopefully never seen again. They have abused their power to burden the Australian economy with enormous new areas of regulation, with enormous new areas of taxation. They have burdened our superannuation industry with an ever-changing regulatory landscape that only further enhances the concern and the lack of trust and confidence that so many Australians, especially Australians who are around my age, have about their superannuation. A vicious cycle then sees people potentially opt out of engaging more in the management of their own superannuation because of the changing rules, because of the lack of trust and confidence and because they are really not convinced that they can trust what the government will do with their savings.

It is that lack of trust that underlies so much of what the government has done in the taxation and superannuation landscape. When they go to an election promising not to implement a tax, the carbon tax being the most famous of such promises, they then turn around straight after the election and do the exact opposite, undermining the trust that people need to have in government if they are to invest wisely and with confidence—whether it be business investments, personal investments or investments for the future like superannuation.

The propensity of the government to say one thing and then do another really seems to know no boundaries. Senator Bushby made the point very clearly: this government runs a class war on matters around superannuation yet has an appalling track record of its own in cutting assistance to low-income earners for superannuation. It is a government that is laden with hollow rhetoric, and clearly it will stoop to whatever level it thinks it needs to to try and con and fool the voters. I trust that the Australian people will not be fooled again. But I continue to be amazed at the blatancy of Labor's campaign tactics, whether it is its class warfare in the superannuation space or whether it is—and we saw this again in the chamber during question time today and in fliers distributed across countless electorates around the country—its claim that a coalition government will charge people $5,000 to connect to the NBN while it is free to do so under Labor. Both of those statements are completely and utterly false.

The truth is that if you want to take up an internet connection under Labor's policy or under the coalition's policy you are going to have to go to a retail service provider and buy it. It is not going to cost you $5,000, but you will have to buy a service. Senator Conroy and the Labor Party are trying to play cutesy around the physical connection of infrastructure. The truth is that under the coalition every household can be guaranteed to have by the end of a first term a minimum service of download speeds of 25 megabits per second available to them—in terms of the physical infrastructure that they need—at no cost to them unless and until they decide to take it up, at which point, just like under the Labor Party, they will have to get on the phone or on email or get in touch some other way with Telstra, Optus, Vodaphone, Hutchinson or any of the other retail service providers out there and buy a service. What the government is doing in that space is just plain wrong.

Equally, in our home state, Mr Acting Deputy President Fawcett, and in Tasmania as well we see similar blatant lies from the government when it comes to the coalition's approach to GST funding. Campaign material is being distributed that is simply and utterly wrong. The coalition has put very clearly on the record—Mr Abbott has, Mr Hockey has and many other members of the coalition have—that there will be no changes to the GST arrangements unless all of the states agree. That means the Tasmanian Premier needs to agree, just as much as the South Australian Premier needs to agree, just as much as the Western Australian Premier needs to agree. It is very clear.

Senator Polley interjecting—

You can choose not to believe that, just like I would not believe a word Julia Gillard says after, 'There will no carbon tax under a government I lead.' Nobody will believe a word she says.