Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Leyonhjelm for that question. Firstly, the coalition, going into the 2013 election, did make a commitment not to make any unexpected adverse changes to superannuation in our first term, and we delivered on that commitment. The honourable thing to do is to flag the intention to pursue reforms prior to an election and that is of course what we did in the 2016-17 budget. None of these changes have yet been legislated. We announced them as part of the budget just before the election. We took them to the election. They are reforms designed to make the superannuation tax concession framework fairer, more sustainable and fit for purpose. We put them in front of the Australian people seeking their endorsement, seeking their mandate. We were successful at the election and, as such, we not only have a mandate to implement the reforms that we took to the election but also have a responsibility to the Australian people to deliver on what we said we would deliver. We also said, before the election, that we would conduct a process of consultation in relation to the implementation arrangements for these reforms. That is a process that the Treasurer, together with the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, has been conducting over the past few months. As soon as that process has come to a conclusion, relevant announcements on next steps and timings for the introduction of legislation will be made.