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

Yes, that is a very good question by Senator Anning. We've got to remind ourselves who it is we are talking about. We are talking about Australians who have worked hard all their lives, who have saved hard, who have been encouraged by governments of both persuasions to save hard and to invest in superannuation, to invest in Australian shares. If you are on a fixed lower income in your retirement years and you are in a lower personal income tax bracket, the Labor Party is now saying you should not be able to adjust your tax on the basis of the tax that has been prepaid on your behalf by the company that you are a shareholder in. Two decades ago Labor said refunds would benefit 'many thousands of pensioners', but that was Labor then; that was when they cared about pensioners. Now they are ripping away, as I said, $60 billion from more than one million retirees and pensioners.

As Senator Anning rightly points out, taking retirees' own money away from them will make retirees more dependent on social welfare. (Time expired)