Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What an innovative experience it is listening to Senator Rennick, a sort of out-of-body experience really. Over there is the team 'The Thought Leaders'. I won't include Senator Scarr in this because he's far too sensible, but on superannuation Rennick and Bragg are the thought leaders of the conservative show. I have a little bit to say about Senator Bragg in a moment, but when I listen to a stream of consciousness word salad about little red books, Big Brother, bankers, Marxists, command and control, it feels like I'm at a sort of QAnon cell meeting, not the Australian Senate, not where adults engage in this stuff. After these sorts of claims about the Constitution, next thing we'll be hearing about sovereign citizens. It is not really clear to me what Senator Rennick opposes in terms of industry superannuation funds. Does he oppose the big returns? Does he oppose the low fees? It's unclear to me. The super system was built by Australians working together. Employers and unions built the compulsory superannuation scheme. Millions of Australians who otherwise would have been impoverished in their retirement are living a decent, secure retirement that their parents could only have dreamt of.

The role of super in the stimulus response is worth examination. It is worth, you would think, some deep reflection on that side of the Senate. What's really happened is the government has robbed future retirees of their savings in order to do the work that the government should have done. Many, many people have filled the gap. They have filled the gap in the government's failures with retirement savings. People will be impoverished in the future. If the Morrison government is presented with a pathway that's easy, if they are presented with a pathway that hurts the people they imagine to be their ideological opponents, if they are presented with a pathway that helps their big business mates and if they're presented with a pathway that leaves ordinary Australians out, you can bet they'll always take it—and they have.

There are some big economic issues in front of the parliament this year. This government was dragged kicking and screaming to reach the conclusion that there should be a wage subsidy package out there in the JobKeeper package. I remember watching the bloke who represents the Prime Minister in here, Senator Cormann, bitterly opposing a wage subsidy package. What Mr Frydenberg said a few weeks ago is true: the cold, desiccated spirit of Maggie Thatcher and Ronald Reagan still animates these characters over here today. This JobKeeper program is administratively complex and leaves out millions of Australians. Beyond that was a plan for a snapback, which has now turned to a taper off. They have no plan for jobs beyond the taper off.

The super system, our retirement income savings scheme, that is the envy of the modern world should be a source of strength during our economy's troubles. It should be a source of revenue—not revenue, but investment and capability. It should support—