Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Maybe they hate super so much because it is a legacy of the union movement; it is a legacy of the Australian Labor Party. Or is it just the industry super funds that you on the opposition benches hate? And why would that be? Is it because the industry super funds consistently outperform the rest of the sector? Is it because you can't stand the idea that workers in a union would have an interest in ensuring their retirement savings are working for them and choose to invest them in an industry super fund? Or is it because industry super funds have dared to invest in nation-building projects and infrastructure in this country—projects that will deliver good, secure jobs for the very workers whose retirement savings are invested; nation-building projects like the Star of the South, Australia's first offshore wind farm; nation-building projects like the construction of social and affordable housing, which will create thousands of jobs, as well as drive down the cost of housing and rentals?

Those opposite can't stand to see these projects funded; as well, they can't stand to see the returns that those projects will deliver for members. They just can't stand to see the superannuation industry step up and deliver the very things that your government refused to deliver. That's why the former Treasurer tried to insert himself into the boardrooms of the super funds. And it's why they're back here, continuing their ideological war on super.

This motion has absolutely nothing to do with transparency and accountability. It has absolutely nothing to do with protecting the interests of super fund members, because those opposite do not care about super fund members. They do not care about Australian workers and their retirement. They definitely don't care about workers' hard-earned retirement savings, because, for the last decade, on the watch of those opposite, Australian workers have lost $5 billion per year in unpaid superannuation. There has been $5 billion per year missing from the retirement savings of Australian workers because those opposite have sat back and allowed the ATO to take a light-touch approach to dodgy employers—a light-touch approach which has done nothing to stop employers stealing super from their workers.