Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We've just heard it: the Labor-Greens alliance never met a tax they didn't like. We've just heard it from Senator McKim, claiming to know the views of farmers. Well, I do talk to farmers, Senator McKim. I talk to farmers every day, and I have talked to a number of farmers on this superannuation issue, and I can tell you right now that they are concerned about these issues.

Senator Ayres interjecting—

You laugh, Senator Ayres, but farmers are concerned about these issues, and I'll explain to you why, because I don't think you understand, and I don't think this government understands. I certainly know the Greens don't understand. Farmers are not necessarily cash rich. They have significant assets at various times, but they are not cash rich. One of the legitimate ways they prepare for their retirement is to put farming property into super funds. And this is not just true of farmers; this is true of small-business owners, particularly in regional areas, where they will put their premises into their super fund. It is true of professionals, not just in—

You're laughing at the farmers again, Senator Ayres. These are professionals, not just in regional Australia but also in our capital cities, where professionals put their offices into their super funds, and then the farmer will retire. Their super fund may not be generating large amounts of cash. In fact, it may be generating only enough cash to pay a pension. So, what happens then, when they get this tax bill from the government? What happens when they get this tax bill? I want all Australians out there to understand that a $3 million landholding in a super fund is not a massive amount. A property that was purchased, say, in the 1980s and placed into a super fund could easily have appreciated. So you've got a super fund—

which has got a large physical asset in it, Senator McKim, but it's not generating that much cash. It's only generating enough cash for the person involved to take out their pension. So what do they do when they get the tax bill from the government? Either they have to pay the tax out of their own pocket or they have to sell assets. That is the reality of what the government is proposing here today. This doesn't just affect farmers; this affects small-business owners who have their property assets and possibly their business in their super fund. Again, these are people who don't necessarily take an income directly. They don't necessarily have a lot of cash to put in super. They have a physical asset in super. This is the first time that the appreciation in the value of that physical asset is being taxed before the asset is realised. Before the sale of an asset is turned into cash, it is being taxed. That is grossly unfair. We're seeing this from the government, in alliance with the Greens, and we can see the Greens trying to push them into even more taxes, and the Labor government will pretend they're resisting, but they'll go along with it in the end, because they've never seen a tax they don't like.

Farmers are worried about this. I've spoken to farmers. I've said to farmers, 'You're in this position, but how many of your fellow farmers would have property in self-managed superannuation?' The words that were said back to me were, 'Definitely the majority.' This is not an unusual practice. This is not a big-end-of-town practice. This is not something that only highly wealthy farming families do. This is a legitimate way of planning for their retirements in a way that is completely legal and completely allowed. They plan for their retirements by putting this property, whether it's farming property, residential property, real estate property, business premises or professional offices, into their super funds to plan for their retirement. They don't necessarily have a lot of cash. That's the reality of a lot of small-business owners. They're not cash rich; they may have assets. They may have assets that, in those opposite's view, put them in the big end of the town, but they're cash poor. If you're taxing an unrealised asset, then the only way to find the cash to pay that tax is either to take it out of your own pocket or to sell the asset, which is a disgrace.