Lisa Darmanin (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As I said earlier, I think Senator Gallagher has responded to the question at hand. Industry superannuation continues to be a point of discussion in this chamber. What I am simply talking about is the point that industry superannuation is not a political football. I have worked with hundreds of women who have watched the debate in these houses over the years. What they are interested in is making sure that governments do the right thing to ensure that they have a dignified and decent retirement.

Women in particular—I have worked with hundreds of them over many years—are worried about their future. They are worried and they are concerned that our governments should be looking after what should be in their balances at the end rather than pointscoring around what might be determined to be the issue of the day. We know that women over 50 are the largest cohort of people who are becoming homeless, and they are approaching retirement with 25 per cent less superannuation than men. Australian women want our government and the opposition to focus on financial security in retirement for all of us. Unlike those opposite, Labor will always stand for the right of working women to retire with dignity and security while protecting our superannuation that is the envy of the world.

On the point around families making this so-called choice to withdraw their superannuation early: I wonder whether the coalition understand what compounding interest is, or, if they do, whether they think that is just a concept that is good for men. When people are given a choice to take out their superannuation when they are younger in their careers, they miss out on the compounding interest benefits that will benefit them in retirement. Women, on average, as I said, have 25 per cent less superannuation than men when they are approaching retirement. I think they want somewhere to live and they also want to have security when they retire.

Honourable senators interjecting—

If the coalition really cared about women's economic security—