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

Apparently Senator Bragg doesn't want me to give a view from the hearings that we've been in—to report on the evidence that we've heard—on his super-for-housing policy, which is not a housing policy. It is actually a policy to undermine our universal superannuation system. It's not a housing policy, because every witness who's come to give evidence at our hearings on these matters has said that allowing people to take their superannuation out to pay for a home will do one thing and one thing only, and that is push house prices up. So this is not a housing policy. People who have come to our inquiry have also said that people in the target range for this policy don't even have enough super in their accounts to withdraw to be able to make a home deposit. So this is not a policy to help anyone buy a house. It is a strategy to undermine our universal superannuation system. Senator Bragg keeps pushing it as if it's about housing. It is clearly, according to all the evidence that we're seeing, only a policy for dismantling our universal superannuation system.

Senator Darmanin has explained to those opposite, in case they didn't understand, why it is so important that our superannuation system is supported and why it's so important that people retain their superannuation in their accounts throughout their 20s and 30s—despite the efforts of those opposite to dismantle superannuation—and that of course is because of the compound interest that people get by having these savings for their retirement. We're now seeing the first generation of Australians retire with enough savings through the superannuation system to have a dignified retirement and to not have to rely on the age pension—to actually have ambition that is greater than relying on the age pension.

We know that those opposite will always attack our universal superannuation system. It's a proud Labor legacy. It's one that we're determined to build on, and we are building on it in this term of government. We are building on it by expanding paid parental leave and also paying superannuation on paid parental leave, a policy that will boost the superannuation savings of women. We believe in our universal superannuation system. Those opposite only believe in tearing it down.