Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Rennick for the question. I hadn't expected that question from you, Senator Rennick. We are strong supporters of superannuation, but at the same time we recognise that the age pension is an important social safety net and that, at times, people will rely completely on the age pension or they will have a mix of age pension with some superannuation in their retirement years. And, as the superannuation system matures, we expect more people will benefit from higher incomes in retirement through the superannuation system. But we also acknowledge that the age pension is there as a social safety net.

Obviously, we are big supporters of super, and increasing the superannuation threshold is part of that. We have some legislation in this chamber now to decrease some of the concessionality for high-balance super accounts—still highly concessional in the taxation system, but less concessional—and we would like that legislation progressed in the first instance. But we certainly strongly support the superannuation system. The concessions that are around it are around it for a reason. We accept also that the age pension will be an important social safety net for those on low incomes, even if they supplement it somewhat with their superannuation balance.