James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

TH () (): I rise to provide a two-minute statement about Labor's proposed super changes. My speech will take no longer than two minutes, but somehow it'll still be longer than Labor's so-called conversation about super reform. I've had conversations about the weather that have lasted longer than Labor's so-called conversation about super.

The issue with this conversation and the whiplash that Australians are feeling from the announcement of this brain burp from the Labor government is the realisation that this is yet another broken promise by Labor, and not just a normal broken promise but a supersized broken promise. It is a raid on working Australians. It's a bit rich coming from those who don't support young Australians seeking the choice to access super to purchase their own homes. Labor's mindset is obvious. They think that your super—your money—is their money. They think that your super is their money to spend when their pre-existing stash of other people's money runs out.

The coalition will never shift the goalposts on Australians like this. Labor promised no new taxes before the last election, and yet what do we get? A tax on your super. Labor will continue to lower the threshold. The Grattan Institute, that well-known right wing conservative think tank, said that within 30 years one in 10 Australians will be hit with this new super tax. This represents 200 times the number of people that Labor is fessing up to slogging with this tax. Labor are like some sort of demented, bewitched, barmy Robin Hood: going around people's bank accounts, robbing from normal Australians and giving it to their crazy ideas and trying to stitch up this government—a government who are robbing Australians. Shame, Labor, shame.