Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation. Will the Assistant Treasurer outline how the government's fiscally responsible plan to increase superannuation will benefit all Australians and help them prepare adequately for their future?

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Makin for his question. I know that he is interested in seeing 46,500 of his voters get a lift in their superannuation because the member for Makin knows that superannuation is about the future and avoiding the shock of finding you have insufficient money to retire on. That is why lifting superannuation is so important.

In fact, it is a bit like the carbon tax. What we are doing on this side is making decisions for the long term. We are not putting off till tomorrow the problems that need to be solved today. Indeed, the government is proposing and is committed to introducing an increase in the superannuation guarantee from nine per cent to 12 per cent over the next six years. What we are trying to do is make sure that people can retire on at least 70 per cent of the income they had while they were working.

We understand that Australians are living longer. You only have to look at the opposition frontbench to realise Australians are living longer! We want to make sure that older Australians have enough income to retire. We on this side know that nine per cent is not enough. That is why we are proposing to help fund the drop in Commonwealth tax revenue from putting more income from the marginal rate of taxation into concessionally taxed superannuation. We understand that that can be funded through the minerals resource rent tax. The minerals resource rent tax is fiscally responsible because it is making sure that all Australians have enough money to retire on. Of course, that is fiscal responsibility—in contrast to those opposite, who would dump rocket fuel on the hottest part of the economy and hand back billions of dollars to the richest companies in Australia in the mining sector.

But we are not just lifting the superannuation rate from nine to 12 per cent. We are also seeking to lower the pressure of fees and charges on the money which goes into superannuation now for our strongest super reforms. What we are also trying to do is to eliminate unfair commissions paid to financial planners, making sure that there is as much money as possible available for people when they retire and it is not eaten up in unnecessary fees and charges.

In fact, what we are doing is not just good for 10 million individuals and for lifting superannuation; it is good for the nation. There are not many things that Australia is fourth in the world in, but we are the fourth largest private funds under management sector in the world. This is not an accident; this is a contribution of Labor governments. And we intend to keep contributing to our economic independence. Isn't it about time, 223 years after Captain Cook came here, that we started to have some economic independence? That is what superannuation does.

I was also asked in the question: are Australians adequately prepared for retirement? It will be good news to the House that nearly 30 in every 100 Australians already receive more than nine per cent now. This is good news. What we get on this side of the House is that it is not good enough that some people are able to look after themselves and leave everyone else behind. That is a very big difference. On this side of the House, even if the members of parliament are doing better than nine per cent, we are not going to vote against other people doing better. The shame of the opposition is that they get 15 per cent and they will not vote for that for their constituents. What hypocrisy. (Time expired)