Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The government's own budget papers show that the Prime Minister has doubled the budget since his last budget. So why won't the government accept Labor's sensible measure to wind back superannuation concessions for high-income earners, a measure that will improve the budget bottom line by $14 billion over the decade?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the budget papers show, we are on a steady path back to surplus. Every year, the budget deficit declines by about half a percentage point of GDP. Under this government's budget, peak debt is $110 billion lower and the forward deficits are $40 billion lower.

So this is a government which is taking Australia responsibly back to surplus. That is what we are doing. So that is what this government is doing, and we are doing it by boosting the small businesses of Australia, because the small businesses of Australia will create jobs; they will create growth; they will invest, they will employ and they will produce a better society and a better economy.

We have faith in the people of Australia to have a go, because we understand that it is only by having a go that you are able to deliver the fair go that every Australian wants. That is what is happening under this budget. It is as simple as that.

As to members opposite, they spent like drunken sailors. They loaded up business, large and small, with endless regulation. We are steadily rebuilding our economy and we know that if we steadily rebuild our economy we will steadily improve our society. We know that our best days are ahead of us, because this government trusts the small businesses of Australia to know their own best interests.

That is why, unlike members opposite, we do not take people's money away from them to spend it on the things that we think are important. We say to people, 'You spend money on the things that you think are important, and we will leave more of your money in your pocket through an instant asset write-off.'

I have been asked about superannuation. Well, superannuation—the piggy bank that Labor Party ministers are always raiding! We made a commitment before the election that there would be no adverse changes to superannuation under this government, and we are delivering on that commitment. We have no plans to increase superannuation in the years ahead.

But members opposite think that your superannuation is their money when they need it. You just cannot trust your savings with the Labor Party. That is the simple truth. I say to the superannuants and the retirees of Australia: you cannot trust your money with the Labor Party; if they see it there, and if they have got a problem, they will take it. And that is what will never happen under this government.