Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I will start by saying what an excruciating speech that was from the member for Blaxland. Anybody who looks at that contribution should check the facts of history to realise just what a misrepresentation and fraud it was to present history in relation to superannuation in this country in such a way. In the true tradition of, certainly, his immediate predecessor he is operating in some sort of fantasy world where they misrepresent their own gains. Really, if we are talking about a debate on economic matters, they brought this country to its knees—particularly those in small business and those who had mortgages. For his contribution today he brings shame on himself, and it is a recognition that the Labor Party are completely unable to continue as an alternative government of this country. They are economically irresponsible and they would inflict on small business in this country the same pain that they did through the 1990s.

To those other members who have contributed constructively to the debate on the Tax Laws Amendment (Simplified Superannuation) Bill 2006 and related bills, I thank them for their contributions. These bills are important bills for the House to consider at this time. Simplified superannuation is a broad ranging suite of reforms to superannuation taxation, the age pension assets test, superannuation contribution rules and superannuation payment rules. The centrepiece of the reforms is making superannuation benefits tax free if paid from a taxed fund to Australians aged 60 or over.

Other key aspects of the reforms are: to significantly lower the tax paid on superannuation from an untaxed fund for people aged 60 and over; to replace age based limits with streamlined contribution rules; to improve contribution incentives for the self-employed, including extending the highly successful government co-contribution scheme to the self-employed; to halve the assets test taper rate; and to rewrite the superannuation taxation law to present a clearer picture of superannuation taxation and reduce compliance costs and the regulatory burden faced by business and other taxpayers.

I welcome the belated support of the ALP for these bills, as indicated by the member for Lilley. The member for Lilley raised the issue of tax file number quotation and liability for excess tax where someone fails to quote their tax file number. The requirement for members to quote tax file numbers to their superannuation fund is critical to the integrity of the new superannuation system and to the enforcement of the contribution caps. This has been acknowledged by the superannuation industry and is one of the key trade-offs associated with the removal of end benefits tax and reasonable benefit limits. Without tax file numbers there would be scope for significant abuse of the superannuation caps and for people to access unlimited superannuation concessions. The liability for additional tax as a result of the failure to quote a tax file number is entirely avoidable and the government strongly encourages all individuals to provide their tax file number to their superannuation fund. Increased provision of tax file numbers will also greatly reduce the number of lost superannuation accounts.

These bills implement the most significant reforms to the taxation of superannuation in our country’s history. They will sweep away the current raft of complex tax arrangements that apply to superannuation, improve incentives to save, increase retirement incomes and strengthen incentives for older Australians to stay in the workforce. This is the latest demonstration by this government to show that we are more capable than ever of continuing wise economic management of this economy to make sure that in the time of an ageing population we continue to put the interests of the economy first to make sure that we have retirements enjoyed by more people than ever before, and certainly more than ever would have been the case under the Labor Party.

We have been able to implement this policy because of sound economic management over the last 10 years. We have been able to afford this policy because we have repaid Labor’s $96 billion debt. Never forget the $10 billion a year in interest that went towards servicing that debt, and whilst ever we continued to service that Labor debt we would never have been able to afford these sorts of policies. This policy is evidence again that the coalition is much stronger in terms of its capacity to deliver economic management to this country and at this time, with the threats both internationally and domestically that lie ahead for the Australian economy, this shows that the Australian people have again made the wise choice. As a package, the simplified superannuation bills represent a substantial investment by the government in the standard of living of Australians in retirement and the country’s future economic prosperity. For those reasons I commend these bills to the House.

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