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

They knew their spending was absolutely out of control, so what did they do? They thought of the child's piggy bank, they thought of the widow's cookie jar and they went in to grab it. All you needed was a bank account that had been inactive for three years and Bill Shorten would trouser the money. Under the rules in place, some $70 million a year went to ASIC. Under the Leader of the Opposition's rules, all of a sudden a half a billion dollars was trousered by the government. Fully 156,000 accounts were seized by the government.

Isn't it so typical of the Labor Party. They look at your money, they envy it, they grab it, and then they make you go through six months of bureaucracy to get back what has always been yours. That is the Labor Party. Last year the Leader of the Opposition was asked about this bizarre policy he had put in place as Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, and he said, 'This is about protecting people's savings to ensure it's not eroded by bank fees and charges.' So, to stop the banks taking a little bit of your money, the Leader of the Opposition took it all. That is what he thinks protecting you is. When he said that, several Labor shadow ministers said privately that they were embarrassed. They have every right to be embarrassed. You just cannot trust the Leader of the Opposition with anyone's money.

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