Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's always a great privilege to follow the member for Whitlam, because every time he gets up and pontificates, with a hysterical and overacted performance of what he thinks he can prosecute in this parliament and the arguments he thinks are going to convince anybody, it is always the same argument, which is: the solution to the problem is more of him, not empowering millions of Australians.

This bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Recovering Unpaid Superannuation) Bill 2019, is actually relatively straightforward. It honours the commitment we have made to make sure that we assist in making sure that Australians get paid their superannuation. That's critically important. The superannuation guarantee provides that people are paid their superannuation on time; that it is paid for, consistent with the law; and that everybody gets the money that they deserve. This piece of legislation makes sure that, where there has been a failure to honour the law, there's an amnesty in place for businesses to do the right thing. The amnesty is critical because many businesses who may have unintentionally done the wrong thing want to be brought into compliance. They want to have a pathway to solve the problem. We want workers to be able to get their superannuation and for the legislative environment to accommodate that purpose, rather than going on grandstanding objectives and tilting at windmills, as the member for Whitlam just did in his speech.

Critically, this legislation also makes sure we improve the integrity of the superannuation guarantee system, including through the expansion of the existing Single Touch Payroll. It's to make sure there's a pathway where any employer honours their obligations to workers and pays their superannuation contribution. It ensures there's clarity in the system, that workers can take confidence around the security of their superannuation balances and that people are paying their superannuation on time. The government has done this not just by providing legislative pathways to do so, but also by resourcing the Australian tax office to make sure there's compliance. There was an extra $133.7 million in last financial year's budget, and that has enabled a huge number of audits and processes to take place. That sits against the backdrop of the protecting your superannuation act, which commenced on 1 July this year. That act provides for a pathway to get people's superannuation contributions rolled into single accounts and reunited where people have a number of accounts.

On many levels, this legislation is critically important but, frankly, very administrative. But that doesn't change its purpose and intent, which is honouring the obligation that this government has made to workers across the country. It sits against the backdrop of the inquiry that the Standing Committee on Economics is running at the moment, in the implementation of the Hayne royal commission's recommendations in making sure that all financial institutions, banks, insurance, life insurance advice as well as superannuation funds are honouring the law.

Superannuation, more than anything else, is a foundation of trust: workers receive money to put towards their retirement, and when that money is put in trust for them, invested for their future, they come to rely on it for their future security. It's pretty straightforward, and that's why the inquiry we're running is so critical. And, I can report back to the House, as part of that journey and that process, that we have uncovered worrying trends. We talked before about the protecting your superannuation reforms package, where the Australian Taxation Office is reuniting accounts for many workers who have duplicate accounts or where their super money is sitting in low-balance inactive accounts. At the last hearing we heard lots of concerning stories about millions of accounts being rolled from inactive low-balance accounts, where they're just eating into by fees, and instead being rolled into eligible rollover funds by industry superannuation so that they can be reactivated.

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