Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is a motion for the books. The Liberal Party is tying itself in knots, trying to be on the side of younger Australians. This is the same party that for decades failed to take any action on the issues that matter to young people, and it is now trying to put itself on the side of younger Australians. What is one of the biggest issues young people care about at the moment? It's climate change. They are so concerned about it that thousands went on climate strikes in cities, suburbs and regional towns across Australia, urging their political leaders to do more to address climate change. What was the response from the former Prime Minister the member for Cook to these demands from these young Australians? He said, 'What we want is more learning in schools and less activism in schools.' Well, there probably could be a lot less activism if the political leaders had the courage and will to act on the things that young people care about. They failed to listen and they failed to act.

The other issue which the member just spoke about is housing affordability. Young people are concerned that they are no longer able to buy a home or rent a place to live. Those opposite presided over a system where housing has become further and further out of reach for younger Australians. They oversaw a decline in social and affordable housing—a decline in the stock of housing supply that was coming on. The one big idea that they had to address housing affordability was to let young people raid their superannuation funds. The experts say that this could actually make the situation worse because young Australians would have less in their superannuation to draw on. Research from the Grattan Institute showed that the poorest 20 per cent of households headed by 35- to 44-year-olds, the group where homeownership is falling fastest, don't have any superannuation. So the coalition's policy of accessing super to pay for housing would primarily help wealthier Australians buy more expensive homes.

That brings me to the motion moved by the member for Moncrieff. She doesn't want to help young Australians by acting on climate change. She doesn't really want to help young Australians with housing affordability. Instead, she thinks this is a silver bullet that will benefit young people. She comes in here opposing a superannuation change that affects those with super balances of over $3 million. What is this change that those opposite are so against that they think it will get them back into the good graces of young Australians? It's a modest tweak to the superannuation system. It currently impacts half of one per cent of superannuation balances. It amends the $3 million threshold for superannuation concessions in a way that strikes the right balance between incentives to save for retirement and strengthening the superannuation system by making it more sustainable over time. 'But what about the future impact?' those opposite say. Well, to put it into perspective, a young person earning $90,000 this year won't get anywhere near that $3 million threshold by the time they retire. In fact, Treasury projects that only the top 10 per cent of earners retiring in 2052 will have a superannuation balance of $3 million or over at retirement.

If those opposite would actually stop and think about it, these changes are precisely aimed at helping younger Australians. We currently have an ageing population. That means we will need to spend more on health and aged care to help support this ageing population. If we don't make the hard choices now to reform, it means younger Australians will be left to shoulder the extra tax burden. This is a modest adjustment to superannuation tax breaks impacting just 0.5 per cent of people. That those opposite—who saddled future generations of Australians with a trillion dollars of debt, who failed to act on climate change and who are failing to address housing affordability—are now in here purporting to be on the side of young Australians, frankly, is excruciating to watch.

See this speech in context