Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

In 2015 the Liberals commissioned the Murray review into superannuation. That's the origin of this legislation. Murray said that the parliament should make it clear what the objectives of our superannuation system are. The coalition, while working to enact this objective into law, was never able to get internal consensus on what the purpose of super is, so no legislation was ever introduced. However, the Labor Party committed, if elected, to enshrine an objective into law. While this legislated objective does not affect any law or enforce any enforceability upon anyone, the following proposed objective is intended to guide future governments and parliaments: 'The objective of superannuation is to preserve savings to deliver income for a dignified retirement alongside government support in an equitable and sustainable way'.

There are a few problems with this definition. It assumes that the super system is equitable, when it is far from that. It is Australia's biggest homegrown tax haven, actually, where large amounts of excess income can be parked and accumulate sheltered from our tax system. The list of inequitable policy settings in our superannuation system is quite a long one. Our super system is regressive, with a flat tax rate of 15 per cent, which benefits wealthier earners over lower income workers, who receive no tax benefit. The high concessional and non-concessional cap settings; the exemption from capital gains tax in retirement; the $250,000 level where high income tax rates kick in; carry-forward contributions; spousal contributions—these are all geared to benefit high-income households. There are a thousand and one little systems and quirks, like cycling income through transition to retirement schemes, with financial planners very well placed to help their clients minimise their tax.

The other major concern that the Greens have with this proposed definition is that it's silent on where our superannuation is actually invested. We believe that one of the clear objectives of super should be to direct this $3.7 trillion pool of savings into productive investments that improve the quality of life for all Australians, instead of just speculating on the stock market and forcing investments into coal and gas companies, as currently happens under the existing performance test benchmark. Instead of using our nation's savings to chase other speculators around the stock market paddock—that's what happens—which doesn't do anything in the real economy, our super should be encouraged towards productive investment in clean energy, clean technologies, affordable housing, expanded public transport networks and all the things that actually improve society, improve people's lives, protect us from the ravages of the climate crisis and advance our quality of life.

This legislation won't do anything to improve equity or to get capital away from speculative parts of the economy and into productive parts of the economy. However, the bill won't actually make any of this worse, either, so the Greens will reserve our position in the Senate.

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