Trish Cook (Bullwinkel, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in strong support of the Superannuation (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Imposition Bill 2026. In this place, we often talk in billions of dollars and percentages of GDP. But, for the people that I represent in Bullwinkel, those numbers are secondary to a much simpler question: can I afford to retire? My life before politics was shaped by two very demanding and very different worlds. As many in this House know, I spent decades as a registered nurse and midwife, and I've seen and experienced the physical toll that 40 years of labour takes on a person. But I also spent a decade concurrently during that time as a small-business owner. I know what it's like to sit at a kitchen table late at night looking at the books, making sure that the BAS is lodged and ensuring that my staff are fully and properly paid and that their super is covered. I understand the pressure of meeting a payroll and the pride of building something from the ground up. When I look at this bill, I look at it through both those lenses—worker and employer. I see it as a nurse who wants a dignified retirement for my patients, and I see it as a former business owner who knows that every dollar in a budget, whether it's a small-business budget or a Commonwealth budget, must be spent where it does the most good. This bill is about ensuring our superannuation system remains the envy of the world, making it stronger, fairer and, most importantly, sustainable for the long haul.

The electorate of Bullwinkel is a microcosm of the Australian economy. We have the bustling suburban centres of Forrestfield and High Wycombe, where young families are working hard to get ahead. We have the hills communities of Kalamunda and Mundaring, filled with professionals and healthcare workers. And we have the historic heart of the wheat belt in Northam and York, where our farmers and regional business owners keep the state moving. In every one of these towns, people value fairness. They don't mind people being successful. In fact, they celebrate it. But they do expect the system to be balanced.

Currently, our superannuation tax concessions cost the budget more than $60 billion per year. To put that in perspective, by the 2040s, these tax breaks will cost the Australian taxpayer more than the entire age pension. When I talk to small-business owners in York, they understand that you can't keep a system running if the concessions are being swallowed up by a tiny fraction of the population at the expense of everyone else. Around 38 per cent of super earnings concessions go to the top 10 per cent of income earners. That isn't a fair go. That's a structural imbalance that we have a responsibility to fix.

Schedules 1 to 3 of this bill implement the government's policy to better target tax concessions for individuals with superannuation balances exceeding $3 million. So let's be very clear about who this affects. The policy is expected to affect less than half a per cent of Australians. In Bullwinkel, that's a handful of people. For the other 99.5 per cent of my constituents—the teachers, truckies, retail workers and farmers—their tax treatment will remain exactly the same. Their earnings correspond to balances below $3 million and will continue to be taxed at the concessional rate of 15 per cent. For those with balances between $3 million and $10 million, the tax rate will be up to 30 per cent. For the very small group—less than one per cent of Australians—with balances above $10 million, the rate will go further and be increased to 40 per cent.

As a former business owner, I know the importance of certainty. That's why Labor has listened to feedback over the last two years, to get the design right, and we have made amendments. We have indexed the $3 million to $10 million thresholds to the transfer balance cap. We are using established income tax concepts to reflect realised gains, and we're ensuring that all members of the defined benefit schemes are treated in a commensurate fashion. This isn't about penalising success. It's about recognising that a $10 million superannuation balance is no longer about retirement; it's a tax advantaged wealth management vehicle. By trimming the concessions at the very top, we secure the system for everyone else.

While the opposition wants to focus on the top half a percent, I'd rather focus on the 1.3 million Australians who will benefit from schedule 4 of this bill. We are boosting the low income superannuation tax offset, or LISTO. This is a game changer for low-income workers in Bullwinkel, and it's good to hear that the opposition support this component. We are increasing the maximum payment from $500 to $810 and lifting the eligibility threshold from $37,000 to $45,000. We have over 100,000 sales assistants, over 50,000 administration workers and over 50,000 aged carers and disability carers in the nation who will benefit. These are the people that I worked alongside in the health system. These are the people who keep our local shops running in Forrestfield. For a part-time worker in Mundaring earning $40,000 a year, this boost, combined with other reforms, could mean an extra $15,000 in their account by the time they retire. We all know the value of compounding income and savings. That's the difference between a retirement spent counting every cent and a retirement spent with dignity.

As a former midwife, I've spent my life advocating for women. We know that the current super system has a glaring gender gap. Because women often work part time or take significant breaks to care for children or ageing parents, they retire with significantly less super than men. Around 60 per cent of the people who will benefit from the LISTO payment boost are women. We're talking about 750,000 women across Australia who will now have a fairer tax concession on their super contributions. This works hand in hand with our decision to pay super on paid parental leave and our move towards payday super. We're making sure that the super system finally works for the people who do the most important work in our society: the carers and the parents.

Labor has built the superannuation system. We built it because we believe that the wealth of this nation should belong to the people who created it. Imagine if we didn't have super. What a burden that would be on our tax dollar. Every step of the way, the coalition has fought this. They fought the 12 per cent guarantee. They want people to raid their retirement savings, their super savings, for home deposits, which would drive up house prices and leave people destitute in their old age. They will stand up in this debate and cry 'class war' because we are asking people with $10 million in super to pay a bit more in tax. But they're silent about the cleaners and the retail workers, who haven't had a fair go from the super tax system for years.

As a former business owner, I know that a good leader looks at the long term. You don't just look at the next quarter; you look at the next decade. These bills are long-term leadership. They ensure that the road to recovery for our budget is paved with fairness.

The Superannuation (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Imposition Bill 2026 is ultimately about values. It's about the nurse in Northam who deserves to know that her super is growing. It's about the small-business owner in Kalamunda who wants a sustainable economy for their children. It's about the 1.3 million low-income workers who are finally getting the help they need with their retirement savings. There are 14 times as many people who will benefit from the boost to LISTO as there are people affected by the $3 million threshold, and that is the only statistic you really need in order to understand whose side the government is on. We are on the side of workers, we are on the side of women and we are on the side of the future. I commend these bills to the House.

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