House debates
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Bills
Treasury Laws Amendment (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Bill 2026, Superannuation (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Imposition Bill 2026; Second Reading
10:48 am
Rowan Holzberger (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source
I rise in support of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Bill 2026 and the Superannuation (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Imposition Bill 2026. As a first-term member, I'm always happy to learn from people who've been here for a long time, and I appreciate that now we can address policies which used to exist but don't exist anymore. So I'd like to talk about Fightbackformer prime minister Paul Keating's dog-eared copy used to sit in that very drawer there—and John Hewson's prosecution of Fightback. Mr Hewson talked about a GST on food—here was the LNP pushing a policy of a GST on food in that Fightback document, which used to sit in that very drawer, a policy which was prosecuted by the other side. I'm glad that I can have that lesson in what's actually allowed in the parliament. You're allowed to talk about a point which has absolutely nothing to do with the bill—a fantasy which is being pursued by the LNP. This is what's got the other side into trouble. They're out there pursuing fantasies, pursuing things which the public aren't one little bit interested in. They've got this ideological obsession with certain things that are completely disconnected from reality in the community. That's why they are of ever-diminishing relevance in the Australian political landscape.
I'm very glad that the new shadow treasurer is here. In fact, I can't believe my luck. There are two things that I can't believe. One is that I woke up one morning and the member for Goldstein was the shadow Treasurer. I couldn't believe my luck on that one.
I can't believe my luck now that he actually gets to sit here—unlike the member for Monash, who has had the opportunity to sit through many of my speeches now. I'm just wondering whether the member for Monash engineers it so he's on the speaking list so he can listen to me as a political—
Opposition members interjecting—
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