Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a few brief comments on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Bill 2026. Instead of regurgitating all the talking points that we all get given on both sides of the House, I would like to draw my comments from some personal experiences in my life as a businessman, and what it actually means for real Australians.

The biggest issue that most Australians face at the moment is what we loosely term the cost-of-living crisis. The fact is that our grocery bills are going up, our electricity bills are going up, our insurance bills are going up and the cost of educating our children is going up. These are all issues that average Australians have to deal with on a daily basis. To me, the reality of that is that it is all, literally, connected to energy policy. As the price of energy goes up, businesses and so forth pass their costs on to the consumer. The people who work in these businesses, the wage earners and so forth, are the ones who are suffering most when it comes to having to pay their daily bills.

Way back in the early nineties, then treasurer Paul Keating introduced the superannuation regime, which we now live under. It has got good merit and good principle. However, Mr Keating is on the record that he does not support the changing of these superannuation tax proposals by the government. I'd like to make a few comments in respect of the taxing of unrealised profits on superannuation, which has now been abandoned by the Labor government. That had huge ramifications for people's lifetime savings. How can you possibly tax something that people haven't got? That's the reality of it. Why are we changing and shifting the goalposts on tax policy and financial strategy that average Australians have used over their lifetime to build wealth for their retirement? That is why a lot of people are seriously concerned about where this is going.

Many of the speakers from the other side have pointed out in their contributions that this will make it fairer for the low-income earners and the average Australian. That is arguable, but I would argue that, with inflationary pressures and interest rate pressures, which were all brought about by the financial mismanagement of the government, that will erode any sort of gain that they could possibly get. The old adage is: when the government runs out of money, they're going to come after yours. If you have built any sort of a wealth nest egg in your lifetime, that is what they're coming after. I understand that it is a small percentage of people in Australia, who are deemed to be wealthy—one per cent, I've heard some of the speakers say. Well, that's all very well, but the reality is: why should those people have to suffer further and higher tax costs because they played under the rules and under the system?

What the government is proposing to do is tax over-$3 million thresholds at a rate of 30 per cent and over-$10 million thresholds at a rate of 40 per cent. That is an extraordinary rate of tax in this day and age. I came to work this morning and on the bridge down there where we all drive past in the cars when we come to work was a big sign from one of the protesters—'tax wealth, not workers'. That, to me, says that people who are wealthy don't work, and nothing could be further from the truth. People who accumulate wealth over their lifetimes, you will find, are extremely prudent and hard workers. They are people who have managed the system. They've invested wisely in our capitalist society that we all live under. They are the ones that should enjoy the rights and benefits that that provides, not somebody else. That is what this government is doing, as I've said—when they run out of money, they come after yours. A government who has bad fiscal policy, has bad monetary policy and is overseeing increasing inflation and increasing interest rates will take away any gain that the lower-income earners might get out of this 'fairer and stronger' system that the government is proposing. I put it to you that this whole idea that this is going to make it better for the average Australian is nonsense.

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