Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When you're a government that has no policy, you can see the results. You see backbenchers trying to fill in the gaps, trying to make it up as they go along, and that's exactly what's happening with superannuation policy. Until yesterday lunchtime, we used to call them 'the super 12'. These were the 12 rebel backbenchers led by the member for Mackellar and the member for Goldstein. But now we have the super 13, because the new senator from New South Wales has added his name to the list as well. These are the people who think the people who clean their offices aren't entitled to the same sort of superannuation benefits that they take home themselves. It's an absolute disgrace!

We have seen this movie before. When it came to energy policy, you had some of the biggest blockheads on the government side of the House setting policy for the rest of the government. Of course I'm talking about the member for Hughes, who was able to dictate to Malcolm Turnbull what their energy policy was going to be. We're seeing the whole movie roll out again. We have the Treasurer, the Prime Minister and the finance minister saying, 'We have no plans to change superannuation policy.' All the while they're grinding away in the background, making it quite clear that the condition of this bloke keeping his job is that they cut superannuation benefits to some of the lowest-paid workers in Australia. It's a disgrace.