James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to thank the tens of thousands of my constituents and millions of Australians who are self-funded retirees. I thank them so much for what they have done to work hard, save and provision for their retirement. We need to be ever grateful for the contribution they're making to this country through their economic independence and the burden they take off the taxpayer for services they are absolutely entitled to. But, equally, through their hard work and savings, they have done the work to be self-sufficient. We need to always acknowledge them for that hard work and stand by them and stand up for them.

I want to send them a particular message. If you feel that there are some in politics that are treating you like you've done the wrong thing or that there's something wrong with working hard, saving and provisioning for your retirement, you need to know that the coalition stands behind you and will absolutely fight to protect the savings that you've worked hard for to provision for your own retirement. It is a big decision to leave the workforce, and it is very stressful to make a decision about whether or not you've saved enough to live the retirement that you hope to. The worst thing that can happen to people is to have the rules changed on them, to have the goal posts shifted. On this side of the House, we will fight against those disgraceful changes at any and every opportunity. (Time expired)