Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Around Australia, the broken promises of the Albanese Labor government are causing great difficulty. That is certainly true in my electorate of Bradfield, where broken promises in relation to superannuation, franking credits and power bills are troubling my constituents.

Let's start with superannuation. Before last year's election, both the Prime Minister and the Treasurer promised us there would be no changes. On Melbourne radio on 31 January 2022, the now Prime Minister said, 'We have not planned for any changes on superannuation.' On Insiderson 27 March 2022, the now Treasurer said, 'Australians shouldn't expect major changes to superannuation, if the government changes hands.' Of course, you'd be a mug to believe that, because only a few weeks ago they announced that, in fact, they would be breaking that promise. There will now be an extra tax of 15 per cent on income earned on balances above a threshold. That threshold is not indexed. While Labor try to pretend this will only affect a few of the wealthiest Australians, their own modelling shows that in due course some 10 per cent of Australians will be affected.

Of course, this will hit hardest those Australians who've worked and sacrificed for many years to build up superannuation savings for retirement. Australians have done the right thing. They've done exactly what governments asked them to do. But now the Treasurer wants to tax more of what those Australians have saved. It won’t just hurt those getting close to retirement; it will discourage those with many years of working life remaining from putting more into super. Since this policy has come out, over 200 of my constituents have raised with me their concerns about these changes, and I can say very clearly that the Liberal Party is opposed to these changes. Some other representatives in this place seem to be quite keen on their own constituents being hit with higher taxes. The member for Curtin said, 'I'm not against capping the super balance.' The member for Kooyong said, 'I'm very happy to examine any firm proposals from the government regarding potential reform of tax and super.' So it seems that the teals are happy to see higher taxes on superannuation. Certainly, the Liberal Party takes a very different view.

Let's talk about franking credits. Before the last election—again, we see the same pattern—the Prime Minister and the Treasurer explicitly promised no changes to franking credits. On ABC radio on 30 March 2021, the now Prime Minister said, 'We won't have any changes to the franking credits regime which is there.' Of course, you'd be a mug to believe that promise too, because they've now introduced legislation that will increase the government's revenues by restricting the circumstances in which franking credits can be paid. This will capture some $600 million of revenue for the government. That's $600 million taken away from Australian taxpayers.

Then, of course, there's Labor's broken promise of cheaper power bills. On 97 times before the election Mr Albanese, the now Prime Minister, promised a $275 price cut to Australians' power bills. You'd be a mug to believe that as well. Rather than the reduction in power prices that the now Prime Minister promised, we've seen the opposite. Energy bills are skyrocketing. In fact, it its budget last year, the government admitted that it expected electricity bills to be up by 56 per cent and gas bills by 40 per cent over the foreseeable future. So, on one hand, we have a promise made 97 times that energy bills would come down by $275, and, on the other hand, we have the grim reality of energy bills going up and up. In the last couple of weeks, we've seen the default market offer come out, which tells Australians what they can expect their bills to be in the future. Is now the time that the Prime Minister's promise of a $275 reduction is finally going to be delivered? It turns out that it is not. On the contrary, the default market offer around the country has seen new increases of up to 23.7 per cent for households, up to 25.7 per cent for small businesses.

Households in my electorate of Bradfield under the proposed increases of the default market offer will be worse off by up to $564 per year. Of course, we were called back in December to be told there was an assistance package that would be finalised by March with support flowing from April. That has not happened either. They are broken promises. When it comes to superannuation, when it comes to franking credits, when it comes to power prices, it is a grim and distressing story.