Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

The difficulty is, Senator Minchin, that you do not like superannuation. You do not like your pathetic record of opposition to compulsory superannuation and its development in this country. I know that is a significant difficulty for the Liberal Party today even to come to grips with: the fact that they opposed compulsory superannuation and its introduction in Australia.

The nine per cent superannuation guarantee is directly relevant to the issue that Senator Coonan is raising. The decision was taken to introduce the nine per cent superannuation guarantee, and of course that was phased in by 1 July 2002. The nine per cent superannuation guarantee is seen as representing a contribution from the employer. I have reminded the Senate that three per cent of the nine per cent was effectively—