Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Reuniting More Superannuation) Bill 2020. From the outset, let me say that Labor supports this bill and the government's amendments. The bill responds to recommendations of the Productivity Commission's 2018 report Superannuation: assessing efficiency and competitiveness and builds on changes contained in the 2019 'protecting your super' legislation.

This bill is part of a suite of initiatives that support the Australian tax office to reunite multiple inactive or low-balance accounts with members' active accounts. The bill finalises arrangements for the transfer of the money, in these accounts, from eligible rollover funds to the ATO. The eligible rollover funds were designed to look after unclaimed superannuation and their role is, essentially, now redundant. APRA will oversee the wind up of the fund. Under arrangements already in place, the ATO has been able to reunite multiple accounts, over two million that were lost, with their owners. The bill before the Senate will enable even more members to be reunited with their superannuation savings.

Labor has a very proud record on superannuation. Back in 1972, just 32 per cent of workers were covered by superannuation arrangements. This represented 36 per cent of male workers but just 15 per cent of females. It is the vision and determination of progressive Labor governments and Labor unions that delivered what is now a world-class universal superannuation system. That is why we are calling on the Prime Minister to rule out the freezing or appealing of the legislation that will deliver the super guarantee increase.

This government simply cannot be trusted when it comes to superannuation. John Howard froze super and said wages would rise, and they didn't. Tony Abbott froze super and said wages would rise, and they didn't. Scott Morrison wants to freeze super and says wages will rise, and they won't. The Liberals can't be trusted with your superannuation. They came into government in 2013 and froze super. Did wages rise? No. Wage growth has been the slowest on record under this government. It is a Liberal lie that freezing your super will lift your wages. It is a Liberal lie that is designed to suppress wages and super. And it is a Liberal lie that will leave workers worse off in their retirement.

Superannuation is a proud legacy of the Australian Labor Party, and we will always fight for Australians' superannuation. We will always fight for a dignified retirement for all Australians, and we will fight the attacks on superannuation by those on the other side. It was Gough Whitlam who first advanced the case for a national superannuation scheme, to improve equity and broaden superannuation coverage. He set up a national superannuation committee of inquiry but, unfortunately, by the time the committee reported, a conservative government was in power and it rejected a national superannuation scheme. Since then, the attacks from the other side have continued day after day, year after year, because those people opposite on those benches do not want Australians to be able to retire with their own funds and to retire in dignity. It was the Hawke Labor government and the Australian union movement that reignited the push for a national superannuation scheme. It was Bob Hawke who began discussions with the ACTU on broadening access to superannuation as part of the accord. Then with the support of the Labor government, the ACTU's national wage case claim sought a three per cent superannuation contribution by employers to be paid into an industry fund. The accord continued to deliver pay and super increases.

In 1991, Labor announced in the budget the superannuation guarantee. This was a historic moment that we should celebrate. This historic Labor initiative delivered a major extension of superannuation coverage, an efficient method of encouraging employers to comply with their obligation. What a great thing it is. It's not a scary thing; it's nothing to be frightened of when unions, employers and governments work together to deliver outcomes for the people of Australia. It's a great thing. It is nothing to be frightened of, because the people of Australia have benefitted from workers, employers and governments working together, and Australia is now the fourth-largest holder of pension fund assets in the world. We have almost $3 trillion in superannuation assets under investment; 15 million superannuation fund members own this national wealth. And because of this, generations of older Australians can retire with dignity.

Labor has continued to support positive changes to superannuation and its regulation. Too many Australians still retire with inadequate savings, and Labor will continue to protect and strengthen superannuation arrangements. That's why we are committed to seeing the legislated super guarantee rise to 12 per cent. We will continue to protect superannuation from attacks by Liberal governments. We know that the two previous delays to super guarantee increases have cost workers between $60,000 and $100,000 in their superannuation balances. Let's not forget that, in 1995, Tony Abbott said:

Compulsory superannuation is one of the biggest con jobs ever foisted by government on the Australian people. … The government is making us worse off now so that it will be better off in the future.

And his views live on.

Senator Rennick—hello, Senator Rennick!—has called superannuation a 'cancer' and went as far as to attack his own party, saying the coalition 'sold out its values when it didn't stop the cancer called superannuation'. It doesn't stop with Senator Rennick. I'm speaking after Senator Bragg, who believes there needs to be 'drastic surgery' to Australia's superannuation funds. And what would this drastic surgery look like? Senator Bragg last year told us exactly how he thought superannuation should be voluntary for low-income workers. Why do they need super? Why do they need to be able to retire with dignity? Then we have the member for Goldstein. In a recent motion in the House, the member claimed Australians are retiring in poverty because they are forced to save for superannuation at the cost of saving a deposit on a home.

The members' contortion of these important issues—saving for retirement and barriers to home ownership—shows just how unfit this government really is. It is true that many Australian families are struggling and that saving for a deposit and home ownership are out of reach. So wouldn't it be good if the government had a policy that improved access to affordable housing? Wouldn't that be good? It is false for the member to portray saving for home ownership and saving for retirement as a zero-sum game. Instead, the government should be working on plans to boost wages and boost retirement incomes. Since 2013, under this government's watch, wages have been growing at about two per cent a year and, again, this is the slowest growth on record since the end of the Second World War. As the economist Richard Denniss points out, low wages have been a goal of the coalition and of businesses for decades. We are told that low wages will deliver benefits that will trickle down to all Australians. Well, Australians are still waiting. Just one result of the government's wage suppressing policies is that it's even harder for people to save for a deposit to buy a home or for anything else. Another impact is that superannuation savings are also lower.

Jim Stanford of the Centre for Future Work says unprecedented low wage growth shows no indication of rebounding, and this is because low wage growth is the result of deliberate coalition policies. This was confirmed by former federal Treasurer Senator Cormann, who let slip that downward flexibility of wages was a design feature of the coalition's economic framework.

I also want to say, briefly, something about the effect that raiding super funds has had on retirement incomes. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has reported that more than $37 billion has been withdrawn from retirement funds through the federal government's COVID early release scheme. This represents 4.9 million applications by Australians to access up to $20,000 in both the previous and current financial years. This scheme has been accessed predominantly by people under 35. For people aged 30, $20,000 withdrawn last year would mean almost $80,000 less superannuation by the time they retire.

Industry Super Australia has said that the government scheme will leave younger people poorer at retirement. It said:

Busting into super early comes at a steep cost for the individual and future taxpayers. As a society we shouldn't be demanding our young people pay the price yet again.

One of the fathers of superannuation, Paul Keating, has noted that when the government allowed people to take money out of their retirement savings in super to spend now, it in effect asked those least able to afford it to stump up $30 billion worth of stimulus at the expense of their own security in retirement.

It was Labor that created Australia's superannuation system so that every Australian can have dignity in retirement. We know that government members are pushing to erode our world-class superannuation system, including by delaying increases and moving to a voluntary system. Only Labor will strengthen and protect our superannuation system for millions of Australians.