Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I honestly believe I'm in a parallel universe. I don't like to go down the path of history lessons, but it's important for some of us that have been around in the workforce for a little while—I was a recipient of the Hawke-Keating push to have workers get superannuation. I remember the accords. I remember being in wage negotiations in the eighties and nineties when we traded off our pay rises so that we could get an increase in super. I was a young union official at that little transport company called TNT when we received superannuation—may I say it was not 11 per cent of our wages; it was $1.87 per week—and I remember saying to my union organiser and my fellow workers on the site, 'What are we going to do with $1.87?' I was told, 'Stick it in your superannuation account.' I had a think about it and, lo and behold, the whole idea was that we the workers—and when I say 'workers' I mean all workers; I'm not talking class warfare here—would not be a burden upon the taxpayers when we retire.

I also remember being privileged to be with an employer that gave me an opportunity in later life, at the Transport Workers Union, where I could increase my superannuation through the benefits that were available through—I can't remember what they used to call it, but you could offset your taxation and put it into your super. Fiona and I made the decision in the nineties that we wanted to up our super because we didn't want to be a burden on the taxpayer. We believed we were privileged enough to have good-paying union jobs and so we could afford to put a bit aside for super while, at the same time, putting our kids through school and building a house.

I have tried all my working life to look after my superannuation, and I'm proud to say that I'm quite happy with how it has been going. But I have to say it ain't nowhere near $3 million. And I also have to say, much to my hurting heart, it ain't going to be anywhere near $3 million unless I win lotto and happen to chuck a big chunk in. It just baffles me. People out on the streets are thinking: 'What is that mob over there going on about? Why are they so concerned about people who have $3-plus million in their super?' Can I say to all those who have more, and even that one person who has $544 million, I'm jealous! I wish I had $544 million, because I'd be able to pay an accountant a lot of money to tell me how to get around it and do other things and start buying the kids luxury yachts and holiday homes, in places like Toorak or wherever these people live. But, for crying out loud, they are still going to get access to 15 per cent tax on their super up to $3 million.

Think about that. Think of all those people out there on Struggle Street. Think of all those people out there who have had to contend with rising inflation, which we all know in this building has meant there has been a huge impost and cost to them on their housing payments. Think about the squeeze on our supply chains. Think about this: the price of diesel going through the roof. Guess who's paying for it? Not all the trucking companies. Some of the smaller ones are. It's coming back through the supermarket lines. Think about that.

The coalition don't stand up and fight and argue about the cost of living. They don't stand up and fight because of the mess they left the Albanese government, the debts they left us. Yet for some strange, weird, 'out there' reason, they want to protect—are they all donors, everyone who's got $3 million plus in their super? What could be the logical argument? I really would like to get into the heads of some of those on the opposition benches, because I honestly think that they must be totally baffled or absolutely embarrassed or just gobsmacked that their leader's going to charge them back into government by standing up for people who have more than $3 million. When I say standing up for people with more than $3 million, they'll pay that extra 15 per cent tax on money above $3 million.

If you listened to that side over there, you would think that we are putting our hands into the pockets of people who have $3 million or more and taking it all off them in some massive tax grab. For crying out loud, Senator Van, I'm looking forward to your contribution! I really am. I'm trying to give you an out, because you're not all dodos over that side. Notice I said not all of you. Some of you are pretty intelligent people. Some of you have built a good life because you've got out and done the hard yards, like a lot of us over this side have done. But, seriously, do you think this is great economics? Do you think this is great politics, while people are struggling with rising inflation, rising housing costs, rising supply chain costs, rising food costs and rising fuel costs? Do you think you're on the side of the angels? I can't wait for the blue.