Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I move amendment (2) on sheet 3682:

(2) Schedules 1 and 2, page 3 (line 1) to page 6 (line 26), to be opposed.

As foreshadowed in the second reading contributions on this bill, there are some elements of this bill that the coalition is supportive of, and there are others that we are not supportive of. In effect, this amendment on sheet 3682 would remove schedule 1 and schedule 2 from the bill. That is in relation to the superannuation changes proposed in the legislation.

As I said in my second reading contribution—other colleagues also vocalised concerns—we are concerned that the government is rushing elements of this bill too quickly, but we want to provide the opportunity for other sensible aspects of this bill to pass quickly. Industry have made their concerns clear. We fear that the end result of these superannuation changes will be worse outcomes for Australian workers, more duplicate accounts, more fees and worse outcomes for employers attempting to comply with these new requirements on top of their new payday superannuation obligations. As I've said, there are also some parts of this bill that we are in agreement with—those in relation to the tax exemptions associated with hosting the Men's Rugby World Cup, the implementation of the Australia-Portugal tax treaty and the increases to the wine equalisation tax producer rebate cap.

In effect, what this amendment would be seeking to achieve is to remove the sections of the bill that we are not in agreement with and keep the sections of the bill that we are in agreement with. For the ease of the chamber, that is what we are attempting to do here. That does, in effect, mean that, with this amendment, we would be remove schedules 1 and 2, which we find problematic, from this bill.