QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator GALLAGHER (Australian Capital Territory—Minister for Finance, Minister for the Public Service, Minister for Women, Minister for Government Services and Manager of Government Business in the Senate) (14:50): The Labor Party is the party that established compulsory superannuation. We're the party that continues to back compulsory super, and we do it for a number of reasons—most particularly that Australian citizens have access to funds that allow them to live a dignified retirement.

That is the purpose of superannuation. That is the one we support and we continue to support. Where we can strengthen it, we do—like raising it to 12 per cent, for example; like putting the LISTO back on so that lower income workers have the same or similar tax benefits from superannuation as they're provided by the income scale; and like paying super on PPL so that women don't miss out on superannuation payments when they spend those critical years out of the workforce, often caring for children.

That is the position of federal Labor, and we will continue to invest in super and in the superannuation benefits for these same people.