QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Dr CHALMERS (Rankin—Treasurer) (14:23): A very big thankyou to the member for Bendigo, a champion for working people and their retirement incomes in her community and around the country. And a big thankyou to Tenzin for being the youth member for Rankin. Labor is the party of superannuation.
We built it, we are strengthening it and we will defend it forever from the attacks of those opposite. They don't support superannuation, because they don't support working people. It's that simple.
This side of the House is working around the clock to strengthen the superannuation system, which is the envy of the world. About a quarter of household wealth in this country is super. We've got the fourth-biggest pool of retirement income savings in the world—four decades of universal super at risk from those opposite.
In the four years we have been in office we've got the super guarantee to 12 per cent, we've got payday super, we're paying super on paid parental leave and we're lifting member standards. We're putting a lot of effort into strengthening the superannuation system, making it sustainable into the future. And on Wednesday the Assistant Treasurer will be talking about important consumer protections.
This side of the House works very hard to strengthen superannuation; those opposite work around the clock to undermine and diminish it. The stakes at the next election will be very high for a number of reasons. One of those is that the future of superannuation will be at stake at the next election.
We know that because in the last week or so, whether it's Senator Bragg, Senator Hume, Senator Canavan or the Leader of One Nation, they have all made it very clear that, if any combination or coalition of Liberals, Nationals and One Nation win the next election, they will end universal superannuation as we know it. They represent the biggest risk to universal super in the 40-year history since it became compulsory.
They've made it very clear, equating superannuation for young workers with super for cats and dogs and describing it as economic insanity, as the shadow treasurer did. That's the same person who said that people on low and middle incomes could be considered to be taken out of the system entirely. This is what they really think about superannuation.
Their divisive and dangerous antiworker and antisuper agenda will leave every Australian worker worse off if they get their hands on superannuation. That is now clear. Another thing is very clear: we will always back the working people and wages and retirement incomes of people who work for a living in this country.
Those opposite will always attack them. They don't support super, because they don't support workers. They've made that now very clear.
(Time expired)