ADJOURNMENT

Senator POLLEY (Tasmania) (19:30): I want to speak tonight about the importance of superannuation and what it means for Australian workers. As I've said in this chamber previously, I worked for a short-term money market in Melbourne at a time when women had to work for the company for 10 years before they might—I repeat: might—be invited to join the superannuation fund.

Things changed, thanks to former prime minister Paul Keating. What I want to touch on is the policy position that was put forward recently by One Nation. What One Nation is trying to portray to the public is that they want to boost workers' pay by allowing them to raid their superannuation.

There is nothing about their proposal that is going to be of benefit for Australian workers. This policy is a raid on retirement savings. You can't say, 'You just take three per cent now for three years—that's really not going to have an impact.' What is so shallow about this policy is that it was One Nation and those opposite—their new friends, the Nationals and the Liberals—who voted against every tax cut.

They have voted against every measure this government has introduced to help Australian workers, to increase wages and to support them with the cost of living. This is undermining the fundamental value of superannuation to Australian workers. Now, this is not new from the Liberals, because we know that their policy—their frontbench have been out there spruiking for some time that you should be able to raid your superannuation to pay for a house, to have a mortgage.

Prior to that, it was, 'If you want to buy a house in this country, you need to have rich parents.' That's the depth of policy from those opposite, whereas we on this side of the chamber fundamentally believe in superannuation for Australian workers. We believe that workers need to have secure workplaces. They need to have decent incomes.

That's why we supported people like those who care for our senior citizens and work in aged care and those who look after and provide early education for our young people. We've recognised and supported pay increases and supported them, whereas those opposite have done quite the opposite. I think what needs to be exposed about the policy that One Nation have put forward is that it is really about undermining superannuation.

It is a furphy to think that this is going to be beneficial. If you take money out of your superannuation, it is going to have an impact on your retirement. What governments need to do is encourage people to provide for their retirement, because no government, going forward, in the next 20 to 30 years, can guarantee that they're going to be able to provide the lifestyle that those people who retire will need.

Superannuation is part of Labor's DNA, like Medicare and universal health care, and that's why we've introduced superannuation on paid parental leave—because we know how important it is. And this policy will impact women more. That's how it's going to be.

We know that One Nation don't even believe in paid parental leave. We know that they're really not supportive, because their voting record in this place has demonstrated that time and time again. The reality is the superannuation of 12 per cent that is now required is about providing for the future.

Even young people in this country, who probably don't think they're ever going to get to retirement age because it seems so far away, understand the mathematics of this. They understand compounding interest, so it's a furphy. But what is really disappointing is that we see the Liberals and the Nationals are reaching further and further to the right because they are so scared of One Nation and the threat of them to their own existence.

That is not the reason to undermine superannuation in this country. It is a shame, a shame on those opposite. (Time expired)