CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr NEUMANN (Blair) (09:57): Workers in my electorate of Blair deserve a strong superannuation system and a dignified, secure retirement. The Albanese Labor government is strengthening our superannuation system. The government legislated payday super so that workers receive their super at the same time as their wages, helping ensure that Australians receive every dollar they are owed and benefit from years of additional investment returns.

Before this reform, more than 27,000 workers in Blair, or 31 per cent of affected workers, were missing out on an average of $1,767, or $49 million across the electorate. This was the third-highest among the electorates of Queensland when it came to unpaid super. So Labor's landmark reforms are providing more help to low-income workers locally and making our superannuation system fairer from top to bottom.

These reforms will boost the super of more than 8,300 low-income workers across Ipswich and the Somerset region, with more than 4,600 women and young workers among the biggest beneficiaries, giving them a more secure retirement. This includes thousands of disability and aged-care workers, retail and hospitality staff, and early childhood educators and nurses.

As we strengthen the low income superannuation tax offset, helping low-income workers to built stronger retirement balances, this helps them. Thanks to this, workers in Blair will get an average boost of $395 to their super each year, totalling $3.3 million per year across the electorate. They could be better off by $15,000 or more at retirement.

And 56 per cent of these beneficiaries would be women, helping to close the gender super gap. We're also continuing to strengthen consumer protections and lifting standards across the system so Australians can have confidence that their retirement savings are managed in their best interests. For these reasons, the announcement we saw from One Nation last week, based on a reheated LNP policy, to let people raid their super would be very bad for workers in my community.

Taking money out of super defeats the whole purpose of retirement savings and means less money and less economic security in retirement for the people in my electorate. Modelling by Super Members Council has shown that a median full-time worker withdrawing three per cent of their contributions for three years would be $25,000 worse off at retirement. For a couple, that's $50,000.

It's bad, cynical policy from the three right-wing parties we know have opposed every improvement to superannuation in this place, and they've opposed every real cost-of-living relief at every opportunity in the House and the Senate. On this side of the House, we believe that if workers work hard and contribute through their lives they deserve the opportunity to retire with dignity, security and independence.