Mary Aldred
Monash · Liberal Party · Australia
“It's a privilege to rise for my 100th contribution to this place. In doing so, I want to address a barbeque-stopper of a conversation topic in my electorate of Monash, and that is homeownership. I'm deeply concerned. Building approvals dropped in May for the third consecutive month. This is an impact of the budget's housing tax changes.”
“You can measure the budget deficit of this government in numbers, but nothing compares to the deficit of trust it has created in Australia. We need to unlock supply and enable local infrastructure like Weebar Road in Drouin, in my electorate of Monash, which I've been fighting very hard for.”
“This Friday is 3 July, and it is the 12-month anniversary of the swearing-in of the class of 2025. It is a momentous occasion for that class among us.”
“I've got a constituent right now who's living with her abuser in fear because leaving means she will be separated from her special needs son and pets, and she cannot afford to move out. There are a couple living in a tent in a stranger's driveway in my electorate, and they cannot afford anywhere to rent on their $450-per-week budget.”
“Our wonderful CFA volunteers in Victoria answer the call in the middle of the night and step away from their work in the middle of the day to protect our community year round. As the daughter of someone who was a CFA volunteer, I know this very well.”
“For all the smirking and the back-patting and the preening that this prime minister carries on with, Australians right now deserve so much better from their government. Look at health.”
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“This is despite decades of focus and growing expenditure with organisations like Beyondblue, headspace—a proud initiative that I've supported along the way—and Lifeline, who do incredible work as well. National suicide rates have remained largely unchanged. I think this highlights the urgent need for a more effective approach. We cannot continue on as we are. Australians deserve a system that prioritises accountability; strengthens community based support; and measures success by lives saved, not money spent. I know a lot of these organisations run on the smell of an oily rag. When I was involved with Lifeline Gippsland, the op shops across Gippsland would have e-waste sales and do huge amounts of fundraising to support the incredible volunteer telephone counsellors that save lives and make a huge difference every single day of the week.”
“Despite close to $1 billion in taxpayer investment, there's no consistent or reliable way to determine whether these programs are actually having an impact on suicide rates. We need to have clear initiatives that don't lack clear baselines, targets and outcome tracking. We need funding agreements to meet meaningful evidence of effectiveness. We need to have a system with results that continue to make sure that there are more significant resources in clear line of sight. Behind these findings is a stark human reality. Around nine Australians lose their life to suicide every day, with more than 150 daily attempts. That's one in five Australians experiencing mental health challenges every year.”
“We need to do better by husbands and fathers and sons and uncles and nephews and brothers in our community, particularly in our regional communities, which are again overrepresented. I know it's a real struggle for a number of organisations who do incredibly good work. Just last week I was in Foster at the South Gippsland Hospital. I want to praise the efforts of community and allied health professionals who do all that they can with scant resources at both state and federal government levels and with a number of obstacles in their way. They care deeply, and they're highly skilled professionals who want to make a change in this area. The recent Auditor-General's report makes clear that what we're doing, with the best of intentions, is not good enough. We have critical gaps in how policies are designed, funded and measured.”
“My own journey through this issue started with Lifeline Gippsland as a board member many years ago in my 20s. I also served on the board of Latrobe Regional Hospital. The Flynn Ward there and the very dedicated mental health staff live with the consequences of this issue. In my early 20s, as many young people are, I was touched by two people, Bec and John-Michael, who took their lives. Some 22 years later, I still think of Bec's little sister and John-Michael's father at their funerals. I think about how they're getting on today. Men's suicide is overrepresented in this cohort. Some 75 per cent of people who completed suicide are men. That equates to about seven men a day as of 2023.”
“I want to commend my colleague the member for Bowman, who cares deeply and passionately about this issue, for moving this motion. I also want to recognise the very good work that my colleague the member for Hunter has done, particularly from a regional area perspective and particularly on behalf of men who are overrepresented in this cohort. So to both of you: I want to praise and commend the efforts that you've invested in this very important issue, because it's something that touches many people. I want to also acknowledge that there are a number of groups in my electorate of Monash who do outstanding work: Zero Suicide community awareness, the Gippsland chapter and the people involved in that organisation; and Donna, the mother of Daniel, who has an organisation named in his honour—Daniel's Wings of Pride.”
“I want to acknowledge her friend Lija Matthews, who founded Change for Sam and is doing incredible work. They are pushing for practical safety through 24/7 monitored duress alarms. I would love to see this funded through a national pilot project. I want to commend Lija and all of the people involved in Change for Sam, because I know there is a family, a friendship circle and a community that is still deeply bereaved by Sam's loss. We need to do far more around coercive control in this country and the impact that it has.”
“I also want to acknowledge a number of local organisations in my electorate of Monash, particularly Gippsland Women's Health and their CEO, Kate Graham, who has done some outstanding work supporting women and young girls across these areas. I also would like to take the opportunity to raise an issue I care deeply about, and that is coercive control and the further work that we need to do as a parliament and a nation to effect change. I am particularly inspired by Change for Sam, which has been established in honour of Sam, a Phillip Island local in my electorate of Monash. Sam was a psychologist, mother and deeply valued member of our community, who had her life taken. She was murdered by her former partner, and this organisation has been set up in her legacy.”
“This service is named after Gidget, a vibrant young mother who tragically took her own life while experiencing postnatal depression which she kept to herself. One in seven women live with endometriosis, and every experience is different. Symptoms can vary widely and are often invisible, making diagnosis difficult without advanced imaging or surgery. Research from Federation University, a great regional university, shows that one in five girls aged between 10 and 16 have considered leaving sport due to period related challenges, highlighting the broader impact on participation. I recently met with QENDO, a not-for-profit supporting those affected across Australia, and I commend the work that they've done in this area.”
“I also want to draw attention to perinatal depression and anxiety, which affects around one in five mothers, impacting nearly 100,000 parents in Australia each year. With early, evidence-informed support, outcomes can improve significantly. Yet access to care is often prohibitive for new parents, particularly around cost. In regional areas like mine, access is inhibited by barriers. Last year, I met with Arabella Gibson from Gidget House. Gidget House plays a vital role by providing free counselling and support for parental mental health. The Monash electorate will soon be home to the second Gidget House in Victoria. This is very important because parents will be able to access up to 10 free psychological sessions each year.”
“Women's health has long been a priority for the coalition, and this has been demonstrated in a number of ways, particularly through the launch of the National Women's Health Strategy 2020-2030, which sought to improve long-term outcomes for women and girls. We welcomed the government's decision to build on this work with an additional 11 endometriosis clinics. Prior to the last election, the coalition committed to matching this important women's health package, including measures which would improve menopause care through the new Medicare rebate, expand health professional training and develop national clinical guidelines, as well as increase funding for endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics.”
“I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak on this motion, and I'd like to deal with it in a couple of parts—firstly, by addressing where the women's health package is up to and where we as a nation need to be and, secondly, by reflecting on a number of conversations that I've had with very important local groups in my electorate of Monash. It's been 12 months since the bipartisan women's health package commenced, and that's a good thing. This package received support from both major parties of government and builds on the significant work undertaken by the former coalition government to improve health outcomes for Australian women. The coalition supported this package as an expansion of the historical commitment made in government to advance women's health outcomes.”
“I think it is a great moment for this parliament at a time where we quite rightly have a very robust contest of ideas on a number of contentious issues—and this place should be a place of strong debate. But I think there are some topics where the community and the broader public want to see us come together as a parliament to champion an issue and to progress a cause that is worthy of support, and this bill does just that. I'm very pleased to be part of a coalition who has had a strong track record of supporting this issue, and I'm very pleased to commend this bill to the House.”
“As a person who was a BRCA2 gene carrier, Meg said she would never be able to 'take out more than $500,000 in life insurance cover'. As a reference point, this is about $240,000 lower than the median house price where she lives. Meg says: … yet, a smoker can go on and ask for a higher level of cover— in the example that she has given to the ABC. This is not fair and this is not right. She says: They might pay a higher premium, but they can. This is where the discrepancy in fairness, in justice, in an equity of outcome has been experienced by many Australians right across Australia. I commend brave people like Meg for sharing their stories so vulnerably and so charitably. I commend researchers and advocates like Dr Jane Tiller.”
“We don't know what we don't know. That is why research, clinical trials and clinical care are so very important. I'm going to use a brave example: Meg Herrmann, a fit 25-year-old woman, who told the ABC that she underwent a preventative double mastectomy after genetic testing found she carried the BRCA2 mutation. Meg carried a 70 per cent lifetime risk of developing breast cancer—as well as making her more likely to develop ovarian, pancreatic and skin cancer. I really want to commend Meg for very bravely sharing her story so publicly. Meg underwent genetic testing after her mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. After undertaking the procedure, Meg's risk of contracting breast cancer reduced by 95 per cent, but her decision came at a cost to her financial future.”
“Genomic research holds enormous promise for identifying genetic causes of disease and enabling earlier prevention and treatment. However, Dr Tiller recognises the fears around genetic discrimination in life insurance. Indeed, she's dedicated huge amounts of time and expertise to this very topic, and she notes that people's financial fears for themselves and their families are very valid. They do not want to disadvantage, particularly as we discuss so regularly right now, the cost-of-living crisis and the very real financial insecurity that people and families across Australia live with every day. These fears are entirely valid. In Australia, life insurers have historically been allowed to use genetic test results to deny coverage or to increase premiums. This has created a significant barrier to genomic research and clinical care.”
“It's really important because the science around that helps promote and develop and implement preventive medicine and the developments that that is able to progress. However, some Australians have decided to refuse this testing that could potentially save their life because of financial concerns. I mentioned Dr Jane Tiller, who's a lawyer, genetic counsellor, public health researcher at Monash University—named after, of course, the great Sir John Monash, although it's not in my electorate! Dr Tiller has done some incredible work on this issue. I know she's in Canberra; I think she's in Parliament House today. I do want to acknowledge the very long time that she's spent on this issue and her helping as a really key person in getting it to this point of the legislative lens. I'd like to acknowledge Dr Tiller today.”
“We don't know, but we're fixing the problem now because the coalition supports these reforms, particularly around a sense of certainty and the need to prevent discrimination and to better support health outcomes overall. There are many families in my electorate of Monash that have hereditary diseases, from cancer to heart disease, in their family. They want to make sure that they can get on top of these things early through the great benefits that genetic testing provides. But they should not have to expect—they should not fear—the discriminatory consequences of doing so. So this is very important legislation. The reality is this is a reform everybody agreed on from the start; except Australians were left waiting due to Labor's delays. It's estimated that around 1½ million Australians undergo genetic testing every year.”
“There could be no better example for wanting to expedite the process of this legislation in what we are discussing today. The consequences of delay will now have, I think, an impact on generations of Australians yet to come, who really needed this legislation to come in earlier. People could have benefited from genetic testing, but they may have been discouraged from doing so because of the concerns about insurance discrimination, and there were very real concerns to be had about insurance discrimination, which is why we are debating and supporting the legislation before us today. Participation in medical research could well have been affected.”
“Unfortunately, that is an analogy for a lot of serious stuff that we deal with in this parliament where there is a lot of fanfare and a lot of fuss but not a lot of follow-through. Australians were left waiting—and with real consequences. There was strong bipartisan support. There was no opposition. There was no reason why this legislation could not be introduced to the parliament in the previous term. We think about the consequences of that. We often talk in this place about unintended consequences, and we should have regard to that. I acknowledge that there are school students sitting above us, watching the proceedings in this chamber. We must give them hope and go about our work in this place with a real sense of purpose but also with a sense of priority.”
“There's a broken promise by Labor, then, because we saw in September 2024 the then assistant treasurer Stephen Jones announce to much fanfare and lots of bells and whistles that Labor would be introducing legislation to ban genetic discrimination in life insurance. Great stuff—terrific and broadly supported! If only they had got on with the job and finished it! The announcement was widely welcomed, and it raised real expectations among ordinary Australians and the medical community. But, by the 2025 election, no legislation had even been introduced—no bill, no forward steps and no progress since that announcement, which had been made with bells and whistles, great fanfare, great media attention and with great acclaim and accolade for the government. Nothing was followed up.”
“Indeed, they have enjoyed that support for years now, so the simple question is: why has it taken Labor so long to deliver this? In fact, the coalition had to drag Labor kicking and screaming to the start line for this legislation. In 2019, while in government, the coalition supported the introduction of an industry moratorium as an interim safeguard, with the clear expectation that legislation would follow. That meant, by the time of the 2022 election, there was broad agreement across industry, among clinicians and in the parliament that this legislation was needed, that its time had come and that the protections put forward were necessary and critical.”
“I will deal with schedule 1 in my remarks, particularly around genetic protections, as they've been delayed despite years of bipartisan consensus and significant work by legal experts, ethicists, medical researchers and the broader community. This schedule prevents life insurers from using genetic-test results to deny or limit cover, ensuring Australians can access medical testing without fear or discrimination. Genetic testing can be life saving. It supports clinicians to prevent, diagnose and treat serious conditions, including hereditary diseases and cancer. No Australian should be discouraged from undertaking genetic testing because they fear it could affect their ability to obtain life insurance. These reforms have strong bipartisan support and clear backing from clinicians, researchers and patient advocates.”
“They're practical protections, they make sense and they make fairness around the use of genetic information in life insurance and improvements across our financial system. It's also a bill that highlights two consistent problems that have arisen at different times during the tenure of this government: reforms are delivered too slowly, and, even when there is broad agreement or bipartisan support, which the community hope for and expect from us as legislators on important issues like this, they take too long. The other point I wish to raise is about the scrutiny of public spending and where that is weakened and undermined.”
“It's a great privilege to rise to speak on this legislation, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance and Other Measures) Bill 2025, because it's an important piece of legislation. It's legislation that has been a long time in the making—too long—and it enjoys broad bipartisan support. In making my remarks, I'm going to acknowledge the work and great efforts of people like Dr Jane Tiller who have invested significant amounts of time, passion and expertise and a profound sense of equity and fairness in making sure that, this week, this bill gets to the start line and, I hope, through the Senate, the finish line as well. The coalition is pleased to support this bill because it contains important reforms that Australians have been waiting for. They're sensible reforms.”
“The Prime Minister was so busy scowling and sniping at me while I outlined how bad things were in my region, he wasn't listening. So let me say it again, because I've just gotten off the phone from a fuel supplier in my electorate: they've been put on rations, reducing their supply by 30 per cent, so they've had to ration our local community and prioritise farmers and truck drivers. Australia needs a real leader with a real plan and all we've got is a brawler who passes the buck.”
“I represent a region that the rest of Australia relies on for food, water and power, and our region relies on secure and affordable fuel to do that. Right now we are running out. Australia is the only country member of the International Energy Agency not to meet its agreed standards for fuel reserves. Australia sits at 47 days for oil reserves. New Zealand sits at 95 days, Spain at 96 and the UK at 120. France, Germany and Japan are respectively at 122, 130 and 206 days. The Netherlands is at 413. This government has been in office for four years. Fire loves kindling like this Prime Minister loves to blame others. You can see him light up blaming inflation, the RBA and previous governments, doing anything other than accept responsibility. I asked a question in question time this week: what is the government's plan to fix this crisis?”
“My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Last week, the minister stated that he has 'great confidence' that energy companies will not be taking advantage of Australia's fuel crisis. Today, it's reported that fuel prices are up 40c a litre. Can the minister advise the House where there are fuel supply shortages in Australia and what he is doing to fix them?”
“This is a prime minister who chose to associate his office with Kyle Sandilands by attending his wedding. What a guy. So, when we're talking about standards in Australia that have fallen off a cliff under this Prime Minister, it is not just economics that have fallen off a cliff; it is everything from economics to values. I think the Prime Minister's choice to associate himself and his office with Kyle Sandilands is worth mentioning and worth highlighting. It is a disgrace for the government and the Prime Minister, bearing in mind the message that this sends to young women and girls across this country.”
“It's worth mentioning in the context of standards that this is a guy who got a 14-year-old girl on his radio show and quizzed her about her sexual experiences, and it turned out she had been raped. This is a guy who called a female journalist 'a fat slag', said Christians were dumb as dog excrement and said on air to a female journalist: Watch your mouth, girl, or I will hunt you down. He said of comedian Magda Szubanski, who is of Polish descent, that she would lose more weight if she were in a concentration camp. Journalist Jacqueline Maley has put a number of examples together in the Sydney Morning Herald this week, and I think they are worth mentioning in the context of standards under this Prime Minister, because the standard that we walk past is the standard that we choose to accept.”
“The wonderful volunteers at Corinella & District Community Centre say that it needs to be open an additional day just to keep up with growing demand, and it has to meet rising costs with a tight budget. Despite the installation of solar panels and a battery, Corinella centre has been forced to pay significantly higher electricity bills. These centres don't want to turn people away, but they can't escape the growing costs and pressure. The standard of living has dropped under this Prime Minister, but so too has every standard under the government that he's running. A good recent example, this week, was when the Prime Minister attended the wedding of his good mate Kyle Sandilands.”
“It's a sad reflection of the level of struggle felt in our community—the choices forced on families and on vulnerable and low-income residents when money is tight and meals are sacrificed. They started out cooking 600 meals per week, and that figure has tripled to more than 2,000 per week. But it's not enough, with a gap of around 3,000 meals every week across the region. Baw Baw Food Relief has seen a nine per cent increase in demand in the last 12 months, feeding 4,560 adults and 2,825 children. Phillip Island Community and Learning Centre has been forced to limit access to its food pantry three days a week because of the sheer number of families seeking to put food on the table.”
“There's the farmer outside Leongatha who shared with me his anxiety that Labor's superannuation changes would destroy his family succession plan because the land was worth more than what their business generated in value. Australia has experienced the largest collapse in living standards among all developed countries, across the OECD, and people in my electorate of Monash are living with the consequences of this every day. The volunteers who roll up their sleeves to help those people who are really struggling are finding it more and more difficult as well, and I give the following examples. In Warragul, Frankies Community Kitchen cannot meet current demand at its local food relief centre.”
“The fact is that living standards have not just gone backwards under this Labor government; they have collapsed. In four years of Labor, Australians are working harder for less, they are saving harder and keeping less, and they are paying more and getting less. I see this every day in my electorate of Monash. There's the mum outside Druin Coles who told me she had to choose between paying her electricity bill on time or buying groceries for her family that week. There's the young tradie in Wonthaggi who told me he was taking every overtime shift available and he still couldn't save enough for a home deposit. There's the small-business owner on Phillip Island who said she could barely break even because every input cost, from electricity to insurance, had skyrocketed over the last few years.”
“One even asked whether they were expected to close the front door to emergency departments to meet Canberra's demands. I think that's a fair point by that health minister. That is the reality of Labor governments at both levels—finger-pointing, buck-passing and bureaucratic arguments while hospitals like the West Gippsland Hospital struggle to keep up with demand from a growing regional community. Gippslanders deserve better, Victorians deserve better, and regional Australians deserve better than state and federal Labor governments.”
“In September last year, the Prime Minister wrote to state and territory leaders demanding they rein in hospital spending growth if they wanted the Commonwealth to honour a new five-year funding agreement. Let's think about that for a moment. At a time when hospitals are under immense pressure, when emergency departments are overflowing, when waiting lists are growing, when doctors and nurses are stretched to their limits, the Prime Minister's message to the states was essentially, 'Don't get sick.' To Gippslanders, 'Don't get sick.' To Victorians, 'Don't get sick.' Under this Labor government, 'Don't fund essential new infrastructure—the likes of the West Gippsland hospital,' was the message coming from the Prime Minister to the state premiers. State health ministers were pretty incredulous about this demand.”
“But, under state and federal Labor governments, it is. The Allan Labor government is failing Victorians on health care, and, in my patch, that's the new West Gippsland hospital. They promised it would commence in 2023, and not even a draft plan has been put before my community. There is no detail on funding to deliver it. And yet we've seen $15 billion wasted as part of union corruption that has happened under the Victorian Labor government's watch. They can't turn a sod on a new hospital for West Gippsland, but they can shovel billions of taxpayers' money into a bottomless pit of waste and mismanagement. What makes this situation even more frustrating for regional Victorians is the attitude coming from Canberra.”
“West Gippsland Hospital has been sewn into the fabric of our community since its first building was completed prior to the First World War. It's a critical asset to thousands of people, not just in Baw Baw Shire but beyond those borders as well. I've got to say the nursing, medical and administrative staff do an incredible job with stretched resources and a building that is no longer fit for purpose. Demographer Bernard Salt has highlighted that Drouin and Warragul are the fastest growing towns in Australia. That's why I put a new hospital for West Gippsland as the No. 1 priority in the Committee for Gippsland's first strategic plan back in 2011, and I've been fighting for a new West Gippsland hospital ever since. I passionately believe that health care should never be a postcode lottery.”
“I will continue to raise my constituent's case on this issue in any context relating to improving Australia's superannuation system, because I feel like this is a gross miscarriage of natural justice and of fairness. This was my constituent's money, and to have a large corporation like AustralianSuper continue to muck her around and, it turns out, thousands of others who are in the same boat, is grossly unfair. I call on the government to consider reforming that aspect so that people are not disadvantaged for months and months in seeking to access what is rightfully theirs. This is a bad bill. On behalf of the farmers and small-business owners in my electorate, I cannot, in good faith, support it.”
“While I'm here, I want to be able to tell you that in person.' They shifted him from call centre operator to call centre operator, mucked him around and basically made his last few weeks an absolute heartache. After Jan's husband died, she spent nearly nine months trying to get money which was due to her. It was her money. They mucked her around, so I inquired with ASIC whether there is a mandatory minimum payout time on death benefits. And the answer is that, no, there is not. The answer is that it should be paid out as soon as practicable. This is not good enough, because this was Jan's money. It was not AustralianSuper's money. I think this is a fundamental unfairness—this is a personal view I have—that we have aspects of the superannuation system that do not act fairly and that do not make a stronger system.”
“There are many aspects that are not stronger, and they're certainly not fairer. They're having an everyday impact on communities like mine and on constituents like the ones I represent. I want to briefly tell the story of Jan—I'll say Jan is her name—in my community who approached me last year. Her husband had a terminal illness. He had an account with AustralianSuper. He was eligible for early an payout of those death benefits because he had an imminent, terminal illness. AustralianSuper mucked him around for six weeks. Before he passed, Jan's husband wanted to have a conversation with their children to say: 'Look, this is not going to fix everything, but here is a little bit of money to help you get ahead in life.”
“When governments spend beyond their means, they inevitably begin looking for new taxes to fill the gap. Rather than confronting waste, prioritising programs and restoring the fiscal discipline, which is always a hallmark of every coalition government, Labor has chosen to hunt for new pools of capital to tax. Trust is fundamental when it comes to tax reform. Australians will accept reform when it is principled, predictable and properly consulted on. They will not accept retrospective changes, sudden policy shifts and ideological experiments dressed up as modest adjustments. There are other risks in this legislation that should concern every member of the House, and I'll go into those shortly. But the name of this bill includes 'building a stronger and fairer super system'.”
“This is just another example on top of the pile, because in Australia small-business owners often hold their assets through superannuation structures as part of their retirement planning. So despite the government's rhetoric, this proposal was never going to affect only a handful of people. It would have expanded over time, because that is exactly what happens when thresholds are frozen and inflation continues to rise as we have seen under this federal Labor government, where inflation is sitting well outside the RBA's recommended band. But let's take a step back and look at the broader issue confronting our country. Australia does not have a revenue problem; Australia has a spending problem. Structural spending growth is now outpacing sustainable economic growth. We are living outside our means.”
“Former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty went further, saying taxing unrealised capital gains is bad policy because it distorts the tax system and disrupt income flows. And the architect of Australia's superannuation system, Paul Keating, has warned that workers would find themselves ultimately caught in this net. Industry analysis has also made clear that the government's claim this would only affect a small number of Australians just simply doesn't add up. In fact, analysis suggests that up to 1.8 million Australians could eventually be impacted—1.8 million Australians who work hard, save hard and do the right thing to get ahead and live self-sufficiently. And many of those Australians would be small-business owners. Small-business owners in my electorate of Monash have never had to work harder for less and face more risk and red tape.”
“That is not a safe, secure, sustainable and prosperous Australia. Australians deserve better. They have been beaten down by this Treasurer, with his empty promises and silent tax grabs. And when governments lose control of spending, they inevitably start looking for new taxes—and this is exactly what we are seeing here. And it's not just the coalition saying so. Even voices traditionally aligned with Labor have warned about the dangers of this proposal. When you've got Sally McManus, Bill Kelty and Paul Keating all raising concerns about the same policy, you know something has gone pretty badly wrong. The ACTU's Sally McManus warned that the threshold must be indexed, otherwise Australians would eventually be caught.”
“It represents the lifetime savings of Australians who have worked hard, sacrificed and planned responsibly for their own retirement. Unfortunately, this episode reinforces a broader pattern we are seeing from this government. Australians were promised that inflation had been beaten. They were promised that interest rates would stabilise. They were promised that life would become easier and fairer and better for Australian families. Yet, the reality for Australians today is a very different story. Families have less flexibility. They have less choice. They are finding it harder than ever to pay the mortgage, pay the energy bills and keep up with everyday costs. I had a woman approach me the other week saying she regularly has to make a decision about whether to buy groceries to put food on the table or to pay her electricity bills on time.”
“People were not warned that indexation protections would be removed. Now, promises matter in a democracy. Major structural tax reform should have been clearly put to the Australian people for their review, consideration and ultimate decision-making. Instead, this proposal has appeared suddenly, with limited consultation and a rushed legislative timetable. Australians instinctively understand when something has been slipped in without their consent, in this case at five minutes to midnight. And when it comes to retirement savings, those nest eggs have been built over decades of hard work—hard work by people in my community who spend long hours on their feet and working with their hands to make an honest day's living. The bar for legitimacy must be higher. Superannuation is not a plaything for governments looking for new revenue streams.”
“It is the trust the Australian people put in their government to do the right thing, to make sound decisions and to go to elections where they put forward a set of values and policies and say: 'This is our word. If we are elected, these are the things that we will do.' The quiet part is being honest with the Australian people and not, by stealth, trying to creep in new taxes. In this case, Australians were not told of this intention to tax unrealised gains in superannuation. This government was not honest with its intentions, and that is a breach of trust. It is a breach of the compact between the Australian people and the parties of government that seek to represent them—in this case, the Labor Party that went to the last election not being upfront about its future policy intentions.”
“That is the money of everyday Australians, who work hard, who save hard and who do the right thing just to get ahead, and they cannot get ahead under this current government. What we've seen over the last few weeks is a government that's been found out, a government that's retreating under pressure and a government that was clearly not prepared for the scrutiny this proposal would receive. The backdown demonstrates something very important—this was never settled policy grounded in sound economic principles. It was a blatant revenue grab, and once it was exposed it collapsed under scrutiny. But beyond the policy flaws themselves lies another serious issue, and that is trust.”
“In an inflationary environment, one that's only been made worse by this Treasurer's unwillingness to address debt fuelled spending and the impact that has on the inflation fire, failing to index those threshold amounts would amount to a silent tax increase. Over time more and more Australians would have been captured by this measure but not because they were wealthier in real terms. Many farming families are what you'd call asset rich but cash poor, and they work really, really hard. I believe that, because inflation would quietly erode the value of the threshold, this is bracket creep by design, and if it was not flawed policy then it would be a sneaky way, by sure, to take more of Australians' hard earned retirement savings. That is not the government's money.”
“I looked up how many farming families this might affect, particularly those with self-managed super funds. There are around 17,000 accounts that hold farmland, and, of those, 3,500 have more than $3 million in assets. That would severely cripple and hurt and disadvantage fair dinkum, hard-working farming families in my electorate of Monash, and that is why I cannot support this bill. It represents a fundamental break with the longstanding principles of Australia's tax system, and that is why Australians from city to country have reacted so strongly and so vehemently. Equally concerning is the government's refusal to index the $3 million threshold that I've just spoken of in relation to its impact on regional communities including mine.”