House of Representatives

Second Reading Speech

The Superannuation (Excess Concessional Contributions Tax) Amendment (DisabilityCare Australia) Bill 2013 is part of a package of measures increasing the Medicare levy by half a percentage point.

The increase in the Medicare levy will help fund DisabilityCare Australia, the most profound piece of social justice policy since Medicare.

This is a watershed moment in our federation of states, our national story. An opportunity to alter the course of the future for millions of Australians that find difficulty in maintaining a basic level of existence which we all take for granted.

The importance, the urgency of this, is not to be underestimated.

Once DisabilityCare becomes a reality, we will never look back.

We will never look back to a time, a truly primitive time, when the disabled and their carers had to shoulder the burden and fill the gap while legislators sat back and looked at their knuckles, and hoped the problem would fix itself.

I believe this is the greatest cause to come before this chamber for a very long time, and the most important that I have had the privilege to work for.

This is our chance to turn to the almost more than four hundred thousand Australians, their families and their carers that face these daily struggles and say to them 'your country will not leave you to fight each day alone'.

We see you. You have worth. And with a bit of help from your people, your society, your tribe, there is a chance things can change.

A better prosthetic may give new chances of work. The help of a specialist, one that was previously unaffordable under the private system, could make a breakthrough that can turn a life around.

This will change lives.

Change families.

Change the dimension of hope in every community.

No longer do we fill this place with empty rhetoric on this issue. We now put our money on the table. And we ask:

What is the price of an ordinary life?

Under DisabilityCare, it doesn't matter if you were born with it, or the circumstance in which you came to be the way you are.

What seems like such a basic concept, as old as the Good Samaritan, has taken a lot of work by a lot of people to come to action, fruition, to legislation in this place, on this historic day.

This really is a moment in our history to relish and remember.

Equality, a truly Labor principle, is the simple goal of this nation changing reform.

I turn now to the details of the Bill.

This Bill contains consequential amendments as a result of the increase in the Medicare levy, contained in the Medicare Levy Amendment (DisabilityCare Australia) Bill 2013.

Contributions to superannuation are subject to a number of different caps, which vary depending on the age and retirement status of the person making the contribution, and on whether the contribution is made out of before or after tax income. These caps exist to ensure that the amount of concessionally taxed superannuation benefits that a person may receive is sustainable and appropriately targeted.

The amount of a person's pre-tax superannuation contribution that exceeds the concessional cap is currently taxed at a rate of 31.5 per cent. This is the sum of the top marginal personal tax rate of 45 per cent and the current Medicare levy of 1.5 per cent, less the general rate of 15 per cent tax paid by most superannuation funds.

The Superannuation (Excess Concessional Contributions Tax) Amendment (DisabilityCare Australia) Bill 2013 will increase the rate at which tax on excess concessional contributions is payable.

From 1 July 2014, this rate will increase by half a percentage point to 32 per cent, reflecting the increase in the Medicare levy.

These consequential amendments will help to ensure the integrity of the tax system.

Further details of the Bill are set out in the explanatory memorandum for the package of Bills.