E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
MONDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2020
 
SUBJECTS: Federal Budget; Badgerys Creek property deal.
 
STEPHEN JONES, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Well it’s good to be back in Parliament this week. This is the week where we’ll be ensuring the Government is held to account for its big promises and it's under delivery. I'm very keen to ensure we get the detail of the Government's proposed changes to superannuation. In the budget they made some big announcements promising to fix under performance and overcharging of fees. But when you dig down into the detail, you can see that it doesn't stack up. Over billions of dollars a year are being charged in administration fees which are frankly far too high. This is costing an average Australian over $1000,000 in lost retirement savings. The government said they were going to fix it. But the detail shows that they won't.
 
Their own backbench is embarrassed by this. We saw Senator Bragg out last week blushing unusually, admitting that his Minister had stuffed it up and they needed to fix it up. The Minister has been strangely silent on the stuff ups in her proposed changes to the administration of superannuation since the budget. A 40-page glossy. A huge announcement, but no follow through. Well this is the week that the government has to fix it up.
 
We'll be holding the Government to account on the dodgy Badgerys Creek property deal. It's no wonder that the Government is resisting a federal ICAC.  Clearly it's going to interrupt their business-as-usual business model. Clearly the ICAC would be interrupting the Government’s business model. Over $30m for a property valued at $3m. Well this week in the Senate we’ll get to the bottom of this dodgy deal.

ENDS