Bill Shorten - Demographic Change, Economic
Opportunities and Future Prosperity
Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services and
Superannuation, Bill Shorten, used CEDA's state of the nation to
outline the importance of raising mandatory super to increase
domestic savings and increase availability of capital.
Mr Shorten outlined key transformative forces impacting on
public policy which included
- The rise of Asia;
- The rise of the information pipeline and how the ability to
access information quickly has been a fundamental game changer;
and
- Our ageing population and the need for a sustainable
economy.
Highlighting that Labor was proposing to increase mandatory
superannuation from 9 to 12 per cent, Mr Shorten said while some
say mandatory super is a tax on business that would have a negative
impact, during the last increases between 1993 and 2001,
unemployment dropped and business profits as a share of GDP
increased.
"This year is the third year of baby boomers retiring and I
think there is increasing interest in retirement and superannuation
policies," he said.
While this creates huge public policy challenges, Mr Shorten
said increasing mandatory superannuation would help increase
domestic savings for retirement and provide capital
for investment in Australia, potentially decreasing our
reliance on international investment capital.
Mr Shorten used his speech to also highlight that while the
Gillard Government was committed to getting back to surplus, debt
levels in Australia were relatively low.
"Net debt is scheduled to peak at 7.2 per cent …if you look at
interest payments they are .4 per cent of GDP, can you imagine any
business in the nation let alone any household running on those
debt levels?," he said.
"We are doing the best in the OCD just about."
Mr Shorten said while there were threats, such as the high
Australian dollar, Australians should be positive about the future
and the current Prime Minister has a keen eye on the horizon.
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