Senator PATTERSON(3.24 p.m.) —Senator Faulkner talked about mean mindedness. Let me just try to get into the thick skulls of the people on the other side of the chamber the fact that you cannot keep spending and spending and spending. One day the chickens come home to roost. I went out to talk to a group of young primary school students learning about parliament and one of them said, `Why did you get into parliament?' I said, `I got into parliament because when I was growing up the world was my oyster. We were left, not a budget deficit, but a country that was in a situation where the world was our oyster.'

What are we passing onto the next generation? We are passing on a living standard which is worse than the one we inherited. I do not want to be part of that. That is why we worked our inside out to be on this side of the house—that is, so we can actually be responsible with taxpayers' money, so we can ensure that the tough decisions do not have to be made over and over again. The people on the other side want to borrow, borrow, borrow from overseas to spend on things we cannot afford. In this budget we have tried to make the savings across the board and as fair as possible. The Australian public has realised that we all have to tighten our belts.

In relation to one of the issues that has been raised today about superannuation, financial advisers have told us, and have told me, that they advise people that they can put their superannuation into a rollover fund that they cannot get to and then go onto unemployment benefits or some form of mature age allowance. I do not think that is fair and cricket, especially when it is a large amount of money. Senator Newman pointed out that there are a large number of people who will not be affected by this.

Senator Chris Evans —It is 38,000.

Senator PATTERSON —That is not actually correct. That is what your shadow minister said. Let me just remind the people on the other side that people who have paid superannuation, those of us who have been able to have superannuation—and, let me say, there are a large number of people, women, who have been in and out of the work force and who do not have large amounts of superannuation—have not been able to benefit from the tax benefits of having superannuation.

Many, not all—and, I must admit, there are many people who have become unemployed at an older age—who have chosen to retire early are in fact double dipping. I do not believe that is fair. We have tried to ensure that this budget is as fair as possible. The Labor Party is running around with furphies indicating that people will have to draw down all their superannuation, that they will be left with nothing, and that is absolutely wrong. They are going out and frightening older people, or people over 55, by saying that that is the case. That is not the case.

Senator Newman has explained very clearly what will happen. If a person has been on income support for over nine months, of course this will take effect. Upon reaching age 55, the Superannuation Act says it will form part of their financial investments for the means test purpose after September 1997. If they are a married couple and own their own home, and if their only other income is from financial investments, they would need to have more than $78,000 invested to be affected under the income test. They would also need more than $176,000 in assets, other than their home, to be affected under the assets test.

It would seem to me that many people out in the community would say, `I think that is reasonable. If they have that level of assets, maybe they should be contributing in some way to their own support and not be calling on the taxpayer.' If you go across the country and look at all the demands that are being placed on taxpayers' funds, we have to agree that we have to take a fair share.

We have tried to protect those on low incomes and to actually look at those who have in fact had a tax benefit through the superannuation scheme. It is a fair system. To have the Labor people on the other side saying that people will have to deplete all their superannuation is a nonsense. It is a furphy. It is misleading the Australian public and scaring older people, which I find despicable.