Senator STERLE (Western Australia) (16:51): As we enter into the final stages of our sitting week—and you can hear all the suitcases rolling down the hallway. I'm not pointing to anyone in particular, who will be back on Monday and making a lot of noise while they are here. But it's getting closer to aeroplane time, and they're long gone after question time. I couldn't let that one slip! We're still here. There are some times when you get a motion and you think, 'We can do all the theatrics and we can do all the hand movements and we can make all the jokes.' But then there are times when you actually have to clarify the record and put a few home truths on the table. I'm going to put a few home truths on the table. I know this order was presented back on 9 March, as Senator Duniam did say, by Senator Ruston. I know how it works: they all get together on tactics, and someone says, 'Here's a great idea; let's run on this.' Then some poor bunny has to put their name to it. I've seen it all in opposition before. I get that. That's fine. It's no slight against Senator Ruston at all. But the motion does reference superannuation. It references medicines and it references Medicare as well. I just think, while all the frivolity is going on, let's just tell some truth, shall we? Rather than just try and waste a bit of time on a Thursday arvo while our mates are at the airport having a gin and tonic or something and while we're still here working. The opposition, seriously, have got more front than Myers when they come in here and start lecturing the Australian Labor Party on the values of superannuation. I mean, I love this, I have to say. There are some in your ranks, seriously, that believe that superannuation shouldn't even exist. We know who they are. You know who they are. We've seen the language. We've seen some of the terrible, toxic wording around superannuation and what they think about it. But let's talk about change, shall we? Let's have a go at this. I want to quote an article by Peter Hartcher. It was titled, 'Labor's on a roll. No wonder the Libs are flat out'. This was from March of this year, where he pointed out, 'The Liberals'—not even they want to acknowledge the other mob who aren't in the room here, because they've got the hayseed in the suitcase out after question time and are gone too, but don't forget the Nats; they're in a coalition. But everyone likes to put on the Libs because they spend more time blueing with each other, but— The Liberals' changes to super in 2016 were much broader. This week's decision— And this is referring to March of this year. … marked the Labor government as being cautious and incremental. Even responsible. The point of the change was to save $2 billion a year to help repair the yawning deficit left behind by the Liberals. That's from Mr Hartcher. It can't be any clearer than that. Seriously, for those out there listening, we're still fixing up the mess that you left behind for us. We had a decade of waste and mismanagement—or nearly a decade; thank God we were a couple of months short of it! There were nearly ten years of waste and mismanagement. Again, the opposition has the gall to come in and lecture us about alleged 'broken promises'. Everyone knows that the Liberals have always hated superannuation. We know that. the Canberra Times published a story in November 2019, with the headline: 'Lib Senator says superannuation a cancer'. That is what it says. I know who the senator was. He isn't here at the moment. He's probably between here, the airport and his home town in Queensland. I'm not going to name Senator Rennick! He'll work it out for himself. But we've got a fair idea who it is. Now, the Sydney Morning Herald— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Hughes ): Senator Sterle, you're getting very close to disparaging senators when they're not here, so— Senator STERLE: Chair, with the greatest respect? I'll send you an email, Senator Rennick! Seriously, Chair, come on. Disparaging? That is what he said, in the paper. I'll give you a copy of it. Anyway, let's move on shall we? The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Sterle, please withdraw. Senator STERLE: Withdraw what? The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: There was a reference to me, as well. Senator STERLE: Look, seriously. If the glass jaw is that fragile, I'll withdraw. Okay, let's move— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Sterle, you do not then disparage further. You withdraw and— Senator STERLE: Okay. I withdraw! I withdraw! I withdraw! It's withdrawn. It's gone. I'll stop telling the truth. No I won't! And speaking of the former Liberal government, the Guardian in 2019 stated that 'this reckless government'—that's your mob over there—'are determined to damage superannuation'. More recently, we saw calls from former government MPs to bench their own legislative timetable to increase the superannuation guarantee charge from 9.5 per cent to 12 per cent by 2024. I'm not making this up. It's all there for everyone to see. Then came the calls led by—you will remember—former Liberal MP Tim Wilson to allow people to raid their super for a housing deposit, the result of which would have seen a soaring price bubble in the market. Then came the pandemic, and the government's shocking decision to allow workers facing economic hardship to pilfer their super savings to survive the recession. Richard Wood, a senior journalist with Nine News, reported in an article published on 16 March that more than 2.6 million Australians drained their superannuation accounts at the height of the pandemic, with, unfortunately some spending the money on takeaway food, gambling and buying furniture. The Brisbane Times reported that a study released in March showed that people during the health emergency accessed $38 billion under the former Morrison government's early release stimulus program. The study said that those people who use the scheme have deprived themselves of $120,000 in retirement savings. The then Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, talked up the policy, saying it was 'the people's money, and this is the time they need it most.' Researchers from the Australian National University and George Washington University and Harvard University in the US looked at what people spent their super money on and the occupations of those who used the scheme. They found the accounts of up to one-quarter of applicants were emptied within days of the scheme's launch. From those who accessed the early super scheme, 75 per cent withdrew the maximum $10,000 available to them. Gambling, they say, was one of the biggest expenditures for the withdrawn money. Sadly, they said it was with an average spend per person of $293—that's the average spend per person. They are quite alarming numbers. Spending included furniture and office equipment, supermarkets, restaurant or takeaway meals, and at department stores. The researchers warned accessing and spending super money had a huge impact on retirement nest eggs, and we can understand that is the case. People who used the scheme slashed their super balance by an average of 51 per cent. Let's talk about medicines and about urgent care clinics. I want to turn to what the government is doing to deliver cheaper medicines, increased bulk-billing and our election commitment on urgent care clinics. Don't believe any of the misinformation and scare campaigns pushed out by those opposite. The government has already delivered major changes that are bringing down the price of medicines. In July last year, we delivered a 25 per cent cut to the safety net, which has reduced the cost of medicines for pensioners. In September last year, we cut the price of 2,000 brands of medicines, which has put $130 million into the pockets of hard-working Australians—$130 million! On 1 July this year, we delivered the biggest cut to the price of medicines in the 75-year history of the PBS—yes, the biggest cut ever. Starting on 1 September this year, Australians with a chronic health condition—sadly, there are too many—will benefit when 100 common medicines listed on the PBS will shift to 60-day dispensing. This will be the first phase of changing the prescription dispensing arrangements for 300 commonly used medicines. This change will deliver cheaper medicines for patients and make it easier for people to get an appointment with their local GP. Every year, nearly a million Australians are forced to delay taking go without medicines that they need for their health—think about that. The shift to 60-day dispensing for many of the medicines needed to treat chronic conditions will halve the cost of those medicines for millions of Australians, importantly, including our pensioners. Labor proudly took a commitment to deliver 50 urgent care clinics to the last election. I have good news for everybody: the May budget contained funding to deliver not 50 but 58 urgent care clinics. Not only are we delivering on our promises and election commitments but we are over-delivering. Sixteen of these clinics are already up and running. They are in Albury, Wentworthville, Randwick, Wollongong, Launceston, Sunbury, Shepparton, Geelong, Heidelberg, Ballarat, Werribee, Narre Warren, Prahran, Frankston, Perth City and Rockingham. The urgent care clinics are essential to delivering the care that people need when they need it. Urgent care clinics will be bulk-billed, operate seven days a week for extended hours and are there to treat non-life-threatening emergencies. How good is that? Labor's cheaper medicines and urgent care clinics are already making a real difference. These significant changes, along with the indexation of Medicare, the tripling of bulk-billing from November and the strengthening Medicare grants will be a real shot in the arm for general practice, which, as we all know, is the backbone of our health system. Concession cardholders will continue to be bulk-billed, medicines will be cheaper, and Australians will be able to get emergency health care they need and, guess what? It will be bulk-billed. These are all proudly brought to you by the Albanese Labor government.