Senator FURNER (Queensland) (15:29): I also rise today to contribute to answers provided by Senator Conroy in today's question time. What surprises me a little bit is where the opposition are going. They started the week claiming that they were going to be the alternative government, and they were going to step out of the dark as the opposition and all of a sudden become this alternative government. But not once have we heard anything from them during question time on policy. What we have heard today, and consistently throughout this week, is attacks on scurrilous claims against Senator Conroy about some involvement of a previous minister through the New South Wales government about some chalet he owned. There is nothing in it, yet they come along here with these scurrilous gutter-raking claims that there was something involved in that. I put it to the opposition to start acting like an alternative government. Do not come in here and produce this nonsense. Let us get over this fact about the carbon price. The carbon price does not even get a mention out there in voter land. Go out there and talk to people about it, like I do, and you will find that people do not even mention it, because it has no impact. It has not had any impact whatsoever. People are still buying their legs of lamb, and they are not having to pay $100 like the coalition indicated. A $100 leg of lamb—where do you really come from when you come up with those scare campaigns about the effects of the carbon price? No wonder people do not believe your leader when they are coming up with this sort of nonsense. Once again, come up with some policy. Today, have you heard the grandstand policy? The 'Tony troppo tax' and we are going to shift all the people out from South Australia, Victoria, Brisbane and New South Wales, and put them up in northern Australia: Karratha, Cairns, Townsville, up in Darwin. The 'Tony troppo tax'. This is your policy. When challenged today in question time by Senator Carr, you stepped back from it and said: 'No, that has got nothing to do with us. We never suggested that'. Unbelievable. One of the other questions provided today was on superannuation. I stand proud, as a previous union official and a union secretary, of course, that we were part of a government— Senator Boyce: You wouldn't be here if you hadn't been in the union. Senator FURNER: That is irrelevant, Senator Boyce. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Ignore the interjections. Senator FURNER: We know where you are going after this Senate, anyhow. As a union official, I was very proud to see the introduction of compulsory superannuation contributions, to see workers have an entitlement starting at three per cent, and now those low-income workers—and everyone in the workforce—are receiving nine per cent. Our program to lift that to 12 per cent is an excellent sign of where we as a Labor government see the need for investment, the need for creation of wealth and the need for people to be sustainable with some dignity when they retire. I think people should take note of the fact that the Labor government is the only government that has been the backbone of workers in this country to assist them through the life of their retirement. We know where the member for Warringah, Mr Tony Abbott, stands on this. He should really explain to the Australian people that he wants to increase taxes on superannuation for low-income earners by nearly $1 billion a year to fill that $70 billion black hole that has been created. It has certainly been announced by Mr Abbott on breakfast radio as well. Unfortunately, it is just another example of what we will be up for if we end up in a situation where we have a coalition government in this place. We see examples of that in Queensland—and I know Senator Boyce will support me here—where we are seeing over 14,000 public servants and ancillary staff sacked by a Liberal National Party government in Queensland. Senator Boyce: How much did you cut out of the Queensland Health budget? The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order on my left! Senator FURNER: This is just another example of how they will treat public servants, trying to get them up in northern Australia. They do not take any consideration when it comes to workers in our country. They do not take into consideration any matters of importance like superannuation. We know where we stand for entitlements, we know where we stand for obligations and the rights of genuine working people in this country.