Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In this most unscary scare campaign it is remarkable that the Labor Party is even thinking that Christmas is going to be cancelled. I do not know where the Grinch is but it must be every single one of those members on the other side. They are all about scare and bluster. You know they have nothing when they have to go to the point of saying Christmas is going to be cancelled. That is absolutely ridiculous. Every single member on this side knows that is ridiculous. Today we are talking about a very important issue. It is a genuine debate about our tax system. The Australian tax system has to be one of the most complicated internationally. Our companies compete internationally and bring business to Australia, and dealing with a very convoluted and complicated tax system hinders their ability to do business here in our country. We need an efficient tax system; we need a tax system that helps the Australian economy. Responsibly, we on this side want to debate this. We want to discuss how our tax system needs to be for the future. We would all like to see an efficient tax system that is going to help grow and boost the Australian economy. But, no, those on the other side do not want to have a productive conversation about tax—they just want to cancel Christmas. That is all they want to do.

Nobody likes to increase taxes, but the whole policy agenda of those on the other side is about increasing taxes. Labor want to bring back the carbon tax and supercharge it—this would again cost jobs. Labor want to bring back the mining tax, which will drive away investment and also cost jobs. Labor also want a multinationals tax—a tax policy that the Treasurer has said will cost jobs if ever it is implemented. Labor also want to rely on an old-style cigarette tax. Labor should release the costings on these things—if it is a health measure, what is the impact on the reduction in the number of smokers? Labor has even had secret modelling done on the GST. It is not like they have not been down this alley themselves to look at what it would all mean. Labor reviewed the tax system when they were in government—the Henry review. If you are going to have a full taxation review, all taxes should be on the table—the entire system should be on the table. But, no, they just omitted a few and at the end they cherry-picked new taxes they should add rather than providing proper, real reform to our taxation system.

I would ask Labor to come clean and reveal how they plan to raise the money to help our budget. They have no plans for these things—they have no plan at all. Even in my area they talk about infrastructure investment that they have no plans for—they do not even know where projects would go. For instance, we are building a plan for the south-west rail links that would come through from Leppington, through Lindsay and out to the north-west sector. We are having a comprehensive review of where these rail lines will go, what they need to cost and what the corridors will be. But, no, Labor do not have plans—they just go off, announce policy, shoot from the hip and have no idea where they are going. Then they apply more random taxes everywhere, not even thinking about how this is going to affect the efficiency of our taxation system.

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