House debates

Thursday, 11 May 2017

Matters of Public Importance

Budget

3:35 pm

Photo of Angus TaylorAngus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation) Share this | Hansard source

As the member for Hunter, who is just leaving here now, knows well, I grew up in a small country town not far from here. Like most kids, we talked at school often about what was fair and what was not. We would talk about having a fair go, a fair crack of the whip, but not once—not once—did that mean taking the fastest runner and making them run slower. Not once did that mean taking the smartest kid and forcing them to play dumb. Not once did that mean taking the richest kid and taking away their money. No, it meant simply giving everyone a fair go. In fact, as one of the most revered leaders on the other side of the House in recent years once said, it is about giving them a fair suck of the sauce bottle so that everyone has their opportunity to be the best.

It turns out that Labor used to think that giving everyone a fair go was the right thing to do. Hawke and Keating believed that tax cuts—almost halving the company tax—were about giving Australians a fair go. More recently, exactly three years ago today—it was exactly three years ago today—

Mr Watts interjecting

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