Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What a week it has been. We have heard government members in this chamber wanting a pat on the back for delivering a so-called fair budget. Let's listen to the warped and twisted definition of what fairness is under a Liberal-National party government. The definition of fairness when you are a Liberal or National federal member is that you deliver a tax cut of $16,400 to a millionaire. But does a family or worker in my electorate earning $65,000 a year get a tax cut? No, they get a tax increase of $325 per year. This is the new parallel universe that this government wants my community and every other working family in Australia to live in. Millionaires get a tax cut of $16,400; working people get a tax increase.

I am not having any more nonsense from those opposite talking about the 'low-tax party' or the 'low-spend party'. They are a high-taxing party. The highest amount of tax that Australia has ever paid will be under this government. I will say that again: the highest amount of tax that Australians have ever paid in the history of the Commonwealth will be under this government. The highest amount of debt that Australia will ever face will be under this government. In four years, has debt been cut? Has it been reduced?

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:07 to 12:20

Let's look at the top-line figures of this unfair budget. We know that growth is down, wages growth is down and unemployment is up. There are 95,000 fewer jobs forecast in this year's budget—so much for jobs and growth. All of those members opposite, trained and programmed through the IPA, will have to go back out to their branches across Australia and explain that this is the highest-taxing government Australia will ever face. Gross debt will now pass half a trillion dollars in the coming months—$20,000 for each Australian man, woman and child. Gross debt will hit $725 billion in 10 years and keep growing. The deficit is 10 times bigger than was predicted in the Liberals' first budget for the coming year. This deficit has tripled under the Liberals' first budget. I do not want any more lectures from those opposite about preferred economic management. Net debt has blown out by more than $100 billion since the Liberals came to government, and will be at record levels for three more years. It is little wonder that the former Prime Minister, the member for Warringah, said he gave the budget 'the applause it deserved'—let alone what Prime Minister John Howard and former Treasurer Peter Costello said. Division within the Liberal Party continues just because they know that, under this Prime Minister and Treasurer, debt has completely careered out of control.

While they are doing this, the community are missing out. They are paying higher taxes. But there is some relief for some of the community—millionaires get a tax cut and large corporations and multinationals get a $50 billion tax handout. We on this side of the chamber know that the budget fails the jobs test and the Medicare test. The Prime Minister has chosen big business over middle- and working-class families. He has chosen multinationals over Medicare. As a result, we will see millionaires getting a tax cut but working families in my electorate paying higher taxes. Under this government, every working person in Australia will pay higher taxes.

The list of cuts to health and education has been placed on the record. Labor will continue to oppose these cuts that this government is putting on the table. Schools in my own community in the southwest of Brisbane do an amazing job—particularly parish Catholic schools such as St Mark's in Inala, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Darra, Good Shepherd and also St Augustine's College up at Augustine Heights. I know how hard these schools work. This government has walked away from Catholic schools in our community. We will stand by education in Australia. (Time expired)

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