Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise yet again to speak in opposition to this government's unfair plan to increase the GST. As I keep saying in this House and also in my electorate, National Party choices hurt. In regional and rural areas, one of the National Party's cruellest and most unfair choices is their plan to increase the GST to 15 per cent. I have made it very clear to my constituents in Richmond that I will keep fighting very hard against the Prime Minister and the National Party's very unfair plan to increase the GST, because under their plan everybody will pay more.

An increase in the GST will raise the price of everything, and the fact is families and pensioners are already struggling so much with the cost of living. They are already struggling to get by and an increase in the GST means all their bills will go up—their electricity bills, their rent and their grocery bills, including fresh food. It will cost more every time they go to the supermarket. It will cost more every time they go to the doctor and every time they go to the hospital. It will cost more every time their kids need new schoolbooks or new uniforms.

That is why Labor will not support this government's plan to raise the GST: because it will push up the price of everything and hurt those very people who can least afford it. For this reason, we will continue to fight hard against the government's unfair plan to increase it. As I said, in regional and rural areas, people know National Party choices hurt—especially their plan to increase the GST to 15 per cent.