Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Increasing the GST is lazy tax policy. I guess we should not expect anything different from this government of lazy policy ideas, which it drops out every now and then, just to test the water. We know that increasing the GST will hit those on the lowest income the hardest. They are the ones who spend most of their income on goods and services—that is just the reality. This government is attacking those on the lowest incomes yet again. Roughly 30 per cent of the households in Bendigo survive on $600 a week, which is barely enough to pay the bills and to pay the rent. Now this government is saying that they have to pay even more. These are pensioners who are living week to week and day to day. They say to me, 'How's the government going to compensate me when I don't pay tax?'

This government needs to come clean and tell the truth. How are you going to compensate people who do not pay tax? One thing that people in Bendigo know too well is, if Malcolm Turnbull is elected in 2016, this will be the last Christmas they can afford. Nothing is safe when it comes to Christmas—15 per cent on the ham, 15 per cent on the Aussie prawns. Even the special luxury of potatoes cooked in duck fat is not going to be safe under this Prime Minister. He is spoiling the opportunity for so many of those on small incomes to get ahead. This Prime Minister does not care and does not understand.