Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A letter has been received from Senator Hume:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion:

The Labor Government has lied to Australian taxpayers, killed reform of the tax system, trashed aspiration for millions of workers, and can't be trusted on negative gearing, capital gains tax, and the family home.

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clock in line with the informal arrangements made by the whips.

Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Only two weeks ago today, the Prime Minister performed a backflip worthy of the Kama Sutra. Two weeks and one day ago, he looked Australians in the eye and said, 'I have no plans to change the stage 3 tax cuts.' And then two weeks ago he changed his mind. This is despite the fact that he tells us that his word is his bond. Well, Australia found out on 25 January exactly what this Prime Minister's bond is worth, and that is exactly zero. The Prime Minister looked Australians in the eye and knowingly repeated mistruths, not once and not twice but over a hundred times since the last election.

He knowingly repeated those mistruths going into the election, but more importantly he knowingly repeated those mistruths after he had directed the Treasury to find a way to unwind the tax cuts that he had promised and that he had committed to delivering. At the cost-of-living committee on Monday we heard that the Prime Minister, via the Treasurer, actually instructed Treasury to undertake that work to revise the stage 3 tax cuts at the very same time as telling the public he had no intention of doing so. He didn't tell Treasury: 'My word is my bond, so please don't do this. Find another solution to the cost-of-living crisis that will not make me have to go back on a promise and that will not make me have to break a commitment—a commitment that I have made numerous times to the Australian people to convince them to vote for me.'

The Prime Minister was quite happy to work away at something that he had time and time again categorically ruled out doing. Indeed, he was happy to tell Australians, 'We are not reconsidering that position,' at the same time that he knew Treasury was working up those options. The Treasurer and the Prime Minister said 12 times after they had commissioned that work that they had not changed their position. These are the weasel words from this government. Perhaps the most charitable reading of this statement is that he wasn't at the time reconsidering his position because he'd already made up his mind. This is a man deeply comfortable with deceiving the Australian people, and this is a Labor government that is too weak to stand up to his captain's call to renege on that commitment, and that means they are all entirely complicit in the mistruth that has been told to the Australian public. He tried to tell Australians that they would be better off—at the same time, I might add, as banking, at the expense of the taxpayer, an additional $28 billion in bracket creep over the medium term.

This is clearly a political response from the government to a cost-of-living crisis that has been going on for nearly two years. It's obvious that the Prime Minister and the Treasurer are not serious about Australia's long-term economic prosperity. All they care about is the politics. This is not genuine tax reform, and long-term prosperity will suffer because of this. In the last two days, in a train-wreck interview on Monday night, the Treasurer confirmed that the government didn't want to wait until after the Dunkley by-election to announce the changes. What an amazing coincidence that is! And the Prime Minister just this morning was calling on the coalition to vote against his own bill. Tell me that this government is not playing politics with this. He cares about only the political wedge, the short-term tactics, and Australians can see through that politicking. The Prime Minister blatantly told a mistruth—through his teeth—to the Australian people, and now he's treating them like mugs.

The Albanese government spent all of last year distracted by a failed Voice referendum. Meanwhile, Australians are now thousands of dollars worse off, as a result of this government's economic mismanagement. Australians have seen their living standards collapse. Somebody on $100,000 a year has seen $8,000 of their disposable income disappear. And now he is buying their votes for $15 a week. But I'll tell you this: you can't buy integrity for $15 a week. People might pocket $15 a week and say 'thank you', but they'll never thank you for that lie.

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is indeed a very bizarre start to the year for the coalition. On one hand, we've been summoned to the chamber by Senator Hume's very important matter of public importance to debate a motion about our tax reforms which includes words like 'betrayal' and 'killing' and 'trashing'. On the other hand, we've been told today that those opposite are actually going to vote for our changes, that you're going to support our tax reforms.

So, the only important question before the chamber right now, Senator Hume, is: are you in the business of 'betrayal' and 'killing' and 'trashing', as per the words of your matter of alleged importance? Or is it the case that you now just accept that we have a better plan? Which is it? Are you in the business of betrayal? Or do you accept that we have a better tax reform plan—a better plan to provide cost-of-living relief to the Australians who need it right here, right now?

What seems to be going on right now is that those opposite want to have their cake and they want to eat it, too. They want to talk about voting now for our tax plan, at the same time as they come into the chamber and literally scream and shout about 'killing' and 'betrayal' and 'trashing'. I mean, which is it? Do you support the plan? Yes or no?

If you really think this plan is the end of the world, worthy of a matter of public importance, with hyperbole like this in it and with performances like this in the chamber, then vote against it. Have the courage of your convictions and vote against it. Vote against giving every Australian taxpayer a tax cut. Vote against a tax plan that will see 84 per cent of Australians better off than with what you put on offer. Vote against a tax cut of $1,500 for the average-income Australian. If you are so concerned about this, if you think it is so important, if you think that the right thing to do is to come into the chamber throwing around words like 'killing' and 'betrayal' and 'trashing', then have the courage of your convictions and vote against our plan.

But we know you're not going to vote against the plan, because you know it is actually good policy and you know the Australian people can see that it's good policy. It is exactly what Australians need right now. There is a cost-of-living challenge in this country right now, and we are focused on that while you are focused on playing politics. We are making sure Australians get money back into their pockets this year. That is what we are doing: 84 per cent of people will be better off; 100 per cent people will get a tax cut. This tax cut is really going to benefit lower- and middle-income Australia the most. And do you know who's in that category? A lot of women. There are a lot of women who are going to benefit from this policy.

We know that 95 per cent of teachers and nurses are going to benefit from this policy. We know that 97 per cent of aged-care workers, early childhood educators and disability workers are going to get a tax cut under our policy, because we care about this workforce. We care about low-paid and middle-income women workers and we want to make sure they not only can earn more under our government, as we get wages moving, but also can keep more of what they earn. These tax cuts are good for Australians. They are good for middle-income Australians. They are good for the women workers of this country. They are good for the young workers of this country. It is time that those opposite stop all of the hyperbole and all of the talk of 'killing' and 'trashing' and just say yes and explain to the Australian people that they support our plan because it is the right plan, because our plan actually supports the aspirations of Australians to have a better go. Our plan supports them with the cost-of-living challenge they face.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let's be really clear about why we are where we are in relation to the stage 3 tax cuts. We are where we are because the Labor Party was too weak to stand up to former Prime Minister Scott Morrison. We are where we are because the Labor Party voted for Mr Morrison's stage 3 tax cuts for the top end. The Labor Party voted to give $9,000 a year in tax breaks to some of the wealthiest Australians. So Mr Morrison's stage 3 cuts for the top end then became Labor's stage 3 tax cuts for the top end. Now Labor has come back to make these incredibly regressive stage 3 tax cuts that are currently legislated only because Labor voted for them slightly less bad.

But let's be clear about what Labor's proposal actually does. Under Labor's tax plan, the wealthiest 20 per cent of society, the highest income 20 per cent of society, will get 50 per cent of the tax cuts. The poorest 20 per cent of our society in Australia will get less than half a per cent of the tax cut. Labor's tax plan proposes to give politicians and CEOs an extra $4,500 a year in their pockets. That is $4,500 a year in the pockets of every single senator sitting in this place. That is Labor's tax plan. Labor's tax plan still sees the majority of the benefit go to men and a minority of the benefit go to women. What Labor should have done is use the money they could have saved by not giving these obscene tax breaks to the top end to improve social services in this country—for example, putting dental and mental health into Medicare.

This MPI also references negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts. In the next five years, property investors will get $200 billion in tax concessions from the government. That's $200 billion in tax concessions for property investors that will allow them to outbid Australians who are dreaming of owning their first home. It's a disgrace.

Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The central issue here is that, when you have a government which is solely focused upon the interests of just a few organisations—namely, trade unions and super funds—it means you run out of time to find solutions to the problems of today and today's economy. That is the main problem that the government and the country have. It's that there hasn't been sufficient time given to the interests of Australians.

After over 18 months of this government, this is the first economic policy the government has come up with, and it has done so on the back of a torrid year. This is a recalibration of a Liberal Party tax policy that the decision has been made to release now in light of the Dunkley by-election. So we are now driving the nation's income tax policy around preserving the job of one person in the House of Representatives to ensure that the government has some momentum. This is a short-term sugar hit which locks in bracket creep over the long term. This is really a hugely regrettable position for the country to be in—to have unwound a significant tax reform of the past decade. As has been lamented, the country has very low ambition when it comes to reform. People are afraid to put big ideas on the table, and one of the big ideas was having a tax system which was going to be simpler and which would reward aspiration. The reintroduction of a tax bracket is something that I would never have imagined I would see in my time here, but that is what we now have.

The reality is that, yes, for many Australians there will be a tax cut today, but tomorrow and every other year there'll be a tax increase. The reason I say that is that, even on the government's own modelling, they have admitted that they are reintroducing a tax bracket which was abolished. The government is reintroducing a tax bracket which was abolished by this parliament and which was voted for with good reason. As a result of reintroducing that tax bracket, the Treasury will receive an additional $28 billion. If Treasury is receiving an extra $28 billion, that is $28 billion of the people's money in higher taxes that the people are not able to spend on themselves. The central difference between the coalition and the Labor Party is that we understand that the government has no money of its own and that the money the government has is raised from the people. In this particular case, this is a long-term locking-in of a higher rate of income tax.

People should not be fooled about what this particular measure is going to do. Yes, it will provide a short-term sugar hit which is designed to improve the political fortunes of a flagging government with no other economic policies. But, in the long run, it will lock in a tax bracket which was abolished. What that means is that Australians will have to face a long future of doing an extra shift or doing an extra job and facing the prospect of being pushed into the 37c threshold. The 37c threshold does not exist today in Australian law as of 1 July. It will be reintroduced, which is an admission that the Labor Party was not able to address bracket creep in a sustainable way.

Ultimately, it is a very regrettable situation. It's a short-term sugar hit today to support Mr Albanese but a long-term problem the country has to face, which is that bracket creep will eat away at people's salaries and wages only because the government was so craven in breaking its own election commitment to save Mr Albanese's neck.

Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This motion is a desperate attempt from those opposite to distract from the fact that they know that this plan is a much better plan for every Australian taxpayer. What a rubbish motion! They didn't have a plan when Sussan Ley went on TV and said that they will roll these changes back, making 11.5 million Australians pay more tax. It's ironic that the coalition want to accuse us on this side of lies, when I clearly remember the national embarrassment that I and other Australians felt when the French President made global headlines for calling Scott Morrison a you-know-what. 'I don't think—I know' that those opposite can't be trusted to deliver for hardworking Australians, and Australians know that too. It's shameful that those opposite would rather play political games in this place instead of wanting to make a meaningful difference for Australians who are doing it tough right now in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.

From groceries to rent, prices are going up and families are feeling it. With expenses rising in every line of the household budget, I know that many Victorians are forced to cut back on essentials. The issue is one that spans all corners of our community, with young people and working women amongst the worst impacted. Unlike those opposite, this government wants to deliver targeted relief for Australians when they need it most. Here is what we are doing. From 1 July every Australian will get a tax cut. A barista earning $40,000 a year will get a tax cut of $654, compared to a big fat zero under Morrison's plan. A public school teacher on yearly earnings of $73,000 will get a tax cut of $1,504 under Labor's tax cuts. A hospital nurse on $80,000 each year will take home an extra $1,679 to help make ends meet. And a train driver with an annual salary of $110,000 will get a tax cut of $2,429 starting this July thanks to the Albanese Labor government. Labor's tax cuts will deliver bigger tax cuts for hardworking Australians to help with the cost of living. That means keeping more of what they earn.

Tackling cost of living is Labor's No. 1 priority. The No. 1 priority for those opposite is playing political games. A lot has happened in the five years since Scott Morrison's plan. Scott was so out of touch he failed to name the price of bread or milk. Australians have endured a once-in-100-years pandemic, flooding and natural disasters, supply chain challenges, wars and international conflicts, global oil production costs and higher interest rates. When economic conditions change, responsible governments change their economic policy. It is the grown-up thing to do.

As I listened to Victorians of diverse ages, incomes and backgrounds in my recent travels across my home state it became increasingly clear that Morrison's approach couldn't deliver for Victorians in regional and rural communities. From Maryborough to Yarrawonga Victorians are under pressure right now, and the right thing to do was to change our economic policy to support families from every single community. That is what we are doing. That's why our approach will provide bigger tax cuts for more people.

Labor's tax cuts will deliver for every Australian taxpayer. More than three million Victorians, or 86 per cent of taxpayers, will receive a bigger tax cut under Labor, compared to the Liberal National government's policy. Labor's tax cuts deliver a better deal for 11.5 million Australians. They provide broader cost-of-living relief to taxpayers, including those on lower and middle incomes: young people and Australian women, who are more vulnerable to cost pressures and who were left behind by the opposition.

Labor's tax cut is a part of our economic plan to put money back in the pockets of Australians, along with boosting wages, balancing the budget and driving fairer prices for consumers. Billions of dollars are going to families, including through cheaper child care, incentivising housing supply, energy bill relief and increases to income support payments. When Australians are feeling the pinch, they need and deserve a meaningful tax cut. These changes under the Albanese Labor government will deliver immediate cost-of-living relief up and down the income scale. Those opposite know this is a better plan and that's why they're voting for Labor's tax cuts.

Ralph Babet (Victoria, United Australia Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Prime Minister Albanese's broken promise over the stage 3 tax cuts was just the latest in a string of porky pies longer than Pinocchio's nose, in my opinion. Labor promised this: they promised more than 100 times not to make any changes to the stage 3 tax cuts—before they changed the stage 3 tax cuts. They promised we'd have a $275 power bill saving, only to see power bills go up by 18.2 per cent in just 15 months and gas go up by 28 per cent. They promised to lower interest rates, only to have 12 interest rate rises under their watch. They promised to lift wages, only for real wages in this country to go backwards, with disposable incomes falling by five per cent in 2022-23—the sharpest fall in any OECD country. They promised not to touch franking credits, only to go on to remove franking credits connected to capital raising and share buybacks. They promised not to make any changes to superannuation. Guess what? They went on to make changes to superannuation. Breaking promises is about the only thing that this government's good at—the only thing.

Time's almost up. I can't continue too much longer. But I could go on and on about broken promises. And, yet, Labor want to introduce a misinformation and disinformation bill that won't stop them but will stop the rest of us talking about it if Labor's 'ministry of truth' don't like it. It's bad enough that this Labor government has trashed the economy, undermined social cohesion and ruined the electricity grid. But, even worse, if that's even possible, is that it has destroyed trust and dismantled Australia's identity. Just for that, they should not be forgiven and they should be punished severely at the next election.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor conjures up a $16.70 increase in tax cuts to grab headlines before the Dunkley by-election, where it's worried about losing a government MP. Yet Labor knows bracket creep will soon increase taxes much more than the headline-grabbing cut. Understandably, to many people getting $16.70 back from the government that's a lot of money. Yet the same people will lose it, and much more very quickly, to bracket creep, a stealth tax. The Prime Minister deceptively grabs headlines. People cannot trust Prime Minister Albanese.

Labor conjures a $16.70 increase in tax cuts to grab headlines before the Dunkley by-election, where it's worried about losing a government MP. Yet Labor's petrol and diesel excise increase will soon increase fuel prices and inflation, offsetting the tax cuts. The Prime Minister deceptively grabs headlines. People cannot trust Prime Minister Albanese.

Labor conjures a $16.70 increase in tax cuts to grab headlines before the Dunkley by-election, where it's worried about losing a government MP. The petrol and diesel excise will filter through the food chain to raise grocery prices in every food store in the country, offsetting the tax cuts. The Prime Minister deceptively grabs headlines. People cannot trust Prime Minister Albanese.

Labor conjures a $16.70 increase in tax cuts to grab headlines before the Dunkley by-election, where it's worried about losing a government MP, yet Labor and Liberal energy policies are driving skyrocketing electricity prices that will soon bury the cuts. The Prime Minister deceptively grabs headlines. People cannot trust Prime Minister Albanese.

Labor conjures a $16.70 increase in tax cuts to grab headlines before the Dunkley by-election, where it's worried about losing a government MP, yet higher electricity costs are raising grocery prices that will soon bury the cuts. The Prime Minister deceptively grabs headlines. People cannot trust Prime Minister Albanese.

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, I thank Senator Hume for her matter of public importance and support it.

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This issue is not about what those opposite claim. At the heart of this is the issue of trust. Our democracy needs—it demands—that Australians can trust their Prime Minister. Leadership as Prime Minister means that people might not always like you and they might not always like your decisions, but true national leadership means that people can understand and can trust your decisions, big and small, are made on behalf of our nation.

There is no question that, this week, the Labor government have betrayed Australian taxpayers, they have killed reform of the tax system and they have trashed the aspirations of millions of hardworking Australians. They also can't be trusted anymore on negative gearing, capital gains tax and the family home—all of those other things they have promised not to touch. As Senator Babet has just gone through, they have already broken so many promises, but this is the biggest and the worst yet.

The Prime Minister promised 100 times that they would not do what they have done in relation to the stage 3 tax cuts. He said, 'My word is my bond.' But his bond is no longer his word, and he no longer deserves the trust of the Australian people. The Albanese Labor government have misled and betrayed the Australian people, and they know he cannot be trusted again. That is a sad, sad thing for our democracy.

As Liberals, we are the party of lower taxes. It is in our DNA that all Australians who are aspirational and work so hard to realise their aspirations for themselves, for their own lives, and for their families should keep more of what they work so hard to deliver. Many of these hardworking Australians are in my own home state of Western Australia, and they are FIFO workers. FIFO workers work so hard. They make so many sacrifices in their lives to earn money, to meet their own aspirations and, as they get a family, to meet the aspirations of their family as well. Labor is crushing the aspirations of hundreds of thousands of FIFO workers—the majority of them probably in my home state—and it is a disgrace. The real issue here is that Prime Minister no longer deserves or gets the trust of the Australian people. (Time expired)

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for this discussion has expired.