Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank those members who have made a contribution to this debate on the Tax Laws Amendment (Personal Income Tax Reduction) Bill 2007 and I would like to respond directly to some of the comments by the member for Denison. What his comments say most about him is that he is a failed Labor minister from the Keating period. He has displayed all the virtues of Mr Keating today. He is completely removed from the common people within his electorate and this country. He likes to grandstand, generally with the same debate, and he comes into successive speeches with the same talking points. He is stuck in the past, and he is displaying all the arrogance of many of those opposite at the moment, who believe that the Australian people are going to surf them into victory at the coming election. This government has never taken the Australian people for granted. We have listened to the Australian people and we will continue to listen to the Australian people. We will not, though, take advice from people who were born of the Keating era, who have nothing to contribute to modern Australia and who would be a return to the past were they ever to be elected again to ministerial positions in this place.

The opposition has made some contributions in relation to this debate which should be praised, but there are many contributions that cannot be praised because they are factually incorrect, misleading and an affront to the facts that are relevant to the debate before the House at the moment. The Labor Party in government delivered to small businesses and to a whole range of Australian people who were trying to make a go of it in the Australian economy a regime of high interest rates and high government debt and of saying to the Australian people that they were incapable of managing the Australian economy—and nothing in the last 11 years they have been in opposition would demonstrate anything other than that. The reality for the Labor Party today is that they do represent the past. They want to return to domination by the union elite in this country, and that is a great threat to the Australian people.

The government have been able to introduce these tax cuts because we have managed the economy well. We have not been dictated to by union leadership. We are not like the Labor Party, which is 70 or 80 per cent made up of ex-union bosses, ex-union hacks. When you consider that they would be sitting around a cabinet table making economic decisions, it is unrealistic to expect anything other than what they delivered when they were last in government—that is, bad outcomes for Australian families and bad outcomes for Australian business.

The measures contained in this bill provide personal income tax cuts of $31½ billion over four years, as announced in the 2007-08 budget. These tax cuts will increase disposable incomes for all Australian taxpayers and will provide further incentives for individuals, including part-time workers, to participate in the workforce. These changes build on the substantial reform delivered in previous budgets and will further enhance Australia’s international competitiveness. From 1 July this year, the 30 per cent marginal tax rate threshold is to be increased from $25,001 to $30,001. The low-income tax offset is to be increased from $600 to $750 from 1 July 2007. It will begin to phase out at the start of the new 30 per cent threshold of $30,001 and those eligible for the full low-income tax offset will not pay tax until their annual income exceeds $11,000.

From 1 July 2007, senior Australians eligible for the senior Australians tax offset will not pay tax on their annual income up to $25,867 for singles and up to $43,360 for couples, depending on their income split. The increase in the 30 per cent threshold and the low-income tax offset will provide more incentive for those outside the workforce to re-enter it and those in part-time work to take on additional hours. From 1 July 2008, the threshold for the 40 per cent rate will rise from $75,001 to $80,001 and the threshold for the 45 per cent rate will rise from $150,001 to $180,001. In 2008-09, taxpayers will not reach the highest marginal tax rate until they earn more than 3½ times average weekly earnings. Increasing the top threshold will improve the competitiveness of Australia’s tax system. In percentage terms, the greatest tax cuts have once again been provided to low-income earners. More than 80 per cent of taxpayers face a marginal tax rate of only 30 per cent or less over the next four years.

As my contribution to this debate, I say that to change the government in this country at the moment would be forever to change the face of the economy. We cannot take for granted the gains that we have been able to lock in over the last 11 years. The Labor Party still stand, as they did when last in government, as the greatest threat to future prosperity not just for the Australian economy. When we talk about the economy, we talk about the benefits flowing to Australian families. We talk about the capacity of managing the Australian economy resulting in being able to give more back to Australian families. We talk about giving more back to small businesses. We talk about generating an environment where more people can go into employment, where more people can enjoy the gains that the management of a strong economy brings. At the moment we have a very stark contrast between the opposition and the coalition government, who have delivered well over the last 11 years and want to continue to manage the economy well, to provide support to families and to small businesses, and to create an atmosphere of continued economic growth so that we can return more dividends to Australian families and to Australian small business. On the other hand, the Labor Party want to return management of the Australian economy back to union bosses. That is why they are bringing more union bosses into parliament, which will increase representation in the parliamentary Labor Party to about 80 per cent of those people who, in government, would sit around a cabinet table making decisions about the economy which would be in the best interests of unions and union bosses, not in the interests of workers, Australian families or Australian small business. That is something we need to consider as part of this debate before the parliament on this very day. I thank all members who have contributed to this debate. I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

See this speech in context