Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Materiel) Share this | Hansard source

For people living in Victoria who are contemplating their vote on the weekend, that is the Liberal Party’s policy when it comes to the cost of living: turn the air conditioner off. There are no policies except increasing taxes through their own paid parental leave scheme, refusing to support a tax cut for small business and talking about getting rid of unfair dismissal laws. No wonder it is a party that is not supported by the general public.

We also hear a return to the debate of the flat tax. The last person to come in here and talk about flat tax was Pauline Hanson. It is no wonder we talk about economic Hansonism when we have a return of the debate about a flat tax, which would mean that the average income earner would earn $500 less a year and people like us would get an extra $4,000 a year in our pocket. So, if you are a politician, if you are earning our income, the cost of living might be easier under a flat tax regime but I tell you what: it will not be for the 60 per cent of Australians that it would affect. It would mean less money in their pockets. When you are talking about the cost of living, it is not only how much things cost but how much you can pay. How much is in your pocket can be a lot less if there is a flat tax regime. It means that you get less money, less take-home pay—a lot less if we were to return to a system like WorkChoices, when more than a million Australians earned up to $4½ thousand less as a result of those changes.

Through the contribution of the member for North Sydney, the Liberal Party have shown that they have no credibility and no argument when it comes to the cost of living—more importantly, they have shown that it is the Liberal Party that have lost their way. To be frank, the Liberal Party lost their way a long time ago. If Menzies were alive today he would not recognise the modern Liberal Party. Menzies would not have voted against tax cuts for small business. Menzies would not have voted against tax cuts for the forgotten people. But the Liberal Party intend next year to vote against tax cuts for small business. Menzies would not have taxed Australian business with a paid parental leave scheme, as this Liberal Party want to do. Menzies would not have voted against the National Broadband Network. How do we know this? When the biggest nation-building project of Menzies’ era came about, the Snowy Mountains Scheme, what did Menzies do? Menzies criticised it. He argued about it, he asked lots of questions and, at the end of the day, Menzies voted for it. He acted in the national interest. The same cannot be said of his successors. The Liberal Party look more like the Australian branch of the Tea Party. You have the Tetley branch in the Liberal Party and the National Party is the Bushells faction of the Tea Party, and the Leader of the Opposition is more like Sarah Palin than he is like Robert Menzies.

As the parliament comes to an end in 2010, the Liberal Party has become a party of the extreme Right, with no ideas and no solutions when it comes to the cost of living. They just have jokes—13 minutes of jokes. Their only agenda is to attack everything and destroy. Given the great challenges that this country faces the people—(Time expired)

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