Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate because what we saw in the last fortnight, in almost complete contrast to a lot of the public debate that has gone on over the last nine months, was the Australian government, the capital and many of those who comment on it focusing on the core issues at the centre of Commonwealth government—that is, economic management and the importance of the system of taxation to economic management, and I for one welcomed the opportunity to be involved in those discussions.

The tax forum was able to have a mature debate around some of the long-term challenges that we face in our tax system. Our system of tax is not only the means by which we raise revenue for the important government services and programs that Australians elect Australian governments to deliver but also an important way of regulating behaviour. We have seen that in the area of smoking and energy use, but we also see that in this government's determination to ensure that our tax system creates incentives to work and incentives to generate wealth through business. I am very pleased to be part of a government which has had tax reform at the heart of its agenda. Since the start of 2010, the government has announced over 32 reforms that deliver on directions that have been identified in the Henry review of taxation, including ensuring that we as a nation get a better return on our non-renewable resources through the minerals resource rent tax; providing cuts in business taxation to help struggling firms with a company tax and a $1 billion tax break for small businesses; preparing for the challenges of an ageing population, principally by boosting superannuation but also by putting in place record increases to our pension system; and, finally, by promoting participation through increasing the tax-free threshold, initially from $6,000 to $18,200—although at the conclusion of the tax summit the Treasurer indicated a clear intention from this government to further increase the tax-free threshold to $21,000.

That issue alone is one that will have an enormous benefit for the workers within my electorate because, on my analysis, there are over 49,000 people who have an annual income of less than $21,000, and the increase in the tax-free threshold from $6½ thousand to $18½ thousand and then further to $21,000 quite simply means more money in their pockets, so it is an incredibly important reform for us and one that we surely welcome. It adds to the three rounds of personal income tax cuts worth over $47 billion that we have already been able to deliver in our first three budgets. Quite simply, this means that people have more money in their pockets to assist them to put their kids through school, put food on the table, pay the rent or the mortgage and deal with cost-of-living pressures.

If there is one threat to all of this, it is the threat presented by those opposite in their plan to recklessly roll back the Clean Energy Future legislation, which has included within it a record increase in the low-income tax threshold. As I said earlier, there are over 49,000 people in my electorate who will avail themselves of this, and what those opposite are proposing is a direct hit to their livelihoods and it should be rejected with great vigour. I welcome the opportunity to have made a brief contribution to this debate.

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