David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer ) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the member for Bass for his question. I acknowledge his commitment to ensuring that we have a government that will deliver in the best interests of working people. The member asked a question about taxation reform and how the benefits of those reforms have been delivered to working Australians. This is a government that has a proud record of reform when it comes to taxation. In the time that we have been in office we have delivered $47 billion worth of personal income tax cuts. That means we are putting more money in the pockets of working people. For an individual on an income of $50,000 a year, these tax cuts mean that each week they are now paying $33 less in tax. That means more money for them to invest in their cost-of-living expenses to ensure that they can provide for their families.

As a government, we have managed to keep overall levels of taxation lower as a percentage of GDP than the levels they were at when we came into office. We have done this at the same time as delivering record investments in education, health and infrastructure. But there are many more things that we can do when it comes to taxation. The member for Bass asked what can be done. This is a government that is committed to delivering a mining tax that will spread the benefits of the resources boom to ensure that all Australians, regardless of where they live, will be able to obtain the benefits of this resources boom.

We on this side of the chamber want to give a tax cut to small business. Those opposite simply say no. We on this side of the chamber want to ensure that working Australians get an increase in their superannuation so that they can retire with a decent standard of living. They say no.

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