Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will not be opposing the measures in this bill, which go to farm management deposit accounts and the repayment of overpaid GST. But it is vital that we see this bill in the context of the broader picture of taxation reform, or lack thereof, and last night's budget. I want to do this by commencing with a few stories.

Patrick Cerato is a young man who lives in a supported residential home after suffering the effects of a brain tumour discovered at the age of 21. His parents have said:

There is no guarantee there's going to be a disability pension when our guys grow up. It was a constant worry about how we were going to finance their future.

Paul Midson is a 48-year-old builder's labourer. He has worked for 20 years as a builder's labourer, at least 60 hours a week and often longer. He has developed crook knees and shoulders from the manual labour and he has had numerous operations on his knees. Paul says:

I reckon I will be lucky to last [in work] to 60.

Imagine how Paul feels being told that he might not get the pension until age 70.

Alan Blevin, a 47-year-old crane operator, says:

My left knee is already giving in because I'm bending down, loading gear from trucks and guiding cranes all day. But I can't afford to just stop. I have to keep paying the rent and bills.

Asked about working till age 70, he says:

It's unthinkable … There is no chance I will be able to work till I am 70.

Dr Soo Koan, who has a three-year-old daughter and a 19-month-old daughter, says, 'I think that everyone should be entitled to health care, and not have to worry about choosing between a doctor's visit and dinner for the kids.' Asked about a GP co-payment, Dr Koan says, 'I would stop and think about it'—that is, going to a doctor—'a lot more.'

I should mention that when I was at university, GP co-payments were something I thought were worth considering. But I have changed my view on this since university—in fact, I would be surprised if there is a member of the House who has not changed their mind on a matter since university—and I have done so by looking at the evidence: by speaking to GPs, to people with chronic disease and to bodies like the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, who have today come out opposing GP co-payments because of the concern that we will end up with more people in emergency rooms, and add to total health spending rather than reduce it.

I mentioned yesterday the broad context in which this budget is being delivered: that of a rise in inequality unprecedented in Australia for over 75 years. We have seen an increase in the top one per cent share, which has doubled; and the top 0.1 per cent share, which has tripled. CEOs' salaries have gone up twice as fast as average wages, and three times as fast as the minimum wage—and yet the CEO-dominated Commission of Audit thinks the wages problem in Australia is with the minimum wage. That, after a generation when the wages of the top 10 per cent have grown three times as fast as the wages of the bottom 10 per cent; a situation where the combined wealth of the richest three people in Australia is now more than that of the bottom one million people. Deputy Speaker, this is a budget which hits the unemployed—which takes away supports from unemployed people, including those with disabilities. It takes away support from students—

See this speech in context