Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Let me tackle the issues that the Leader of the Opposition raises absolutely head-on. Yes, there is a temporary deficit levy. No-one likes it. I certainly do not like it. But it will impact on just three per cent of taxpayers. We are indexing fuel excise. Again, it is not something that people would necessarily like, but the fact is the money is hypothecated to extra road spending, and that will cost the average family 40 cents a week in the first year.

The decisions that this government has made since September last year reduce the overall tax burden by $5.7 billion. There is all this huffing and puffing from members opposite about broken promises and about lower taxes. Well, let us keep the promise to get rid of the carbon tax because that would save every single Australian family $550 a year. This is a government which does not just talk about lowering taxes; this is a government which is lowering taxes—and it delivered that last night.

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