Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise to speak on the Labor 2013-14 Budget Savings (Measures No. 1) Bill 2014, in the resumed debate on the second reading. Never have I seen such hypocrisy as that displayed by those opposite. Despite the fact that they have no policy ideas—in their 'year of big ideas'—of their own, they stand in this place and vote against the government's policy measures that are based on a sound economic framework. And, worse yet, they vote against their own policies, as we have seen with the current bill before the House.

The Australian people would be confused by this, and may even take the next step of asking those opposite, 'Why?' Of course, the only answer that a person would get is a fumbling response by the opposition leader, such as maybe asking for a hot pie, when the reality is that, like the opposition leader, the entire Labor caucus has no sound policy reasons for opposing this bill. They are simply opposing it because it is the coalition government that has now introduced it. Like the average person, I would therefore say to those opposite: 'What are your policies? What do you stand for? And where is your leadership?' I am sure the people of Australia would not be surprised to hear that they have no answer.

Not only did those opposite fail to implement economically sound policies but they created a massive budget deficit that every single Australian taxpayer is now being forced to pay back. Now, instead of helping the government to implement our budget savings agenda—which, I should also remind those opposite, we actually have a mandate for—they have attempted to block us at every turn. Again, people may ask, 'Why?' And the answer is that apparently those opposite like debt, they like economic mismanagement, and they like to see every Australian suffer because they refuse to get their own act together.

Like any person, I would say, 'It's time those opposite started to act like adults, stopped their mindless negativity and looked at the legislation for what it is.' It is a sound policy to remove a tax concession that no longer applies, and a policy that will save this government, and, therefore, all taxpayers, about $2.8 billion over the current forward estimates period.

The Labor 2013-14 Budget Savings (Measures No.1) Bill 2014—which I must say the Treasurer very aptly named—seeks to give those opposite yet another chance to support every Australian, and perhaps to also support themselves, by passing a piece of legislation that they actually initially introduced into this place. It will also provide them with the opportunity to do something that they have never managed to achieve themselves in government, but could at least assist with while they are in opposition: balancing the books and putting the nation's economy back into surplus. Balancing the books—I know it is a concept that many people do struggle with, and I fully accept that. But neither I nor taxpayers accept a government's inability to balance the whole country's books, considering the number of people they pay with their hard-earned money to do just that, and that they are being blocked by the opposition—money that I must say was clearly wasted by those opposite.

I can, however, assure those same taxpayers that the coalition recognises and understands that this is not government money being used to fund initiatives and policies; it is the taxpayers' money. We also understand that, when money is wasted—as seen under those opposite—it is taxpayers' hard-earned money that is going down the drain. And that, I say to all members in this place, is something that should not be condoned; it should be condemned.

The government is proposing with this bill to amend the Clean Energy (Income Tax Rates Amendments) Act 2011 and the Clean Energy (Tax Laws Amendments) Act 2011 so that both acts have their future operative provisions repealed. This repeal will ensure that the former government's planned increase to the nominal tax-free threshold from $18,200, as applied in the 2014-15 budget, to $19,400 in the 2015-16 budget, and an associated increase to the second personal marginal tax rate from 32½ per cent to 33 per cent, will no longer take place. Consequently, the bill will also implement provisions to maintain the existing income threshold and withdrawal rate for the low-income tax offset or LITO. I do, however, highlight that the first income tax cut, which was introduced to compensate households for the increased burden on households and businesses that the carbon tax created, has now been delivered, as per the coalition's election commitment.

We are, however, repealing the second round of tax cuts because its original intent no longer applies. It does not apply because the former government made an assumption about the carbon tax which, as usual, did not work out too well. This assumption was that, as part of the carbon tax, the carbon price would continue to increase over future years, including a higher one-off predicted increase to $29 when the carbon price transitioned to an emissions trading scheme.

To compensate households for this predicted transition increase, a second round of personal income tax cuts and associated pension benefits were legislated, but, instead of the price increasing as those opposite predicted; the price fell significantly. This forced the Labor Party while in government to defer the tax changes indefinitely, and they then in fact stated that they would axe them completely, but the legislation was never implemented. Of course, even though they could not manage to introduce the appropriate legislation for their policy, they did manage to jump the gun and include the deferral of this increase in their budget estimates—which was about $1.5 billion at that time.

So let us take a step back and map this out so that those opposite are no longer confused. Firstly, we now have a situation where the legislation's policy intent stopped being valid under the former government because the carbon price did not increase to predicted levels. Those opposite recognised this and planned to axe the planned income tax cut. Now they have twice voted against their own policy, which, if it was not valid before, is certainly not valid now, considering that the policy in question does not even exist anymore, thanks to this government's repeal of the carbon tax.

Despite this being crystal clear in my eyes and those of my colleagues, those opposite still do not seem to understand it, so I will explain it again. By the coalition government's repealing of the carbon tax's burden on industry and households, the intent of the former government's proposed changes is no longer valid because there will not be an increase to their costs because of their carbon tax. Rather than being faced with additional costs, Australian households are instead being delivered additional savings of $550, thanks to this government's repeal, and will have an additional $2.2 billion in savings to put back into the economy if this bill is passed in this place.

The actions of those opposite never cease to amaze me, because they are opposing just for opposing sake. That is what they have to be doing as it was their bill initially that we are introducing into this place. This government is implementing those opposite's proposal, and they even disagree with that. So I ask those opposite: if you cannot agree with your own policies, what can you agree with? Do you all agree that, if you do not know where you are going, any road will get you there? The coalition government is one that believes in living within its means while those opposite believe in cash splashing with no regard for the consequences. Again, to simplify things, I will remind those opposite of the consequences: $123 billion in deficits over the next four years to 2016-17. That is the legacy that the coalition is now, once again, left to clean up. But, as I have said, instead of helping us to do that and righting their wrongs, as adults would do, those opposite just want to keep dragging this country down into a black hole of debt.

I have previously highlighted Australia's debt issues, but what I think many members in this place and the general public do not realise is that, where countries such as Japan have debt, that debt is funded within their own economy. Australia's debt, however, is funded from overseas. So not only do we have a situation where we are faced with $123 billion in debt, which would have increased to $667 billion in the medium term if this government had allowed Labor's level of spending to continue, but we have to borrow money from overseas to fund our economy and then we have to pay back the massive interest bill on that debt.

Those opposite may like to sprout little phrases about giving things for free, such as seen during the GFC, but they seem to forget that the money has to come from the taxpayers. For those members who still have not caught onto what this projected deficit would have meant in the terms of interest, let me clarify: it would have meant $3 billion in interest per month. Again, that is the Labor legacy if they had stayed in government. The Australian government may not be able to prevent the United States or China, for example, from having an economic downturn, but if the GFC taught us anything it is that we need to do everything we can as a government to ensure we are best placed to ride out that storm in the event it reoccurs. Australia and, therefore, the former government were lucky in 2007-2008 when they were elected to government. The reason they were lucky was because of the financial position they came into government with. They were still benefiting from consecutive surpluses which were delivered by taxpayers and managed by the Howard government. Right now, however, thanks to those opposite, Australia is faced with a situation where, if this same economic downturn were to take place, we would not be able to withstand it in the same manner because we are already in significant debt.

The answer to put our economy back on track is, however, quite simple: for members in this place to pass the government's budget measures so that we can stop the sinking ship we are all on and repair our economy—a ship that without change is only leading towards more debt and deficit and a ship that has no protection against a downturn in our own economy, which, I also remind members, is largely based on exports to these nations. The Australian people know that a coalition government can get our economy back on track, and that is why they elected us.

In 1996 the Howard government was faced with the same need for remedial action after inheriting a debt of $96 billion from the Labor government of the day. I am sure members in this place have caught onto the ongoing cycle of Labor creating debt and the coalition fixing it. Of course, like in 1996 when the Howard government began its process of fixing the budget deficit it had been handed, the Abbott government will do everything we can to now fix the budget deficit of those opposite. The only thing that is stopping us, however, is the mindless negativity of those opposite. They are opposing because they think that means they stand for something. The opposition want to talk about anything but the economy and the budget. Let me remind those opposite: standing for something means standing for your own commitments. So, again, I will remind those same members: the bill before the House was initially your commitment. It is now time to stand up and implement those budget savings which you earmarked and no longer have any support towards. Why any responsible political party would vote against removing invalid legislation is beyond belief, and I am sure it is beyond belief for all Australians.

What all members should know is that a big part of any government's ability to survive the political rollercoaster is to maintain their integrity. Integrity—it is a big word. I encourage those opposite to look it up and then apply it. It could also earn you some respect. Having integrity would mean passing a bill that you previously committed to. Having integrity would mean assisting to put this country's economy back on track to surpluses that those opposite have repeatedly claimed they want. They gave us four surpluses in a row but they never delivered them. What those opposite again do not seem to understand is that all the words in the world will not make a surplus appear. Action actually has to be taken.

This government has taken the necessary action to repair the repeated budget failures of those opposite and to once again create sustainability for our economy. We will achieve this by implementing our strategic policies that ensure our nation is once again living within its means. To do that, we have to rein in the unsustainable spending measures of those opposite. That is why the Abbott government has looked at all departments across all portfolios to find those areas where money is being wasted on unnecessary and often duplicative legislation. The government made a commitment to the Australian people to cut $1 billion in red tape and green tape each year as part of the coalition's overall deregulation agenda. This was a commitment and I am pleased to inform the House that we have now more than doubled it, to $2.4 billion, following the government's introduction of the Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Bill in March. So that is $2.4 billion in savings that this government has already found, which includes more than 21,000 pieces of additional regulation which was introduced by those opposite. Of those 21,000 pieces of additional regulation, the carbon tax alone had 1,100 pages of additional regulation and legislation, which have now thankfully been repealed.

The coalition is a government which believes in supporting industry and business, unlike those opposite who seek to burden it with more bureaucracy and regulation at every turn. Now we have this bill before the House which seeks to save the Australian taxpayers $2.8 billion. But what do those opposite do? They stand in this place and hypocritically vote against it, not once but twice. When questioned why the Labor Party are now opposing their own saving, Bill Shorten's only response was, 'We are the Labor Party.' I would laugh if it were not the Australian taxpayers who were copping the brunt of the opposition leader's ridiculous attitude. So to those opposite: do tell us what you stand for and how you will fix the mess you made. I am sure every Australian taxpayer wants to know. From where I am standing, the only answer you have is more taxes—reintroducing the carbon tax, reintroducing the mining tax and now slugging taxpayers with a superannuation tax that could affect 125,000 Australians within the next decade.

Now is the time for those opposite to regain their integrity, even if it is just on this bill, and to vote for their own policy commitments. It is time they put aside their mindless negativity and voted for the budget savings, which are based on sound policies that will put our great nation's economy back on a sustainable path and will repair the damage that was caused by six long Labor years. I commend this bill to the House with the hope that those opposite finally see the light and do the same.

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