Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

'What did The Kouk say?' I am asked. He said:

If the number of packets sold falls at a faster rate than the price increases, you won't quite get the revenue effect you were hoping for.

I think, being a fellow traveller of yours, that is very polite language for, 'Your plan won't work,' Shadow Assistant Treasurer. He is being very polite. He is mincing his words. He is watching his p's and q's. But he has got a very subtle message hidden in that: your plan to fund increased education expenditure simply will not work. It does not stack up.

It was not just The Kouk who had that to say about it. Of course we know: any single economist you look at, on whatever side of the fence they fall, says that. I will quote budget expert Stephen Anthony at Industry Super Australia. Let us go to Industry Super Australia. Industry Super even came out to condemn the shadow Treasurer's plans:

"We want to tax tobacco so heavily that its consumption in this country will fall," he said. "Therefore this revenue should not then be relied upon to fund longer-term spending commitments."

That is Industry Super.

Do not give us the mock outrage that this is a public health measure. This cannot be a revenue measure and a public health measure at the same time. If you want people to stop smoking, and they do and the revenue falls, you cannot rely on the revenue to fund future education expenditure. Everybody knows it. Every economist on every side of the fence knows it. So, as to the mock indignation over there, you have got a big problem with your plans. You cannot rely on a falling source of revenue to fund increasing expenditure. You cannot do it, I would say to the shadow assistant Treasurer.

It is of course this government that is having a conversation about tax with the Australian people. And we are having a good discussion about it and it is worth discussing. The government of course takes the view that there should be a lower tax burden on ordinary Australians, particularly those on average incomes paying more in income tax—it is a topic that the opposition has been completely and utterly silent about. They do not see it as a problem that average income earners are now in the second-highest tax bracket. We do. We see it as a critical concern—something that has to be addressed to ensure this nation's prosperity, and it is something we will address in the future.

I would say to the shadow assistant Treasurer: if you are going to come in here with a matter of public importance, you need to outline your plans. Do not start by attacking the longest-serving and greatest Treasurer this country has had; do not do it, because it really exposes the weakness of your plans and exposes your record on tax, which is a record of failure, and it exposes that you are simply out of touch with the ordinary concerns of Australians. Average income earners who are now in the second-highest tax bracket need tax relief; they need to be sure they have a government that understands that burden, and this is the government that will act on those challenges.

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