Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thought the member for Kingsford Smith was a bit kind to suggest that perhaps the Liberal Party was in negotiations with Katy Perry about her song 'you're hot, you're cold', because that is a bit modern for this mob. I think it is more like the hokey-pokey. I think they have got one foot in and one foot out. They have one foot in when it comes to tax reform and then they have one foot out—ruling things in, ruling things out.

This is a government where the person who became Prime Minister said, loudly and clearly, that he wanted a mature conversation on tax. But standing up and pointing your glasses, and waffling on, is not a mature conversation. Doing this at people is Malsplaining; it is not a mature conversation with the Australian people or with the Australian parliament about concrete tax ideas. In the past week this government was actually serious about introducing a GST across the board and increasing it to 15 per cent. They had already budgeted for that money in their budget, and they were going to spend it on various things. The reason why they are in absolute chaos is because the Prime Minister backed down on it without informing the rest of his colleagues. It was the right call because Australians do not want a GST. But instead, after this decision all we have had is absolute chaos. You know this government is in trouble when The Sydney Morning Herald says the Turnbull government has abandoned serious tax reform. It is time this government got serious on tax.

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