Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about this bill and to support the previous speaker's comments. She explained very eloquently and made quite clear why we oppose this bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan No. 2) Bill 2017—otherwise known, as I would call it, the '$65 billion tax cut for big business at the expense of pensioners, families and working people bill 2017'. That's what it should really be called. The bill has already been rejected by the Senate—the Senate has already looked at it and rejected it—yet here we are again with the government trying to ram it through.

As we've heard in this place, during question time a couple of months ago the Leader of the Opposition asked the Prime Minister what the full cost of the company tax rate cut would be. We heard three different figures over a couple of days—or in one day or whatever it was. One figure was $24 billion—that would be the cost of the company tax rate cut plan. Then we heard $26 billion—a difference of $2 billion. Then we heard a third figure: $50 billion. Then, when asked again, the Treasurer said $36.5 billion. So we had four different figures of what the cost will be. But, then again, what's a few billion between friends? What's a few billion between some of the Prime Minister's big-end-of-town friends?

Today in this place, we talked about electricity prices—an issue that affects all of us and every Australian. We know that bills are skyrocketing—they're through the roof. People are struggling to deal with huge increases under this government's watch—under the five years that this government has been in power. The average household is spending over $2,000 a year on electricity, and the government is throwing its hands up in the air and saying, 'Call your provider; get a better deal,' 'Nothing to see here; we have no role,' 'Blame the states; there's nothing that we can do,' and 'Blame the former Labor government that was in five years ago'—soon it will be six.

The real issue here is that, when mums and dads, working people, are calling for something to be done on energy, we have a government that's not willing to take any action to bring down prices. But, when the big end of town—the big multinationals, the big, big businesses—call the Prime Minister or visit Kirribilli, with the champagne flowing, and ask for a tax cut, the government says, 'Sure; yes, we'll hand it over. Here you go; here's $65 billion. Let's take it away from the pensioners, from the low-income workers, from health and from education'—and that's just to name a few. How unbelievably out of touch is this government—when you're giving away $65 billion to the richest people in this nation?

This brings back some memories for me. When I was here in 2006-07, the Howard government listened to the big end of town and the same thing took place. They listened to the big end of town and tried to pass an outrageous bill for working people. That was Work Choices. We on this side all remember Work Choices. This reminds me of that. You can just see it: the richest people in Australia knocking on the former Prime Minister's door and saying, 'Give us a break. Get those working entitlements out of the way so that we can make more money'—and off he went and did it. This is the same thing. The Prime Minister is listening to the big end of town—the billionaires—and giving them exactly what they want. Back then with Work Choices, it was a cut in employment expenses for the corporates at the expense of working people of Australia. Well, we all know what happened back in 2007. The people of Australia did not like it. They were offended by it and they fired Mr Howard, and Labor restored the wages of our hardworking constituents, who were not listened to by the former Liberal coalition.

This isn't about small businesses that employ millions of Australians. We need to do more to support those small businesses and do as much as we can for them to help them survive and ensure that they are able to employ people. This bill is about the greed of corporate Australia. This particular movement is about the corporate greed of Australia, and they certainly do not need a handout. They certainly do not need a handout when there are people out there struggling to get a job and people wanting an education. We see what's been done through cuts to universities in the last 12 months. The big end of town do not need a handout. Let's support small businesses. Let's support the small businesses that employ many, many people. I've got some great start-up businesses in my electorate of Hindmarsh that I visit, as well as some established small businesses, that really need a hand up or some assistance. Let's help them. Let's look at the facts in this bill. The facts are one per cent economic growth in 20 years time. We're going to get a benefit of one per cent in the economy in 20 years time and, for workers, a $2-a-day increase in wages in 20 years time. We're going to take $65 billion out of the budget—and we really don't know what it will cost, because there are four different sets of figures—to get that miniscule one per cent growth and a $2 increase for workers in 20 years time.

This is at a time when wage growth has flatlined, with record lows of 1.9 per cent currently. This is also at a time when the government has supported penalty rate cuts from July this year. So we have big, big benefits to the top end of town, giving them massive tax cuts, handing over many, many billions of dollars, and there is no action on reversing the cuts to penalty rates for people who absolutely need those penalty rates because they work on weekends. It could mean the difference between putting food on the table and paying their energy bills. On top of this, the government expects workers on incomes over $21,000 to pay higher taxes.

The government are telling the big end of town, 'We will give you $65 billion,' but at the lower end, where people really need some assistance and help, anyone earning just over $21,000 will be expected to pay more. So they are telling people who cannot afford it, 'We're going to squeeze more out of you so we can give to those who can afford it the most.' Obviously, not much for our millionaire class. This has to be a criminal act. This is wrong. How does the government expect to get away with this? How do government members expect to go to their constituents and say, 'You're going to pay more tax, but we're going to let the multinationals, the big companies, some who pay zero tax, off the hook and we're going to give them a bigger tax cut'? That's what those opposite are going to have to say. To be honest, I don't think that many members of parliament will be able to do that. The public are listening. They know. They're watching their hip-pockets, and their hip-pockets are empty. Let's not forget, the previous member spoke about university students and universities having to deal with huge cuts to their budgets.

We all meet with constituents, and so do I in my electorate office in Glenelg, and I meet with people who are struggling to make ends meet and struggling to find jobs. I meet with parents who want to find jobs for their kids and are concerned. These people need assistance. But, no, we're going to make them pay more tax. If I didn't win the last election in Hindmarsh, I seriously wonder how the former Liberal member would be able to look these people in the eye, people I see every day, and explain why the government is giving millionaires a massive cut, yet taking away from the people who come to our electorate offices for assistance. How can you justify the old, failed trickle-down economics? This is what it is: it's trickle-down economics. 'Let's handover shovels full of dollars to the multinationals and big millionaires and, hopefully, a little bit of it will trickle down.' It hasn't worked, it doesn't work, and we know it won't work. This proposed tax cut is insane. It's constituents like the ones I speak to that give me the strength in this place to stand up and fight against bills just like this one. What makes me so angry is that the government is willing to get out the chequebook for the fat cats, but not when it comes to supporting manufacturing workers—manufacturing workers in Adelaide who have been done over with the closure of Holden. What we've been saying is that manufacturing workers in Adelaide need help. We need help to support those people with targeted assistance during a period when Holden is closing down, and again in 2013 those people needed help. GMH should have been targeted with assistance during a period when the Aussie dollar was quite high and was hurting them. Where was the government then? All we had was a Treasurer that came out and goaded them out of town. He basically gave a speech that scared the pants off them, and they ran off.

There were ways of keeping Holden in Adelaide, in the northern suburbs, which would have continued to employ people. But this government was not interested. They were not listening. As I said, the only people they've listened to is that higher end of town, like at Kirribilli House while the Prime Minister's having champagne with them. But he will not listen to working people. I tell you: they've been missing in action in South Australia, especially when it comes to manufacturing. We also hear from those on the opposite side of the House saying that these outrageous tax cuts are essential in order to drive investment. Well, let's look at what the US Congressional Budget Office put out in a paper this year. It said that the statutory corporate tax rate is one of the many features of the tax system that influence corporate behaviour, and that is because of the broader scope. They say:

… average and effective corporate tax rates are better indicators of a company's incentives to invest in a particular country than is the statutory corporate tax rate.

The paper goes on to point out that, at a headline rate of 30 per cent in 2012, the average rate for Australia was 17 per cent and the effective tax rate was 10.4 per cent.

Let's not forget about some of the great Labor reforms, which mean that every domestic payer of corporate tax, in effect, gets it back. We actually refund our corporate tax to our domestic investors—something which is unique around the world and is often not talked about. We see a government that is completely out of touch. We see a government that listens to only a small portion of the Australian population. It ignores all the communities who are asking for assistance or for help. We saw tax cuts for the big end of town and a tax increase for those earning over $21,000. We see cuts to pensions and we see cuts to education. We see cuts to health and we see cuts to universities. And, at the same time, it's okay for the big end of town to receive massive dollars in tax cuts.

But you don't need to take my word for this. Take the word of the assistant governor of the Reserve Bank. She dismantled the idea that you need this massive tax cut to drive down investment. She said:

When businesses make decisions about where to locate – the tax rate does presumably matter, but so does the business environment, the institutional framework, the rule of law, the macro-economic outlook and where the resources are.

… … …

There's a broader business environment to consider and those advantages haven't gone away.

The government has absolutely failed on economic leadership and economic management. The Treasurer is failing in his job to leave this country in better shape than when he arrived. The Treasurer needs to understand that the age of entitlement should be over for the big end of town.

So much for the importance of the so-called 'jobs and growth' agenda that this Prime Minister ran on. All we heard was 'jobs and growth, jobs and growth'. We've seen higher unemployment rates, hardly any growth and the lowest wages growth for many, many years. How do you expect your economy to be fired up and to work when wages are stable and not going up at a reasonable pace? (Time expired)

Federati on Chamber adjourned at 19:29.

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