Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We can talk about the debt that you left us, if you like. We inherited terrible debt and deficit and it's made it very difficult to get the budget heading in the right direction, which we are, so we can provide essential services for all Australians. And this achievement cannot be understated.

We have some important but very expensive programs that we are managing to fund whilst establishing and creating more growth in the economy such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme, for example, that Labor did not fund. We have also introduced true needs-based school funding that Labor never fully negotiated or funded, as we know. They had done something like 27 different dodgy deals around Australia. We have commissioned dozens of naval vessels to be built in Australia which will encourage and create much needed local jobs, whereas those opposite commissioned zero. And we're still in a position to forecast a surplus within the forward estimates while also providing for and budgeting for our personal income tax and business tax cuts. All the while, we have: record funding for hospitals; thousands more home-care packages; record infrastructure investment, including for my home state of South Australia, with some critical infrastructure upgrades in my electorate of Boothby, including the Oaklands crossing rail underpass, which is a welcome relief for my residents, who have been waiting some 40 years for this to occur; and $1.7 billion to continue the South Road upgrades.

The government has even begun establishing our own space agency, which is really exciting. I attended an Adelaide University function on Friday night and heard from a wonderful Adelaide University graduate who is working very hard on the space project and she's quite an inspiration to women in the science area. We have been able to achieve all this not because we're trying to tax our way to prosperity, like those opposite, or because we believe the government can solve all of society's problems, but because of thoughtful public policy research and debate, which creates good economic management.

Because we have stuck to our promise of job creation for our citizens and economic prosperity for our nation, Australia is now better placed to reach new heights over the coming years. The Treasurer, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services have taken to the task of implementing our 2016 election platform with great enthusiasm and great skill, and I commend them all for their incredibly hard and careful work and for the results they're achieving.

Our personal income tax plan will be delivered in three steps. The first step is immediate tax relief for low- and middle-income earners, the second is protecting against bracket creep, and the third is making taxes simpler and flatter. This is an affordable plan and it is a responsible plan. From 1 July, the low- and middle-income tax offset will provide relief of up to $530 for low- and middle-income earners, covering 10 million Australians, with 4.4 million Australians receiving the full benefit. The next step will protect middle-income earners from bracket creep by immediately raising the top threshold of the 32½ per cent tax rate from $87,000 to $90,000, delivering modest relief of $135 to three million Australians. In 2021-22, we'll continue this relief by increasing the top threshold of the 19 per cent tax bracket from $37,000 to $40,000. And, from 2022-23, the 32½ per cent tax bracket will be raised from $90,000 to $125,000, providing a tax cut of $1,350. This money will flow straight back into the economy, spurring spending, further growth, investment and job creation. This is what a real stimulus package looks like: public policy that gives more money to hardworking Australians who will spend it wisely, responsibly and productively. This tax relief for hardworking Australians and the economic activity it will create are both desperately needed in my home state of South Australia. Only yesterday, I spoke in this place about the record number of homes having their power disconnected because they cannot afford to pay their bills and about a recent spike in families needing to use support organisations like Foodbank South Australia because of record high power prices.

We have been clear that this income tax plan is a package. That is how the legislation has been drafted, and it is guiding how the government—we on this side—plan our policy decisions for the next 10 years. Too often we receive feedback that governments don't look far enough into the future, that we're only planning for the next election cycle or three years in advance or over the forward estimates of four years. We are being responsible and setting out a long-term plan for hardworking Australians and to provide them with tax relief. Enshrining this whole tax plan in legislation provides certainty for taxpayers and, importantly, creates an important barrier to those opposite or, worse, the Australian Greens, with whom they have formed partnerships in the past, changing the goal posts for hardworking Australians if they are ever re-elected to government. Mr Deputy Speaker Buchholz, I know that you and I and my colleagues on this side, will be working very hard to make sure that's never the case.

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