Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for the Republic) Share this | Hansard source

This bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 4) Bill 2021, contains six Treasury measures, the most substantial being the one-year extension of LMITO, the low- to middle-income tax offset, for the 2021-22 income year, at a cost of $7.8 billion. This was announced in the budget, and it will mean that LMITO will end at the beginning of the 2022-23 financial year. Whilst Labor of course supports tax relief for low- to middle-income workers, the great shame about this measure is that it is temporary. It ends at the end of this financial year. Contrast that with high-income earners—those who are earning above $180,000 a year—who will get a substantial tax cut from 2024 onwards, which is permanent. But if you're a middle-income earner, a hardworking Australian with a family, trying to make ends meet, you won't get a permanent tax cut at all under this government. You will continue to pay a relatively high rate of tax under this government. That is the great shame about this budget. It doesn't deal with the structural problems that we have in the Australian economy at the moment, and it certainly doesn't deal with the tax reform that we're going to need to set our nation up for the next 20 to 30 years of economic success.

Unfortunately, in recent years, on every conceivable measure, Australia has been going backwards. Real wages aren't increasing in Australia; in fact, they are falling. The budget papers baked that in over the forward estimates period; they admit that real wages are going to go backwards. Labour productivity, for the first time in Australia's history, has fallen under this government—no growth. Since labour productivity records were first kept, in the early 1990s, there has always been growth. Under this government? No. It goes backwards. Business investment, under this government, fell off a cliff after 2014 and hasn't recovered. We have the third-highest level of household debt of any nation in the OECD and it's getting worse—house prices are once again out of control under this government. Not a week goes by in the community I represent that a parent doesn't pull me up and say, 'How are our kids going to be able to afford to buy a house in the future?' This government's solution is to bring in all these first home buyer grants that simply pour fuel on the fire. Any real estate agent will tell you that, in the 12 months after one of these schemes is announced, house prices go through the roof once again. Increasing wealth inequality is a characteristic of this government. The haves are doing better and the have-nots are doing worse.

Hospital waiting lists are exploding once again because this government isn't making the necessary investments in health funding to keep pace with the growth in our population. Any nurse working in an emergency ward in a hospital will tell you they are run off their feet. When nurses are leaving the profession because they have had enough—particularly in hospitals—they are not being replaced, because of budget cuts associated with this government not providing growth funding for our healthcare system. We all know what a joke aged care has become under this government. There are hundreds of thousands of people on waiting lists for aged-care support.

We have an enviable record when it comes to our internet speeds in this country. We are 61st in the world when it comes to download speeds. Isn't that something to be proud of as an advanced nation! Under this government we go backwards and backwards and backwards and backwards; we get worse and worse and worse. If you live in a rural or regional area it is archaic; it is almost like the days of dial-up, trying to get decent NBN and internet speeds. Investment in research and development has also gone backwards under this government.

Job insecurity is increasing. And today we have confirmation in economic terms of how Australia is going backwards, with a report released by the Productivity Commission confirming that living standards have fallen under this government to the value of about $11,000 per person. People were better off in the years of the Hawke and Keating governments, when we had that necessary economic reform—in particular, taxation reform—that set us up for the almost 30 years of uninterrupted economic growth that Australia enjoyed. It was those decisions of the Hawke and Keating governments that set us up for the success we have enjoyed economically for the past 30 years.

Does this government's budget deal with any of the challenges I have just mentioned? No, it doesn't at all. It doesn't make the necessary structural changes to our budget position to set us up for the future. We know that spending is increasing under this government. Spending under our budget is increasing, yet revenue is falling. The end result of that is that budget deficits are going to get worse. Under this government, debt is going to go to $1 trillion for the first time in our nation's history. Are they dealing with any of those structural problems in our budget to, importantly, provide funding so that Australians get the necessary health care they deserve, the necessary aged-care support that they deserve, and so our kids have the best opportunity of a decent education through proper school resources?

Is any of that support for reform there in this budget? There's not one iota. In that respect, it means that Australians are going backwards.

When it comes to Australians being worse off, look no further than what's going on in this parliament, as we speak, in the Senate. This government has done a dodgy deal with One Nation on superannuation. They are changing the rate of the high-income superannuation concessional contributions cap for everyone aged 67 and over. I note the age of 67. I'll tell you why in a moment. Under this dodgy deal that the Morrison government has made with Pauline Hanson's One Nation, people who are higher income earners and aged 67 and over will pay less tax on their superannuation contributions to about the value of $30,000. It equates to a pay rise for politicians. Have a guess how old Pauline Hanson is? You can't make this stuff up. Pauline Hanson is 67 years old. Can you believe it? You greedy buggers. You've done a dodgy deal with One Nation to give yourselves a $30,000 pay rise on your superannuation and dudded the rest of the Australian workforce so that you can get your superannuation legislation through on a dodgy deal with someone who's only looking out for her own interests, because she's 67 years old and will get a $30,000 pay rise on her superannuation contributions. What a disgrace you lot are! How dare you do that to Australian workers who work hard and struggle to make ends meet and deal with the cost of living. You have no shame whatsoever. And you're trying to sneak it through the Senate under the cover of darkness.

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