Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This motion offers the wrong prescription for immediate cost-of-living relief. First, this motion inaccurately makes the assertion that adjusting the stage 3 tax cuts would provide immediate cost-of-living relief. These tax cuts are not due to come in until 1 July 2024. They're already legislated and are incorporated into the budget. This motion, in suggesting that a tweak to those tax cuts would provide people with benefits in the intervening period, is making assertions about the way budgets work that are not correct. So the core element of this motion is an inaccurate reflection and should've been rephrased if this motion was going to be focused on cost of living.

Second, this motion suggests the wrong overarching approach given where we find the current economy. In its last budget the government suggests a three-pronged approach. First, it is to provide targeted and meaningful cost-of-living relief. We're responsible but not reckless, because we want to provide cost-of-living relief in a way that doesn't make battling inflation harder. Second, it targets investments in a stronger, more resilient, more modern economy. And, third, it begins the hard yards of budget repair.

Let's focus on the first of those prongs: providing targeted and immediate cost-of-living relief. As the Treasurer has said, reducing inflation is the No. 1 macroeconomic priority at this point. That is the dragon that we need to slay. Inflation is insidious. It harms people on low and fixed incomes the most. As Keynes said, 'There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society and the economy. If not dealt with, it can become entrenched.' The way to deal with inflation is not to spray cash around in a way that would make the RBA's job of bringing down inflation harder. That would actually hurt the very people that we are trying to help. What the government has done, when it comes to this first prong of our strategy, providing meaningful cost-of-living relief, is firstly to make fair and responsible structural improvements to the tax base, and, secondly, a five-point cost-of-living relief plan.

The government's structural improvements to the tax base include implementing our election commitments to ensure that multinationals pay their fair share of tax by limiting tax deductions. We are holding large companies to account through transparency. The multinational tax integrity tax package will produce around $1 billion over the forward estimates. In addition, we are extending a number of existing ATO compliance programs. By taking stronger action on tax compliance through this package the government will improve its tax position by $3.7 billion over the forward estimates. Together, the tax measures introduced in this budget are estimated to improve the budget bottom line by $6.5 billion over the four years from 2022 to 2023.

Of course, over the longer term there is more work to be done. As the Treasurer and the Prime Minister have indicated, there is a conversation to be had. But this is a material and meaningful step and one that is appropriate given the scale of the challenge that we face. In conjunction with that, in conjunction with a measured and meaningful improvement in the tax base, this government has put in place a number of cost-of-living measures that are targeted, that are affordable, that have a meaningful impact on those most affected and that will not put extra pressure on inflation.

They include making child care more affordable for more than 1.2 million families. They include cutting the cost of medicines for around 3.6 million Australians—the largest reduction in costs for the PBS in decades. They include expanding the Paid Parental Leave scheme to reach 26 weeks in July 2026. They include a housing accord that will be a long-term strategy for massively boosting social and affordable housing. And they include getting wages moving again. Getting wages moving has been the first and, I would argue, the most significant short-term and immediate means by which we have provided cost-of-living relief to the most vulnerable—a 5.2 per cent increase in the minimum wage, a significant increase in pay for aged-care workers which is long, long overdue.

This government is putting in place measures that are targeted, that will not add to inflationary pressure and that are the right measures for the economy.

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