Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

I've spent the last few minutes googling Elton John songs as well, and the best I could come up with was 'Cold Heart'. I chose that because of a few lines in there, which are:

Oh, no, no, no

No, no, no, no, no

That really reflects the opposition to me. I think you should judge people on what they do and not what they say. Those opposite suggested the cost of living as their MPI, but they didn't bother asking a single question in question time on this issue, because, clearly, it's not so important for them, and, of course, they didn't vote for any of the cost-of-living measures—or the wage rises or the tax cuts, when they come.

Labor is the party that wants Australians to earn more. Workers should earn a decent wage for their efforts. We backed a rise in the minimum wage and we backed a raise for aged-care workers. Those opposite had wage suppression as a deliberate part of their economic strategy, if you can call nine deficits in a row an economic strategy. They voted against every measure to get wages moving.

Labor is the party that wants Australians to be paid fairly for their time. Our closing the loopholes bill means that workers shouldn't have to be on call 24/7 without being paid for that. The opposition doesn't want workers to have any family time or any downtime. They want workers on call 24/7 but unpaid.

Those opposite are happy to talk a good game about the cost of living, but when it comes to the vote—cold heart—they vote no, no, no. They voted no to energy bill relief. They voted no to cheaper child care. They voted no to cheaper medicines. They voted no to tripling the bulk-billing incentive. They voted no to more social and affordable housing. They voted no to fee-free TAFE. I think you get the theme. Now, the latest, those opposite were horrified at our plans to give tax relief to low- and middle-income workers.

The Labor government says Australia workers should keep more of their hard-earned in their pockets. Labor tax cuts will make a real difference for every taxpayer. No taxpayer will be left behind and no taxpayer ignored; 2.9 million more taxpayers will benefit than would have benefited from the Morrison plan from five years ago. Eighty-four per cent of taxpayers will get a bigger tax cut under this plan. In my electorate of Boothby, it's 85 per cent. Ninety per cent of women taxpayers are better off under this plan. Ninety-seven per cent of care economy workers are better off under this plan. Ninety-eight per cent of young taxpayers are better off under this plan, because gen Z were ignored by the Liberal and National parties.

Under Labor's tax plan, taxpayers earning less than $45,000 will now receive a tax cut. Under the coalition's plan, they got nothing. An Australian taxpayer earning an average wage will now get double the tax cut they would have got under the coalition's plan. An Australian family on an average household income will now get a combined tax cut of $2,600, which is $1,600 more than they would have got under the coalition.

Labor's tax plan also addresses bracket creep better than the opposition's stage 3 tax cuts ever did. As a result, the average taxpayer will pay—wait for it—$21,635 less in tax from their income over the next decade. But the Leader of the Opposition, the Liberals and the Nationals have made it clear that they do not want tax cuts for Middle Australia. I know they've voted against every other form of cost-of-living relief here, but these are tax changes that will put money in the pockets of their own constituents.

Our tax cuts come on top of billions of dollars of targeted and responsible cost-of-living relief, including electricity bill relief, cheaper child care, increased rent assistance, tripling the Medicare bulk-billing incentive, cheaper medicines, boosting income support payments and expanding the eligibility criteria for the single parent payment and the supplement for older job seekers, fee-free TAFE, more social and affordable homes, expanding paid parental leave, creating jobs and getting wages moving again. The Labor government's tax cuts have been very welcome across my electorate. It's a great news story. A hundred per cent of taxpayers will get a tax cut, 85 per cent of Boothby taxpayers, 90 per cent of women taxpayers and 98 per cent of young taxpayers. Labor is the government of higher wages, lower taxes and good economic management.

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