Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) | Hansard source

The Albanese government wants Australians to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. That's why we are delivering a tax cut to every Australian who pays income tax and a bigger benefit to 84 per cent of Australians. I know that many Australians are doing it tough at the moment. The pandemic, the global economic downturn and two international conflicts have had far-reaching impacts on our economy here in Australia, and Australians, especially low- and middle-income earners, are under pressure. We've been tackling the most pressing challenges faced by Australians while also making responsible choices in the long-term interests of our country.

We're providing responsible cost-of-living relief without adding to inflationary pressures. That's why we have been delivering $23 billion in cost-of-living relief across child care, TAFE, Medicare, cheaper medicines, energy bill relief, affordable homes and paid parental leave. We're investing $3.5 billion to triple the bulk-billing incentive, allowing 11.6 million Australians to access a GP with no out-of-pocket costs. We're reducing the cost of medicine by up to half for at least six million Australians. We're committing up to $3 billion on electricity bill relief to take pressure off more than five million eligible households and one million eligible small businesses. As a result, power bills are lower than they otherwise would have been. And, importantly, as Australian Bureau of Statistics data has confirmed, the Albanese Labor government's cost-of-living relief has shaved 0.5 per cent off inflation. We've also increased the base rate of the JobSeeker payment and the youth allowance, and we've committed $1.9 billion to expand eligibility of single parent payments.

But we know more needs to be done. That's why from 1 July this year, through this bill, we will be delivering a tax cut to every taxpayer in Australia. Our policy will mean that Middle Australia will receive bigger tax cuts to help with cost-of-living pressures. We've made the hard choice to change our position to deliver these tax cuts. We're introducing these changes because we recognise the economic realities of 2024. We recognise that Australians are under pressure and deserve a plan that responds to the challenges they are facing. When the former government's tax plan was legislated five years ago, the world was a very different place. Their plan was legislated before a once-in-100-years pandemic, before higher interest rates driven by persistent international inflation and before two global conflicts and the ensuing global economic uncertainty. All of this put Australians under more sustained cost-of-living pressure. We recognise that, when circumstances change, changing policy is the right thing to do.

The tax cuts will have a real tangible difference for 13.6 million taxpaying Australians, and these tax cuts will make a difference to 2.9 million more people than would have benefited from the five-year-old Morrison tax plan. We want people to earn more, and we want them to keep more of what they earn. In my electorate in Melbourne's west, every single taxpayer will receive a tax cut under Labor's tax plan. Eighty-four thousand people in my electorate will get a tax cut. Seventy thousand people—that's almost 84 per cent of people in my electorate—will get a bigger tax cut. And 5.8 million women, 90 per cent of women taxpayers, will now receive a bigger tax cut. Ninety-eight per cent of teachers, 97 per cent of truckies, 96 per cent of cleaners, 91 per cent of police officers and 91 per cent of mechanics will get a bigger tax cut. More than 90 per cent of all Australians under 35 will receive a bigger tax cut. Under our plans, an early childhood educator who earns $69,000 a year will receive an additional $1,404 as a tax cut. Under the Morrison plan, they would have received nothing—not a cent.

These reforms make our tax system more progressive and more fair, and our plan returns bracket creep for all taxpayers and does more to reduce the impact on those who are most burdened by it. By dropping the two tax rates and lifting the two thresholds, we're giving everyone a tax cut and providing $359 billion in help with the cost of living. We are returning the most bracket creep to where we can do the most good in Middle Australia. In spite of the mendacious lines being run by those opposite, the average taxpayer will pay $21,635 less of their income in tax over the next decade. And, as identified by the Grattan Institute, the median taxpayer is still better off after 10 years. They found that a typical taxpayer, someone earning around $59,000, will pay cumulatively $8,040 less in tax over the next decade.

Those opposite don't like this bill. You only have to listen to their speeches to see how much this bill irritates them. The opposition leader would rather a fight than a fix. Listening to those opposite contort themselves over this bill to find a way to be outraged by it while also supporting it has really been something to behold. It's been a collective credibility bonfire. Credibility is an impediment to career progression on the opposition frontbench. The deputy Liberal leader understands this better than anyone. She has put in a really strong performance in destroying her credibility in her current role. She has had strong opposition from the shadow Treasurer, who labelled these tax cuts for all Australians as 'Marxism', before saying that he would vote for them. It takes a lot to be less credible than that, but the deputy Liberal leader has been putting in the work. As an MP who utterly capitulated on her former positions on live exports and on Palestine, the deputy leader has now added tax cuts to the bonfire of her policy credibility. When asked if the opposition would roll back Labor's tax cuts, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition said:

Well this is our position. This is absolutely our position …

Except, according to the Leader of the Opposition, it isn't. Well, it's hard to know what their position is. They've opposed it. They've said they'll roll it back. They've said they'll amend it. They've said they'll support it. They've said they'll take a different policy to the next election. You don't need to believe in numerology to see that this doesn't add up.

But, in their negativity, they reveal their true priorities. This week the member for Bowman stood up in this place, as a representative example of the kinds of contributions we've heard in this debate, to suggest that this bill meant that the government were 'killers of aspirations'. Whose aspirations was he talking about when he said this? He went on:

… what about the next generation of Australians, the next generation of aspirants … who aspire to one day own an investment property? Is the government proposing to kill off their aspiration to do so?

He really seems to think that the only aspirational people in this country are those who wish to own an investment property.

We are aspirational for all Australians, no matter who you are or where you come from. The people in my community in Melbourne's west are aspirational too. There is aspiration in every corner of my electorate. There are people working hard now to aspire to something better in the future for themselves and their family, right up and down the income ladder. People in Melbourne's west work hard every day to look after their family and their community. They are aspirational, working hard now and aspiring to something better for themselves and their family.

When I think of aspirational Australians, I think of Vietnamese Australian manufacturing workers in my electorate, working hard for decades—I think of one person in particular, working hard so that his daughter could get the grades she needed to become a doctor. I think of an Indian Australian truck driver, working hard, putting in the overtime to save the money that he needs to start his own business. I think of the Afghan Australian refugee working hard in a logistics job so that his six-year-old daughter could attend school for the very first time ever. I think of the Chinese Australian mum who has been able to continue with her career progression because of our cheaper child care reforms and paid parental leave.

If someone's aspiration is to buy an investment property, good luck to them. There's nothing wrong with that. That's great. But, if you're an MP in this House and that's the only aspiration that you can see, you're selling our country short; you're selling Australians short. Parents who are sacrificing everything to give their children the very best future they possibly can all deserve a tax cut, and they'll get one, thanks to the Albanese government, because we are delivering a tax cut to all Australians. We're delivering cost-of-living relief, no matter who you are or what you do. This is a tax cut right up and down the income ladder, which will fuel the aspirations of everyone, not only in my community but across Australia. It's part of an economic strategy that deals with the challenges of the present, while also preparing our nation to succeed in the future.

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