Kara Cook (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to respond to this tired, misleading claim from those opposite and the member for Fairfax. Here are the facts: every single Australian taxpayer is getting a tax cut under Labor—not just the top end of town, not just some but all 14 million taxpayers. Do you know who else is getting a tax cut under our plan? Every woman who is a taxpayer in this country, whether she's a teacher, a small business owner, an engineer or a scientist or works in IT or mining. Yes, women do all those things, and they will pay less tax under Labor. That matters.

Frankly, after the comments from the member for Longman in recent days, comments that revealed a disturbing lack of respect for women, it's more important than ever to call this out. The coalition may not value the economic contribution of women, but Labor does, and our policies reflect that. Labor's new tax cuts are fair, modest and responsible. They'll make a real difference.

From next year, we're cutting the 16 per cent tax rate to 15 per cent, then down to 14 per cent in 2027—the lowest it's been in 50 years. And we're lifting tax thresholds so you can earn more and keep more of what you earn. That means a worker on $40,000 gets an extra $436 a year from 2027 and an average earner on $79,000 gets an extra $536 a year. Combined, Labor's tax cuts will deliver up to $2,500 a year for the average taxpayer or around $50 a week.

Who is against this? Those opposite! They want to reverse these tax cuts, which means raising taxes on every single taxpayer. That includes the workers they claim to support. It includes the very people who would have missed out completely under their original plan: 3 million Australians, many of them women and low-income earners.

Let me tell you what else Labor is doing to help with the cost of living, because the government isn't just talking about it; we are acting. We're delivering energy bill relief—$1.8 billion to help households and small businesses through to the end of the year; we're growing wages—$2.6 billion for aged-care workers; and we're banning unfair non-compete clauses that stop workers from finding better, higher paying jobs. We're making medicines cheaper, cutting the price of PBS prescriptions to just $25 and investing $1.8 billion to list lifesaving medicines.

We're cutting student debt, by wiping 20 per cent off and lifting the payment threshold for graduates. We're strengthening Medicare. We're making it easier to buy or rent a home. We're delivering permanent free TAFE. We're backing families and farmers, strengthening the ACCC and holding supermarkets to account. We're delivering more affordable child care with a three-day guarantee and new centres across the country. That is what responsible economic management looks like. These investments are funded thanks to back-to-back surpluses—

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