Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. I think this is the first opportunity that I've had to congratulate her on her comprehensive victory in Bradfield, and I thank her for her question about a very serious issue and a seriously terrific organisation, which is Foodbank. I am aware of the report—the analysis and the ideas in the Foodbank report—that has been put out today. I take the opportunity to thank them for the tremendous work that they do in communities right around Australia, helping people who are doing it tough. I'm aware of that specific idea about the tax incentive. I think, from memory, there was also a Senate committee that looked into a similar idea. We take those kinds of suggestions seriously. We also know that a lot of businesses are already doing the right thing, absent the implementation of a tax incentive like that, and I thank those businesses who are making those donations to Foodbank and other like organisations for the work that they do.

I want to shout out, as well, the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury. We've already done some substantial reforms to support charitable giving, including a new DGR category to support community focused giving. We also know that there is more than one way to help these wonderful organisations doing the right thing by people in our local communities. It is a source of some pride to me—and, I think, to Minister Rishworth, who did the work on this in the last term of the parliament—that this government is providing an additional $20 million each year to help food and emergency relief organisations. We took that decision in an earlier budget. Some of the organisations in the member for Bradfield's electorate are benefiting from that—the Salvos, Vinnies and Lifeline, I think, just to name three—and it means that our total investment in these services has gone up to $460 million over five years.

The Leader of the Opposition also asked about Foodbank, I think, in her first question to the Prime Minister. But what was missing from the opposition leader's question was that, when those opposite were last in government, they cut $20 million a year from these programs. They actually cut these programs for Foodbank. They also opposed our tax cuts and our efforts to boost wages. They opposed our cost-of-living help. So the point that I'm making, in considering the idea put forward by Foodbank, is that we have restored the funding that those opposite cut. That's because we know the important work that Foodbank and others do. We've also found other ways to help people who are under pressure: energy bill relief, permanent increase to working-age payments, rent assistance, tax cuts, boosting real wages and the like. We're a Labor government. We're always looking for ways to help people with the cost of living—especially the most vulnerable. Foodbank is the same. It sounds like the member for Bradfield shares our interest too. (Time expired)

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