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

Of course I endorse and support the great work of the member for Parramatta, and I also support the great work of the shadow Treasurer, who said:

When people can earn more and be taxed less because of the holding of assets over income, it rewards capital interests against labour, and that means that you entrench those interests and you break apart what I think of as one of the fundamental principles that has made this nation successful and strong, which is to turn to the next generation and say: 'You get your equal chance too.

So I support the member for Parramatta's great work as part of our team, and I support the comments that the shadow Treasurer has made—twice in this parliament and once in a book that I might be the only one who's read.

I raise this, in endorsing the member for Parramatta's work, because it says everything about the shadow Treasurer that he is now trying to weaponise a campaign against the very changes that he called for—and not by accident. He's come in here twice and he's written a book about how we have to deal with these issues in the housing market and in the tax system. And as I said, he'd want to be careful that the Daily Tele doesn't put him on the front of the paper with a little hammer and sickle next to him, because the problem that he's describing is exactly the problem that this government has the courage to try and fix.

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