House debates

Thursday, 15 May 2008

Questions without Notice

Budget

3:21 pm

Photo of Peter DuttonPeter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and Deregulation) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to a plea from the Holdsworth family of Nelson in the Hobart Mercury:

Kevin Rudd don’t hit us with luxury car tax on our essential piece of equipment, our Tarago. We are a family of six including one disabled child. This is not a luxury. For us a luxury is a holiday or rump steak. Maybe we should buy a non-luxury car with roof racks and put the wheelchair and two kids on the roof. Please don’t make life for bigger families harder than it is.

Does the Prime Minister believe that this family and the many families with disabled children around the country deserve to be hit by his new Tarago tax?

Photo of Kevin RuddKevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

I am unaware of the report that the honourable member has referred to. I do not doubt his rendition of it. As I said before to the Leader of the Opposition, we will look carefully at the report and come back if we have something further to say on it.

On the question of the luxury car tax, we stand by it. We believe it is necessary because we believe it is important to produce a responsible economic outcome for the nation. Can I say that we believe that all relevant taxation measures are appropriate. It would be very interesting at this stage to calculate the quantum of the individual budget measures which have been laid to one side by those opposite in their comments in the last couple of days. That amount is now quickly adding up to billions upon billions of dollars. On the individual circumstances that the honourable member has raised, we will look at the matter further.