House debates Questions without Notice
Goods and Services Tax
Tim Watts Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party
2:54 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. Given that the Prime Minister said, 'There will be no change to the GST, full stop, end of story,' why is the government considering doing the opposite and making Australians paying GST on online purchases of less than $1,000?
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Government Members:
Government members interjecting—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The Treasurer will desist.
Government members interjecting—
There is too much noise on my right. I will call the honourable the Prime Minister to answer the question when there is silence. That includes the honourable the Treasurer and the honourable the Deputy Prime Minister. I called the honourable the Prime Minister.
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
2:55 pm
Plainly, whoever hands out the questions to members opposite does not have the Leader of the Opposition's best interests at heart, because it was the Leader of the Opposition who first asked for this subject to be reconsidered; it was the Leader of the Opposition who first put this subject on the table. The double standards and the hypocrisy of this opposition and this Leader of the Opposition know no bounds.
Mr Shorten interjecting—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The honourable the Leader of the Opposition will stop interjecting.
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
The difference with the coalition is that, when we were in opposition, we fought to make a government keep its commitments. That opposition over there is fighting to break government commitments. That is the difference. We are always prepared to look at integrity measures in our tax system, but we will absolutely honour the commitments that we have made to the Australian people.