Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Apparently, we have been having a tax debate for some weeks. Apparently, everything is on the table, except that the only thing we are hearing in the electorate of Lalor, in my community, is those opposite promoting a 50 per cent increase in the GST—a 50 per cent tax increase! Yesterday we were assured by the Prime Minister that it will be fair, that there will be compensation put in place for low-income earners, who, of course, would bear the brunt of any 50 per cent tax increase. I am going to cut to the chase.

If we were talking about a 50 per cent increase on tax on business, it would be howled down by those opposite. We need to get serious about this. The Prime Minister needs to understand that he is not going to be respected as the arbiter of fair in this country because, like it or lump it, he spent the last two years sitting on those benches backing in the cruel, unfair 2014 budget. And every Australian saw him do that.

He also has another issue. He has a problem. Where is the superannuation discussion in this taxation debate? Where is the simplification we were promised in the taxation debate? How can you simplify a tax by then having to put in incredibly complex compensation packages? They should forget their rise in the GST.