Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer and goes to the detail of his last answer. A part-time retail worker will earn in the order of $18,000 a year and therefore pay no income tax. Given that there is no longer a wholesale sales tax to abolish and that wages of this order attract no income tax, what mechanisms would be available to the government to compensate workers in this position were they to increase the GST to 15 per cent?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. Once again, I reconfirm to the House that the government has no such proposal or preferred option as he pretends to suggest there is. So once again I can only refer to the history of when there were changes to the tax system previously, and the various adjustments and compensation measures that were put in place the last time that was done were incredibly effective. I would refer him to that experience of how you change a tax system, because I know those opposite have not had terribly good experience on changing a tax system.

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Isaacs is warned.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When those opposite tried to change the tax system, it was called the carbon tax. Another one they tried to introduce was, of course, the mining tax—a mining tax that raised no revenue. This is the level of genius on changing tax systems that we saw from those opposite. But, if I talk about their own carbon tax, we gave the Australian people the ultimate compensation for the carbon tax they put on: we abolished it. But, when they introduced the carbon tax, they put compensation measures in place and we actually kept those compensation measures.

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not all of them.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note the interjection from the shadow minister, who says we did not keep all of them. We got rid of the tax and then we kept a large number of the compensation measures, and the member opposite seems to think that that is a bad deal. This is the same member who decided to take single mothers who were on the parenting payment and, when their child turned six, put them on Newstart.

Ms Macklin interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer will resume his seat. The member for Jagajaga will cease interjecting. Has the Treasurer concluded his answer? The Treasurer has concluded his answer.