Julia Banks (Chisholm, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister outline to the House how the government is reducing cost-of-living pressures on families and households, including in my electorate of Chisholm? Is the Prime Minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. The government wants Australians to keep more of the money they earn. We want to encourage the enterprise and—mystery, though it may be to the member for Sydney!—the aspiration of hardworking Australians through lower taxes and policies that back small and medium business. Labor, on the other hand, doesn't believe in aspiration. It's a mystery, according to their deputy leader, and that's why they're happy to increase taxes by over $200 billion, even to the extent of going after the savings of pensioners and retirees.

The opposition leader says this is fair. He thinks that increasing taxes on every small and medium business in Australia is fair. He thinks denying working Australians tax relief is fair. He thinks refusing to deal with bracket creep, meaning that Australians pay higher and higher taxes as they earn more, is fair. And he has no issue, of course, with Australians paying more for their energy because of his reckless targets. Because of the policies we've delivered, the government can afford to deliver personal income tax relief so that low- and middle-income earners save up to $530 a year this year and so that, when the full reform is complete in 2024, 94 per cent of Australians will face a marginal tax rate of no more than 32½c on additional money they earn.

We can reform to reduce taxes for small and medium businesses with turnovers up to $50 million because we know that will grow the economy and deliver stronger revenues to guarantee essential services. That's why we're able to spend more on hospitals, schools and infrastructure. Labor wants to increase taxes on all those businesses, and that can have only one result: less investment, less employment and lower wages. And we're doing everything we can, pulling every lever, to reduce the cost of energy. We hauled in the electricity retailers to ensure that households are getting the best deal on their electricity bill, saving families hundreds of dollars a year. We've ensured gas producers are prioritising Australian customers and Australian consumers over export markets. With a reform passed in this parliament, we've stopped the owners of the poles and wires from being able to game the system—a practice that in the past has added billions of dollars in costs. Now, through the National Energy Guarantee, we're going to fix the national energy market so that Australians are paying less for their energy. The market has been broken by ideology and idiocy; the National Energy Guarantee is the means to resolve it.