Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer explain to the House how families and small businesses in my electorate of Robertson will benefit from the Morrison government's tax cuts? Is the Treasurer aware of any alternative policies?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson for her question, and I'm pleased to inform the House that 59,953 taxpayers in Robertson will get a tax cut as a result of the legislation that this parliament passed just two weeks ago. And in the electorate of Robertson over 16,000 small businesses will be able to access the instant asset write-off, which has been extended to $30,000 and to companies with a turnover of up to $50 million. So those constituents in Robertson, from Gosford and Terrigal to Woy Woy, will all benefit as a result of the tax package passed in this parliament. And I can also inform the House that, as of this morning, 2.9 million Australian taxpayers have put in a tax return for the 2018-19 year. That's more than 460,000 more than at the same time last year. And the Australian tax office has seen refunds already delivered to Australians of more than $3 billion. This is money finding its way into the economy to be spent at a cafe, on a plumber or an electrician, in retail or in other areas, as Australians see fit. It's part of the tax package that we passed through this parliament, which will ensure that 94 per cent of Australian taxpayers pay a marginal rate of no more than 30c in the dollar.

I'm asked: are there any alternative approaches? We know that those opposite have taken every position under the sun when it comes to tax cuts in this place. First, they were against them. Then they wanted to amend them. Then the Leader of the Opposition wanted to amend the title of the legislation—the great mover, the Leader of the Opposition. Then we had Senator Gallagher say, 'We can't have a position on it until we know what the crossbenchers think.' Then the Labor Party said they supported the tax cuts. And then, when the dust had settled, the best position was that the Labor Party blamed us for stopping our own tax cuts. They had every position under the sun. So you can imagine our amusement on the weekend when we picked up The Age to read an article by Rob Harris, who quoted an anonymous shadow minister saying:

We need to show we learned our lesson on the tax debacle. And from the election.

When it came to the drought fund, they said:

… we can't be blocking this again.

Now, which one of those opposite gave the anonymous quote? I'm not looking at anyone, the shy, retiring member for Hunter. We won't know who it was who said that to Rob Harris, but we do know that this side of the House— (Time expired)

Mr McCormack interjecting—

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

The Deputy Prime Minister is going to stop talking; that's what's going to happen.