Russell Broadbent (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So it's a crime for a member of parliament to talk about taxation policy? It's a crime for a member of parliament to talk about a policy and a platform that were put in place six years ago? All of a sudden, we can't have a discussion about it? We can't say that that may have been the case at that time? All I said was, 'When things change, we should change.' What a terrible indictment of the Australian community when I say, 'When things change, we should change'! We should change and have a look at the policies that we have, because we've got such limited time. Facts do change. Times change. Things need to change. If you don't like my view to cut out the whole of the third tranche of the policy, that's fine. Why can't we tweak it? I want to acknowledge, firstly, that, yes, 20 per cent of high-income taxpayers pay 80 per cent of the tax. I want to acknowledge that; that's reasonable. But all I've asked for in my process, in my discussions, with all of you is: 'Let's have a discussion about tax policy, and let's have a reasonable discussion about tax policy.' Those, like me, on high incomes, I said, don't need a tax cut. It's true; we don't need a tax cut. No-one's calling out for me to have a tax cut, but, if you find someone, get them to give me a call.