Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the most famous books on negotiation is Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. The opposition has perfected a parallel political manual, 'Getting to No: Negotiating Disagreement through Knee-Jerk Ideology'. In the famous book, the first principle is: separate the people from the problem. The opposition spends all their time talking about people and playing the person, not the ball. No matter what issue is raised in this place, it's a resounding no and a heap of personal invective. Where throughout this term has there been a single political idea from those opposite other than getting people to empty their superannuation accounts to get a home to live in?

The next principle is: use objective criteria. Those opposite use the empty rhetoric of tax reform and aspiration, but look at the objective stats: 84 per cent of people are better off under our revised tax arrangements, and every single person gets a tax cut. In addition, seven deciles of people get lower average tax rates over the coming decade, or less bracket creep. Those are people with aspirations. They're the real aspirational people—it's not just those in the top one per cent.

There's also: invent options for mutual gain. Our revamped tax arrangements will see more than 90,000 extra hours worked per week, mostly by women. That's real win-win reform. Those opposite recoil. Don't buy the book those opposite are selling. It won't be a bestseller. It's not worth the paper it's written on.