David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. How will the Albanese Labor government's tax reforms benefit Australian workers, first home buyers and businesses? How does this compare to other approaches?

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks to the absolutely terrific member for Bean for his question and for all of the work that he does in our team as well. A big part of the ambitious budget that we handed down last night from this dispatch box was tax reform. In that tax reform package, we took on a number of difficult issues, recognising that the tax system is often part of the problem rather than part of the solution when it comes to ensuring that our economy can work for more Australians. Our tax reform package was really all about three objectives. The first one was about better aligning the tax treatment of people who work and people who get their income from other legitimate sources. The second motivation was to try and level the playing field to help more Australians, particularly younger Australians, get a toehold in a really difficult housing market. The third objective is to improve productivity by encouraging more investment and more innovation in our economy.

Each of the elements of the tax package that we released last night is about satisfying one or more of those objectives that we have. And so there are tax cuts for more than 13 million workers. There were big incentives for innovation and investment and supporting small business. I shout-out the wonderful small business minister for her work on the small business part of this package. There were also, of course, some of those admittedly politically contentious changes to capital gains and negative gearing. Again, that's about recognising that, when the Howard-Costello government changed the arrangements for capital gains, they introduced a big distortion into the tax system which made it harder for Australians to buy their first home in particular. We are acting in the budget to try and address those legitimate concerns that people have about the opportunity to own their first home.

I noticed that the word aspiration is being used by those opposite to explain locking more and more Australians out of the housing market. This side of the House knows about aspiration from our local communities. That side of the House learns about aspiration from focus groups. The reason we know that is because there is nothing aspirational about stacking the deck against young Australians. I say to the young Australians in the gallery today: this side of the House is on your side when it comes to getting a toehold in the housing market. There is nothing aspirational about a status quo that turbocharges the issues in the housing market and makes it harder and harder for more people to get ahead. This side of the House is about aspiration for more people. That side of the House sees aspiration as the exclusive preserve of a very few Australians.