Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I will get to the issue of whether it was on individuals in a moment, Senator Macdonald. There was the gun buyback. The gun buyback was projected to raise $550 million and the East Timor levy was to raise $855 million. Let me read through these figures of the party that does not agree with levies or surcharges—$1.48 billion for super; milk, $1.74 billion; sugar, $86 million; Ansett levy, $369 million; and gun buyback, $550 million. This is from a party that says it does not agree with levies. But it is opposed to increases in taxes. That is where we drew our inspiration from, Senator Macdonald—none other than your government. When you were in government, you introduced six levies, not including the super surcharge.

And then there was the piece de resistance—we even had a levy on shipping containers. That was the seventh. For the former Liberal-National Party government, the piece de resistance was putting a levy even on shipping containers. So if they were not whacking your super, your milk, your sugar, your airline flights, your guns or funding the East Timor dispute, there was a levy on shipping containers. That is seven levies over 12 years. That is where we got our inspiration from, Senator Macdonald—none other than yourself. You were a member of that government for almost 12 long years. So do not come in here and give us your hypocrisy about levies, Senator Macdonald. Stop wasting the Senate chamber’s time.