Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

What I would say is this: the government are providing very significant assistance through the tax system to Australian families because we do recognise the potential price impacts from a carbon price. I would also say that the fear campaign by those opposite regularly overstates that and regularly ignores the significant assistance that is to be provided.

I make the point that we have made clear that we will be tripling the tax-free threshold, we will be increasing family tax benefits and we will be increasing pensions such as the age pension, none of which those opposite are matching. So let us remember that, whereas on our side of politics we do support a price on carbon, we also support proper assistance to Australian households through increasing the tax-free threshold—that is a tax break for all Australians earning under $80,000 a year—increases to the pension, increases to the disability support pension and increases to family tax benefit to deal with the price impacts of a carbon price.

Those opposite simply want to impose greater amounts of taxation on Australian households: $1,300 per year per household. They will do so in order to give that money to polluting companies in the hope that something might happen. Not only is it an example of an unfair policy; it is an example of a policy that will not work, that is economically inefficient.