Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to begin my contribution on this motion to take note of answers by applauding the contribution of Senator Sinodinos where he asked the question about what was to be done for people with special needs in the state of New South Wales. Perhaps his great influence in the Liberal Party would be put to better use if he were to get the O'Farrell government to withdraw from increasing public housing rents exactly at the same time as those households will receive their compensation for the carbon price. Pensioners and self-funded retirees will get an extra $338 per year if they are single and there will be $510 for couples combined. This will all go towards ameliorating the impact of the carbon price, yet we have a state government that is putting up the cost of public housing and hitting those who can least afford it. If Senator Sinodinos is so concerned about these people, perhaps we could see some intervention on his part in relation to this matter.

The simple fact of the matter—and I suppose we will be indulging in the same repetition that the coalition indulges in—is that the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party are both committed to a five per cent carbon reduction and renewable energy target by 2020. So the objectives are the same but our plan is simply to price the 500 biggest polluters. It is as simple as that. There are about 20 in South Australia. The other side of the argument is that the coalition will pay polluters to stop polluting. This seems to me to be counterintuitive. Under that scenario it is a case of the longer you pollute the more you get paid—and the coalition will use tax dollars to do it. So low-income households or taxpayers will be paying extra tax to tell people to stop polluting. Pricing carbon will change behaviour. That is an economic fact. If there is a monetary disincentive to do something then people will find another way to do it, either through innovation investment or changing their behaviour. If you are getting paid to pollute, I am not sure that you would change all that quickly.

Let us return to the simple fact that we are going to compensate nine out of 10 households. Nine out 10 households will receive compensation. As I said, pensioners and self-funded retirees will get $338 per year if they are single and $510 if they are couples. Families receiving family tax benefit A will get an extra $110 per child per year. Eligible families will get an extra $69 under family tax benefit part B per year. Allowance recipients will get $218 per year for singles. There will be $234 per year for single parents and $390 per year for couples combined. Importantly, the tax free threshold will rise to $18,000. Over a million workers will pay no tax at all. They will not have to lodge a tax return. These are some of the most vulnerable in the community—people working part time, young kids at university doing a part-time job. They will not have to lodge a tax return. That is a very important issue for a lot of people who are struggling to make ends meet. On top of this, 7.5 million taxpayers with an annual income of under $80,000 will also receive a tax cut. Most will receive at least $300 per year. The interesting thing now is that Tony Abbott and the coalition—