Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

The Turnbull government's budget makes it clear that it is absolutely no different from the previous budget counterparts of the Abbott government: it has also been a complete let-down for the majority of Australians. 'Let's protect the higher income earners'—that is the mantra of the Turnbull Liberal government—'and let's do it at the expense of families, let's do it at the expense of workers, let's do it at the expense of young people.' What a lost opportunity last night was indeed.

How can you have a plan for jobs and growth and then make massive cuts to infrastructure spending and be absolutely silent on tourism and the arts? Indigenous Australians have been completely forgotten, let alone the environment. How can it be fair that you have someone who earns $300,000 getting a $2,600 tax cut, yet average Australian families, the majority of which make up the country, earning $60,000 a year will face cuts of $5,000? Where is the fairness in that? Those who earn more than $80,000 may look forward to this tax cut, but if you look at Tasmania 80 per cent of its workforce earns less than $80,000. That is how out of touch the Turnbull government is with the states that it is supposed to be thinking about and providing for, as it was last night in its budget. Four out of five Tasmanians earn less than $80,000. They are the people who are going to be affected.

And where are the Liberals standing up for Tasmania? Where is Senator Abetz, Senator Bushby or Senator Colbeck—who knows that in his portfolio of tourism there was a big ask on the table that would have created jobs, that would have created investment in our state with the Cradle Mountain Master Plan. It was completely left off the table. What about the Cadbury money that we were promised in the lead-up to the last election by Tony Abbott—the $16 million that the whole state is still wanting. The state was led down the garden path into believing that if they voted for a Liberal government, they would receive some funding in that sense. It still has not come, and we are now nearly three years on. So not only have there been cuts to schools, to Medicare, to family benefits, to higher education, to veterans' hospitals and of course the GP tax by stealth, there has also been a complete disregard and disconnect for the people who actually live in my home state—let alone the other families around Australia who also earn under $80,000 who very much rely on the services that this government chooses to cut.

A Labor government will stand in stark contrast to this Turnbull Liberal government. In fact, the contrast now could not be any starker. We, of course, will put people first. We will put families first. And while the 2016 budget has shown Mr Turnbull and the Liberal Party will look after those higher income earners and multinationals, Labor will look after all Australians. And, yes, we will tax multinationals so that they do pay their fair share of tax. We will crack down on the tax that they should be paying, rather than avoiding; we will look after families who rely very much on their government to provide the services that are a mainstay of any government provision, and the things that they pay their taxes for, that they do not hide their taxes for, in order to get by and to live. Medicare is a very good example of that, and it continues to be in the spotlight for this government—where Liberal government changes means people have to pay more to go and see a doctor for vital tests like X-rays and blood tests and ultrasounds and Pap smears and the like. That is still there, along with cuts to our hospitals of up to some $54.1 billion.

Our schools are still not fully funded using Gonski, a needs-based funding model. The work has been done, so why won't this government fund it? Again, we have to ensure all of those children who are in such desperate need get the funding so that they do have the quality education they so deserve. University degrees: young people will not be fooled. Students know that it has been shelved, but they also know that after the election—if, dare I say it, the Liberals are re-elected—those opposite will bring it back onto the table. And of course a fairer tax system is what we all really need, and that means a big corporation has to pay their fair share of tax and not given huge tax cuts like the Liberals are continuing to protect them to do. (Time expired)