Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers given by Senator Cormann and Senator Scullion. This is a welcome opportunity to demonstrate to the Senate, particularly to crossbench senators, the sharp contrast between the Turnbull government's unfair and divisive tax proposals and Labor's alternative, which was announced today by the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Treasurer. It won't be news to most people in this chamber that most Australians want a tax system which is fair, efficient and responsible—one which spreads the burden of taxation equitably, one which properly funds our schools and hospitals, and one which allows the country to pay down its debts. Australians don't want a tax system which gives breaks and privileges to those who are already well off, which allows large corporations to pay no tax at all or which shifts the burden of taxation onto those who can least afford it—the 80 per cent of Australians who are middle- and low-income earners.

But let's make no mistake: none of the responses today to any questions actually answered the question that was put. Why? It's because the government's tax plan is a fraud. This is the biggest taxing, biggest spending government, and it has doubled the federal debt. What the government is proposing is the tax plan of economic vandals. They are tearing at the fabric of the Australian consensus between capital and labour that has existed since Federation: that capital could make a decent return and people could live well at the same time. The Treasurer has himself said that slow wages growth is one of the biggest problems that the Australian economy faces, but he has no plan to address that. He has opposed every wage rise ever. He has done nothing to reverse the decision of the Fair Work Commission. He has done nothing other than attack and cut penalty rates.

Today, the Leader of the Opposition gave notice that, next week, he will introduce legislation to stop the Prime Minister's attack on penalty rates. Let's compare the pair. In a final twist of the knife in the heart of working people, this government are refusing to work with Labor to deliver real income tax cuts now. This government can pretend that their never-never land, never-never gonna, six-years-off, fantastical and fanciful tax cuts are real. They are not. They are fooling no-one. If people go back and look at the income tax scale adjustments, it is Labor who has given tax relief. It is Labor who has provided relief to working Australians. It is Labor who has made the tax cuts for working people. It may not come as a surprise to some in this chamber that Paul Keating is a political hero of mine. As a former Treasurer and former Prime Minister, Paul Keating cut the tax scales more than any other Treasurer in Australia's history. The Liberal treasurers have just been pretenders.

There is a message in all of this for the Prime Minister and for the Treasurer. After five years of a government twisting and turning on itself and hanging on every poll—all 34 of them for this current Prime Minister—no-one believes you any more. Work with Labor; work with us to pass some immediate tax relief for working people. It is affordable, because we aren't proposing to give tax cuts to big banks and to foreign billionaires. What this government is doing is playing chicken with working Australians' lives—whether those people have a good week or a bad week. The government is playing chicken with the tax relief that working people could have. And that is actually typical of this government, with its reverse Midas touch.

Do you know what happens when Liberal politicians attend their branch meetings? They say they are the government for tax cuts, for no deficits and for limited government, but the truth is they are none of these things. This government has doubled federal government debt—doubled it! They are a government of tax and spend. They voted with the 'all care and no responsibility' of the Greens political party to scrap the debt ceiling. They scrapped the debt ceiling and still claim they are the responsible party of economic management? Please, give us a break. Senator Cormann has proposed tax cuts for large corporations and for foreign billionaires. But I can assure you that, in our first budget, Labor's plans mean we can deliver a winning trifecta in government. As the shadow Treasurer said this morning: bring it on. (Time expired)