Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to speak to this excellent matter of public importance. Labor want to bring back the fair go—that's the bottom line for our position—whereas the government are doing nothing to make this country more equal. It's true that we've had 27 years of continuous economic growth, but, when you talk to average Australians, as I do very often, you find that average Australians do not feel that they have been getting their fair share of the benefits of that economic growth. I do a lot of doorknocking. When you talk to people on their front doorstep, they know something is wrong with our system. They know that company profits are going well and that companies are doing quite well, but, when it comes to the wages of ordinary working people, there's something wrong with our system. We know that those opposite have ripped billions of dollars out of school budgets and hospitals across the country. They prioritise tax cuts for the top end of town, their big business mates and the big banks over everyday working Australians. We have a bigger, better and fairer tax plan to ensure that the benefits of Australia's unprecedented economic growth flow through to everyone in our country, not just the privileged few.

It's important to remind people that, in fact, Labor had much better and fairer tax cuts for the 10 million working Australians. Under our proposal everyone earning less than $125,000 a year would receive a bigger tax cut compared to under the Liberals' proposal. More than four million people would be better off by $398 a year, compared to the government's position. With Labor's tax refund a teacher on $65,000 would receive a tax cut of $928 a year, and a couple earning $90,000 and $50,000 respectively would receive a tax cut of $1,855 a year. The difference between the government and Labor on this particular issue could not be more stark.

When it comes to cracking down on corporate tax dodgers it's really interesting that the recent settlement that the Australian Taxation Office achieved with BHP of $529 million, in relation to their transferred pricing arrangements, was actually done under laws that the coalition voted against. These laws were passed by the former Labor government in 2013 and were opposed by the Liberal and National Party members on the grounds that they were retrospective. Really, Mr Morrison and Mr Frydenberg owe the Australian people an apology, because, if they had their way, the budget would be millions of dollars worse off. These laws were also used in the 2017 Chevron judgement handed down by the High Court, which saw $340 million added to the budget bottom line. The government will pursue the mythology that they're cracking down on tax loopholes, but, in reality, the hard work was done by the previous Labor government.

Under this coalition government debt is rising faster than it did during the global financial crisis. It does gall me, somewhat, to hear Senator O'Sullivan talking about debt in the way that he did, because it's quite clear that this government has blown net debt out by double. They have got quite a nerve to raise this particular issue. As I said, if they had gotten their way back in 2013, the multinational tax loopholes would be open and government debt would be even higher still. So the coalition really should get on board with what Labor wants to do in terms of multinational tax avoidance—that is, tighten debt-deduction loopholes used by multinational companies, cap deductions for managing tax affairs at $3,000 and close the debt-deduction loopholes to ensure consistent treatment in related party financing arrangements. I could go on; I've got so much to talk about when it comes to multinational tax avoidance. But, in conclusion, we have a strong reform agenda. We have the policies. The policies are informed, costed and transparent. We need a Labor government now to make sure that the benefits of our economic recovery and unprecedented growth flow through to all Australians.