Senate debates

Wednesday, 24 February 2016

Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers

Taxation, Education Funding

3:32 pm

Photo of Sam DastyariSam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Attorney-General (Senator Brandis) to questions without notice asked by Senators Wong and Dastyari today relating to negative gearing and to the Safe Schools program.

What an incredible time to be alive! What an exciting time to be alive! We had the Assistant Treasurer this morning appear on the Sunrise program. Boy, what a performance that was! With this government, you get it all. Property prices are apparently going to both go up and go down as part of the government's new scare campaign about Labor's negative gearing policy. It is bring your own scare campaign day at the Australian parliament. Anything goes. Any plan goes. Any fear goes. Any scaremongering will work. At the same time, simultaneously, we are going to have a policy that is going to both make houses unaffordable and make everyone poorer by reducing the value of their home.

Frankly, if you want to run a scare campaign—I do not know if I should be telling the government how to do this—pick a side. Make one decision. Clearly the Assistant Treasurer was not at the meeting at the Liberal Party head office when they decided which scare campaign they were going to run, or she had an earlier memo. But you have to pick a side. You have to pick one scare campaign and just stick with it.

I have to say I was wrong about the Prime Minister. I have been wrong about Mr Turnbull. I thought Mr Turnbull was this brilliant Bond villain and was going to be some kind of evil genius. It turns out the Prime Minister is Dr Evil. We all thought he was this genius with this secret plan. It turns out the Prime Minister has no idea what he is doing and that he is just making it up as he goes along.

The fact is that Australians already have spent a long time watching a group of out-of-town, born-to-rule types lounge around without any real idea of what they are doing next. At least Downton Abbey had a plotline. This government does not even have a plotline. It does not have an agenda. It does not have a point. What you have is a government running around in circles. There is no policy. There is no initiative. There is only a handful of tactics, and even the tactics are not very good. It is a scare campaign a week. It is bring your own scare campaign day. It is a government that is already falling apart at the seams, and its internals are ripping it apart.

You have seen the chaos where you have the education minister and the VET minister talk about this fantastic program, the Safe Schools Coalition, and then you turn around and you have the Prime Minister getting browbeaten by Senator Bernardi into starting to abandon it. It is chaos. It is madness. It is government in disarray. This is a government that is more chaotic than Kanye West's Twitter feed. This government has descended into an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. It is a bunch of super-rich people—all of whom, I may add, seem to think they are more attractive than they actually are—sitting around doing nothing and pretending that somehow that is a real job. It is not. They have a responsibility. They are not meeting it. The only thing we need to top off the insanity that has become this government is Scott Morrison tweeting Mark Zuckerberg and asking for a billion dollars so that he can produce a budget. It has gone mad. It has gone crazy. This government has started to all apart.

Frankly, when you have a good policy proposal and you put up a good idea, a big idea, like the idea around negative gearing, what you get is a scare campaign. Let's be clear. What is going on here is that this is a desperate government. It is a lost government. It is a hopeless government, and it does not actually have a solution to what is going on in the housing market. A Saturday morning in Sydney is like The Hunger Games. A bunch of young families are going out there, battling each other, trying to get into the housing market and buy their first home, and it is becoming harder and harder for them to do that. And why is it harder? Because you have government incentives that are about the investors. An investor getting their seventh property should not have more incentives or financial benefits to do it than someone trying to buy their first home. You have the Prime Minister sitting in the Capitol like President Snow in The Hunger Games, just saying: 'Oh, all hell will break loose. There will be havoc. There will be madness if we address some of these problems.' It is a joke. It is a fraud. This government is falling apart. (Time expired)

Photo of Eric AbetzEric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

The simple fact is the Labor Party chewed off far more than it could swallow in relation to its so-called negative gearing policy. Just a few facts: 840,000 Australians earning less than $80,000 per annum invest and negatively gear. They are not the filthy rich to whom Senator Dastyari refers. Indeed, 73 per cent of Australians who negatively gear have only one house investment. Another 18 per cent have only two houses. In other words, 91 per cent of our fellow Australians who negatively gear have a maximum of two houses. So where is this assertion of seven properties being owned? That might be by a very small proportion of nine per cent.

What the Australian Labor Party will not tell you is that out of the people who negatively gear 39,500 are nurses, 53,800 are teachers and 52,000 are retail workers. Why doesn't the trade union movement support these workers? No wonder the trade union movement is losing numbers and supporters day after day, because the Labor Party and the trade union movement simply cannot understand that there are good, hardworking Australians who are aspirational and who are willing to take short-term pain for longer-term gain for themselves. What this is by Labor is a mad rush for tax revenue today on the basis of greater welfare payments in the future and less tax revenue in the future, because the construction sector will not be as vibrant. This is typical of Labor's short-term politics: trying to rake in the money today and forget about tomorrow. Exactly what they did with Gonski. Exactly what they did in their previous term of government. They have no memory of the disaster that they left behind. It is as though they did no wrong in the last six years when they were in government.

In my home state of Tasmania, a state with some of the lowest incomes in the country, 18,000 of our fellow Tasmanians are involved in negative gearing. They are not the filthy rich. They are just hardworking decent Australians who are saying: 'We will forego lifestyle today for the benefit of self-reliance and self-sufficiency in the future. We will take the burden off the next generation when we get to retirement.' Let's not forget that the Australian Labor Party fiddled with this in the past. In the Hawke/Keating era they thought this was a bright idea and they abolished negative gearing. This has been part of our taxation regime for over 100 years but for that little hiatus when Labor experimented, and what did they find? If people could not negatively gear and have their gain later on, then what did the property owners do? They immediately jacked up rents, and what did that do? The low-income earners who rely on rental properties were confronted by huge rental hikes and as a result the Labor Party, quite properly, retreated, as they should have done.

They learnt their lesson in the Hawke/Keating era but what does Mr Shorten do but dust off a failed policy. Having promised us that 2015 would be the year of ideas for Labor, they came up with nought. He starts off 2016 with the dusted-off, old Labor policy that was absolutely repudiated by the real experience of getting rid of negative gearing. This is the politics of class envy. This is the politics of class warfare. This is the politics of division. This is the politics of seeking to ensure that the aspirational are stifled. We as a coalition support the aspirational.

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

We know that the far-right of the government are the ones who are in control today. We know that Malcolm Turnbull, the Prime Minister, has no control over the government that he leads. In fact, it is the Cory Bernardis of this world who are running the show, because the Prime Minister, in requesting an investigation into a program helping LGBTI students, is showing his true colours. They are not the colours of tolerance, they are not the colours of inclusiveness and they are not the colours of diversity. They are the colours of supporting right-wing ideology—that of Cory Bernard, which we know is incredibly homophobic because he has made that very clear on so many fronts before.

Yet when my colleague Senator Dastyari asked Senator Brandis, the Leader of the Government in this place, whether he agreed that the Safe Schools program has perfectly reasonable objectives, as Senator Birmingham has said, he said yes. When again he was asked if he agreed with Senator Ryan, who said when launching the Safe Schools Coalition that 'every student has a right to feel safe at school', he also agreed. On the one hand you have the Leader of Government here in the Senate agreeing to the basis of the Safe Schools program and the Prime Minister of the day doing something completely different and completely undermining it.

Where are we at? Who are we to believe? Are we to believe Senator Brandis or are we to believe the Prime Minister? Are we to believe Senator Bernardi or are we to believe Senator Scott Ryan? They are all over the place. Who is to know who and is to believe what? The Australian people are completely confused on what this government is about and it is not just in the space of looking at this particular program; however, I highlight this program because it is an absolute disgrace what this government and this Prime Minister has done by wanting to have an investigation. If you want to have an investigation, why not have it on something that actually needs it and on something important?

This program is doing its job effectively. The Safe Schools Coalition Australia's government website makes that very clear. It says that almost 500 schools have opted into the program and more than 15,000 teachers have accessed its tools and resources. It is doing its job. It is the only program of its kind in this country. Yes, it was set up by a Labor government. It is doing its job to break down intolerance of diversity in our schools and provide support to end bullying and victimisation as needed.

Senator Bushby interjecting

What is needed, if we are going to have investigations—and Senator Bushby would be well aware of this as a motion on this went through this place this week having been moved by me and Senator Nick McKim—is an investigation into Tasmania's wilderness World Heritage area. That is something that this government did not oppose. That is an investigation worth having—looking at the effects of climate change and global warming on wildfires in our wilderness World Heritage area. Why not invest your resources where they are needed rather than attacking an important program that is doing its job so effectively and so well? And, as I said, it was made very clear by Senator Ryan that every student has the right to feel safe at school and that is exactly what this program addresses. That is what he said at the launch of the Safe Schools Coalition back in 2014.

It is clear to me that the only reason why the Prime Minister would want to have an investigation into a very successful taxpayer funded program that is supporting LGBTI school students is to appease one person—or maybe a couple who are part of his cabal—and that is Senator Bernardi. Who is running this government? Is it the far right of the Liberal Party? Is it the Senator Bernardis of this world? Or is it the Prime Minister? No-one has any faith at the moment in the Prime Minister's ability to run this country. Everything that this government is doing is a shemozzle. It is all over the place. This investigation into the Safe Schools program is just another example of that. Labor will stand by this program. We will stand by the right of children to go to school and not be bullied and not be intimidated like this by Senator Bernardi. (Time expired)

3:47 pm

Photo of Ian MacdonaldIan Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Labor members find it impossible to comprehend that in the coalition we actually have policy debates. We have meaningful discussions. We are not told by the union movement and the factional bosses, 'This is what you will do.' What did Senator Cameron famously say a few years ago? He talked about 'lobotomised zombies'. He said those opposite were not allowed to have any discussions in their party room, according to their bosses—which I take to be the union movements that run the Labor Party. If the leading unions say, 'This is the issue,' according to Senator Cameron, the lobotomised zombies are just not able to put a view or an argument that is in any way contrary.

Today we had in question time questions about capital gains tax. It is a bit like how for three or four weeks Labor and the ABC ran—I have to say, very cleverly—this 15 per cent GST campaign. As I always suspected, there was nothing in it from the government side, as Senator Cormann and others have said time and time again. In the coalition, we look at a broad policy range. We look at all aspects of areas on taxation matters—as we should. Some you land on and some you discard. That is what we do. We consult and we have these policy discussions both within the coalition parties themselves and with relevant and interested stakeholders. The capital gains tax furphy that Labor are now embarking upon, having lost the 15 per cent GST debate, is just like the GST debate. It is a figment of the Labor Party's imagination. They work on the basis that if you say it often enough and keep repeating it someone out there might actually think for a moment that the Labor Party are telling the truth. But as these things always show, as with the GST, these are just furphies and figments of the Labor Party's fertile mind.

The Labor Party have been looking seriously at a 15 per cent GST so that they can pay for some of their unfunded promises they have already announced for the next election I did not get the figures. Senator Cormann, was it $50 million—

Photo of Mathias CormannMathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

Fifty billion dollars!

Photo of Ian MacdonaldIan Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

There has been $50 billion worth of unfunded promises suggested by the Labor Party so far. One can only imagine that perhaps the Labor Party are looking at a 15 per cent GST to fund these $50 billion worth of unfunded promises already made. We have a few months to go until the election.

On the other issue that the previous senator was talking about, as I say, these are matters that are discussed maturely, in an adult fashion, by the coalition party room. When all people's views have been heard—the views of many others besides Senator Bernardi and from both sides of the equation—decisions will be made by an adult, mature government taking into account everything.

As Senator Brandis rightly said at question time, there would not be a person in this chamber who would in any way countenance anything but a campaign against bullying children or, indeed, anyone. Like Senator Ronaldson said, there is bullying of older people too. I think that is equally important. I declare an interest in that. Bullying in any form and in any category should not be encouraged. In fact, it should be stamped out as best it can. I am sorry that the Labor senators who have spoken do not seem to understand the real issues. I am pleased to be a member of a government that discusses these particular problems and issues in a mature way. (Time expired)

3:52 pm

Photo of Anne McEwenAnne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I too want to take note of the answer given by Senator Brandis to the question asked by Senator Dastyari about the Safe Schools program. That was an attempt by Senator Dastyari to find out the position of the Turnbull government on this really important program in our schools for our children—in particular, our children who are gender diverse. It is a program that is well accepted, has been running, has been successful and, until this week, had the support of the whole of this parliament. We know that Senators Birmingham and Ryan supported the program, but this week we have seen that the ultra right-wing cohort of the Turnbull government—especially Senator Bernardi and, today, Senator O'Sullivan—want to defund this program so that it ceases to exist. They have managed to convince the weak and pathetic Prime Minister Turnbull to exercise yet another backflip on policy. We are used to it in taxation and other issues like that, but in the matter of a social policy such as this one, which is so important to some of our children in our schools, you would think that Mr Turnbull would have shown some spine and stood up to those ultra right-wing homophobes in this place—as my leader, Bill Shorten, said this morning—who use every opportunity to denigrate and marginalise children, and Australians generally, who are gender diverse.

It is a very sad thing to come into this chamber and this parliament to hear this relentless attack against people. By doing this, all we do is contribute to the bullying of LGBTI persons in Australia and, in particular, children, who we know suffer terribly from bullying because they are not attracted to persons of the other sex. We have seen the Turnbull government kowtow to the hard right when it comes to marriage equality and insist on having a ridiculous plebiscite which is not even going to be binding. That is one thing, but this particular program—the Safe Schools program—is directed at young people. We know that, from a university survey of over 3,000 Australian LGBTIQ young people aged between 14 and 21, more than 60 per cent reported having experienced homophobic abuse. Over 18 per cent reported physical homophobic abuse, and a further 26 per cent reported being victims of other homophobic abuse, including rumours, graffiti and cyberbullying. We also know that 80 per cent of this abuse of our children occurs at school.

When the Labor government introduced the Safe Schools program, it was to target that unrelenting attack on our children. We know that these children are the ones who are most likely to suffer from anxiety and depression and who are three times more likely to attempt suicide. Surely, all of us in this place must do everything we can to prevent that happening to our children. It is a good initiative. It is implemented in schools by agreement of the schools. Parents are consulted about what is in this program. It is rolled out in schools with the sole purpose of making a school safe and free from bullying for all children. There are 495 government and private schools, including Christian schools, across the country educating 400,000 of our children. This particular program has a very strong track record.

I am very tired of what goes on in this chamber with regard to the abuse of people who are gender diverse or same-sex attracted. I am tired of the people who send me emails which are vile and homophobic as well. I can tell these people that I am harvesting all of your email addresses, and I will go back to you every time a gender diverse or same-sex attracted student in our schools harms themselves because of your attitude towards them. I am going to send you an email and tell you about it because I am fed up with having to put up with your abuse of our young people. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.