Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The vandalism of the government, when it comes to tax, is exposed because they draw attention to the tax wedge. You get higher unemployment when there is a large tax wedge—a large difference between what it costs an employer to employ a worker and what the worker gets in the hand. The government is operating a tax wedge on someone on minimum wages of 98c in every additional dollar they earn, and it wonders why we have low participation.

This is a government that has not put in place the raft of policies that are required to protect our prosperity—incentive across the board in the tax system that lifts participation, attendance to the skills of our workforce and education more broadly, attendance to innovation policies, and some national leadership when it comes to our national infrastructure. All of these things go to the core of productivity, and if we are going to protect prosperity in this country we need a raft of policies which lift productivity so we can create wealth and spread opportunity. (Time expired)

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