Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is a classic case of the Australian Labor Party once again engaging in acts of hypocrisy. They say they want a wide-ranging debate on taxation. I am simply highlighting the way in which the Australian people now have an easing of the tax burden on their shoulder thanks to the Howard government. The member for Rankin does not want to hear it, but I will go on because it is worth saying.

It is important that people understand the reason why they are better able to meet home loan repayments, the reason why they have greater job security under this government and the reason why the government’s tax take is lower than it was under Labor. On all of these measures, I am very pleased to talk about the coalition government’s track record. I invite the member for Rankin to talk about the Labor Party’s track record, because, on every measure, Australians are better off under 10 years of coalition government than they ever were under the Australian Labor Party. As I said, interest rates are only one of those ways. At 7.8 per cent currently, with average interest rates of just over seven per cent under this coalition government, interest rates stand in stark contrast to the average under the Australian Labor Party of over 12 per cent. An average of 12 per cent and over for the Australian Labor Party, an average of just over seven per cent for the coalition; 13 years of Labor, 10 years of coalition—let the facts speak for themselves. And that is before I even touch on the peak of interest rates under the Australian Labor Party. The member for Rankin was probably in the chamber at the time. It was 17 per cent under the Australian Labor Party, with one million unemployed Australians. That is the legacy of the Australian Labor Party.

Let us also talk about why the coalition government is able to reduce taxation. Let us talk about why the government is passing on $36 billion worth of tax cuts to the Australian people. The simple reason is that this government has run nine budget surpluses, budget surpluses that the Australian Labor Party were not able to run. The track record under this government is the repayment of some $96 billion of Labor Party debt. Under the coalition, in 10 years, we have seen $96 billion of debt that was a legacy of the Leader of the Opposition and a legacy of members of the Australian Labor Party, which this government has paid off in full, saving Australians some $4 billion per annum in interest. That is money—some $4 billion each and every year—that we are now able to dedicate to roads, to health, to education, to tax cuts; the kinds of expenditure that the Australian Labor Party would never even have dreamt of when their period in office was coming to an end in 1996. These are the kinds of advantages that the Australian people enjoy today thanks to responsible economic management under the Treasurer, Peter Costello, and under the Prime Minister, the member for Bennelong, that the Australian Labor Party were unable to deliver because they were not disciplined when it came to spending in government.

I would also like to touch on what the member for Hunter spent half of his speech addressing—that is, energy policy. I was pleased today to see that the member for Batman and the member for Hunter were not disagreeing. It makes a pleasant change, because earlier this week we heard the member for Batman and the member for Hunter at loggerheads on ABC radio, embarrassingly for the two Labor members, one following the other on ABC radio. We had the member for Hunter attacking the government’s policy on excise, and we had the member for Batman defending the government policy on excise.

Today, when the member for Hunter was touching on excise, I note that he made no remarks about what Labor would do with excise. He was happy to talk in general terms about excise, but there was nothing specific from the member for Hunter. I invite the member for Rankin to perhaps outline to the House what the Labor Party’s policy is on excise and whether or not the Labor Party is going to cut excise, as the member for Hunter suggested would be the case. I would be very interested to hear some kind of commitment from the member for Rankin about Labor Party policy on excise, because I would remind the House that, again, it was the coalition government that not only cut excise in 2001 but also froze the CPI indexation of excise. As a result of that coalition government pronouncement, fuel prices today are approximately 7c cheaper per litre than they would have been had that Labor Party policy stayed in place. Make no mistake: it was the coalition government that froze the excise indexation to CPI; no thanks to the Australian Labor Party. It was this government that stopped the excise indexation to CPI.

I should also say that the reaction that I have had from my constituents to the Prime Minister’s announcement that we would subsidise, to the amount of $2,000, the cost of converting vehicles to LPG so that people can take advantage of the 40 per cent cheaper price, on average, of LPG has been very positive. I genuinely know that people in my electorate of Moncrieff, the city of the Gold Coast and elsewhere will be embracing the opportunity to convert their vehicles to LPG, especially given that now, as a result of this $2,000 subsidy from the Howard government, the cost of that conversion will pay for itself in about four months—not two years, as was previously the case, but four months.

It is also worth mentioning that the Western Australian Labor government—they seem to be good blokes over there in the west, Mr Deputy Speaker Haase; I am sure you would probably understand—are happy to pay an additional $1,000 towards the cost of conversion. But where are all the other state Labor governments when it comes to easing the burden on Australian taxpayers with the price of fuel? Where are the other state Labor governments when it comes to making some kind of contribution towards easing the hurt that Australians are feeling at the petrol pump? The Howard government is doing it to the tune of $2,000. The Western Australian Labor government is doing it to the tune of $1,000. Perhaps the member for Rankin can ring his mates in the Queensland Labor Party. The Premier is out there. He is in election mode today, Member for Rankin. Why don’t you pick up the phone and see whether you can get Peter Beattie and the Queensland Labor Party to also help out with a $1,000 subsidy? I encourage the member for Rankin to also make some remarks in that respect—as to why the Labor Party in Queensland, absolutely rolling around in funds from the GST, with bigger budgets from the GST than they have ever had, doesn’t help out. I invite him to pick up the phone and ring his mate Peter Beattie and get a $1,000 commitment from the Premier in Queensland. I would welcome it. Perhaps the member for Rankin could also indicate whether he would welcome it.

But I want to talk specifically about some of the hypocrisy, and it is hypocrisy, that I heard from the member for Hunter, who made disparaging remarks when he played the man—that is, the Prime Minister—about the fact that the Prime Minister, to use the words of the member for Hunter, ‘was in his petrol powered limousine, saying “Let them eat cake”’. This is from the man who presumably—and I notice he did not answer my question—also got a Comcar in to the House this morning, the same man who is accusing the Prime Minister of acting in a nonchalant way. It is a complete and total act of hypocrisy from the Australian Labor Party, and it does them no justice whatsoever.

With respect to petrol pricing, if there is truly going to be some immediate relief, let it be from the GST. The GST amount has been increasing as a result of the increasing price of petrol, and the Australian Labor Party is the beneficiary of it in every state and territory. Let the state governments tomorrow come out and say that they are happy to take less GST. They have more money than they have ever had previously. I simply summarise to say: I welcome this bill. I invite comments from the Labor Party as to its form when it comes to taxation. Let the Australian people remember they are $36 billion better off from tax reform. (Time expired)

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